USDA Improves Insurance Option for Nursery Growers

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2025 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) continues to improve crop insurance tailored for nursery producers. The Risk Management Agency’s (RMA) Nursery Value Select (NVS) program enables nursery producers to select the dollar amount of coverage that best fits their risk management needs. 

Beginning with the 2026 crop year, NVS will offer a new Peak Endorsement Pilot, which allows producers to increase coverage during a designated peak period when the inventory value may be higher than the selected value. This Peak Endorsement Pilot is designed to provide producers with NVS the same coverage that the Nursery Peak Inventory Endorsement offered under the Nursery Field Grown and Container (FG&C) program. 

“By expanding the Nursery Value Select program last year and offering the new Peak Endorsement Pilot, we are continuing our mission of providing our producers with the strongest crop insurance resources and options possible,” said RMA Acting Administrator Heather Manzano. 

NVS provides similar but improved coverage to the longstanding Nursery FG&C program. RMA administered the Nursery FG&C crop insurance program for nearly 30 years. However, the Nursery FG&C program relies on a partnership between RMA and a private contractor to update and maintain the Eligible Plant List and Plant Price Schedule (EPLPPS) and associated software packages. The private contractor permanently ceased operations shortly after providing all necessary contractual obligations for the 2025 crop year. Without access to the EPLPPS and associated software, the Nursery FG&C crop insurance program will no longer be available to nursery producers beginning with the 2026 crop year. 

NVS will offer comparable but improved risk management options for those who currently have coverage with the Nursery FG&C program. Like Nursery FG&C, NVS also covers field grown and containerized nursery plants and offers coverage levels between catastrophic and 75%. Unlike Nursery FG&C, NVS has simplified reporting requirements, and an Occurrence Loss Option is available.   

The sales closing date for the 2026 crop year is May 1, 2025, or Sept. 1, 2025, depending on location. 

NVS was first available in the 2021 crop year, and producers insured more than $1 billion in liabilities in crop year 2025. 

To learn more about NVS and any required transitions, visit the NVS website, watch a video, or read through our frequently asked questions.

More Information 

Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers and 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. 

Managing Risk

RMA continues to explore ways to adjust and create new policies based on producer needs and feedback. Just a few examples of these improvements made in 2024 include:

• Announcing an increase in replant payments for most producers beginning with the 2026 crop year. Replant payment factors have not been updated since they were established in the 1990s and were reviewed to ensure they reflect current replanting costs.
• Expanded revenue protection to flax producers,  coverage of shellfish and grapevines, and the Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) to include additional crops as well as increasing premium support for all crops covered by ECO.  
• Offering coverage of the Nursery Value Select program to all counties in all states and expanding the Pasture, Rangeland and Forage Crop Insurance to Hawaii. 
• Expanding crop insurance options for specialty and organic growers by allowing enterprise units by organic farming practice and adding enterprise unit eligibility for several crops. 

We also invested $4.1 million to organizations and outreach efforts to educate underserved, small-scale, and organic producers on farm risk management and climate-smart farm practices through RMA’s Risk Management Education Partnerships.

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. 

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