Fall Covers for Spring Savings: Cover Crop Premium Discount Program by Illinois Dept. of Ag

American Farmland Trust is leading a coalition of partners in Illinois to offer a Fall Covers for Spring Savings Cover Crop Premium Discount program to all Illinois farmers

This is an Illinois Department of Agriculture program. Sign-up for this year's program that begins at 8 a.m. on December 15, 2022 and is open until January 15, 2023. All interested applicants can find more information and apply at: https://tinyurl.com/fcss23

This Fall Covers for Spring Savings program, or FCSS, is eligible to Illinois farmers who are planting cover crops on acres installed outside of state and federal program incentives (e.g., EQIP, CSP and state cost share). Eligible applicants receive a $5/acre insurance premium discount on the following year’s crop insurance invoice for every acre of cover crop enrolled and accepted in the program.

AFT and partners successfully advocated for the FCSS program to include 140,000 acres for crop year 2023.

You've done the work... now get rewarded!

Cover Crop Premium Discount Program Checklist

• Before applying, certify your fall planted cover crop acres with the FSA office and use the FSA-578 form. 

• Signup begins on December 15, 2022, at 8 a.m., and acres will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.

• Receive a $5/acre insurance premium discount on 2023’s crop insurance invoice for every acre of cover crop enrolled & accepted into the program.

Cover crops are a tremendously important practice for improving soil health and reducing nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in waterways. Illinois has taken an essential step toward meeting its nutrient loss reduction goals by funding the Fall Covers for Spring Savings Program in the Illinois budget. The Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (NLRS) recognizes cover crops as one of the most effective in-field management strategies to stem the loss of nitrate-nitrogen and total phosphorus from corn-soybean fields. Yet, less than 6% of Illinois’ cropland is planted to cover crops annually. Meeting the water quality goals of the Illinois NLRS will require 35% to 75% of Illinois’ cropland to be protected by cover crops, depending on the suite of conservation practices implemented.

More than 500 farmers applied in 2020, and over 750 were used in 2021, demonstrating the increasing popularity of the FCSS program. In addition to the state incentive, 600,000 FSA-certified cover crop acres were eligible for an additional crop insurance discount. This acreage received an additional $5/acre through the USDA Pandemic Relief Program.