St. Paul RO: USDA Risk Management Agency Makes Grass Seed Crop Insurance More Accessible for 2026 and Subsequent Years

ST. PAUL, Minn., July 16, 2025 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) is making changes to the Grass Seed crop insurance program to make it more farmer-friendly for the 2026 and succeeding crop years. Grass Seed coverage is available in select Minnesota counties.

“The changes were requested by stakeholders and made with producers in mind,” said Laura Heinrich, Director of the RMA Regional Office in St. Paul. “Regionally, producers insured $28 million in covered liabilities on 46,500 acres in 2024. Simplifying the record requirements will make the program even more accessible to producers.”

Beginning with the 2026 crop year, RMA will make coverage more broadly available to producers, enabling them to better adapt crop insurance coverage to their specific production and marketing practices. Changes include:

• Allowing cleaned seed production documents from grass seed cleaners to be considered verifiable records. 

• Simplifying record reporting requirements by accepting records from producers that clean their own seed.

• Allowing production agreements for producers who have contracts lacking a pricing mechanism.

About the Program

The Grass Seed crop insurance program provides actual production history yield protection to producers who grow grass seed under a production contract. The production guarantee is based on individual yield history. The program offers coverage levels between catastrophic and 75%.

The sales closing date for the 2026 crop year is Sept. 30, 2025.

More Information

RMA secures the future of agriculture by providing world class risk management tools to rural America through Federal crop insurance and risk management education programs. RMA provides policies for more than 130 crops and is constantly working to adjust and create new policies based on producer needs and feedback. 

Contact a crop insurance agent to see how Federal Crop Insurance can meet the specific needs of your operation. Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available online at the RMA Agent Locator. Producers can learn more about crop insurance and the modern farm safety net at rma.usda.gov or by contacting their RMA Regional Office. RMA’s Basics for Beginners provides information for those new to crop insurance.

###

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.