U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Chairman John Boozman (R-AR), Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and senior committee member John Hoeven (R-ND) have sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, urging the reinstatement of additional crop insurance coverage for acres that cannot be planted due to weather conditions.
The senators expressed concern about the recent removal of the option for producers to purchase extra buy-up coverage for prevented planting. "Eliminating the option for producers to purchase additional buy-up coverage for prevented planting is troubling, especially at a time when our farmers need access to all risk management tools available to them," they wrote.
Buy-up coverage is designed to offer critical protection for producers across all 50 states when adverse weather prevents timely planting. The USDA's decision has prompted widespread concern among growers.
Other signatories of the letter include Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Jim Justice (R-WV), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Tina Smith (D-MN).
The letter acknowledges recent efforts by USDA to expand access and reduce burdens within crop insurance, particularly referencing provisions in a rule published by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation on November 28, 2025. However, it notes that Section VI of this rule has caused significant concern among agricultural producers.
"While Congress has provided ad hoc disaster assistance for producers who experienced prevented planting losses in the past, this type of assistance is never guaranteed nor able to be relied upon, which is why Congress made it clear that '[b]eginning with the 1995 crop year, the Corporation shall offer to producers additional prevented planting coverage…' 7 U.S.C. §1508(h)(6). According to the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) data, removal of this critical tool impacts over 67 million acres across all 50 states and all covered commodities in 2025 alone," the senators stated.
They further requested: "As we work closely with USDA to get producers through this challenging time, we respectfully ask that USDA reverse this decision and allow producers access to the additional prevented plant coverage for 2027 and beyond to help provide a layer of certainty when disasters beyond their control render them unable to plant a crop."
The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee was established in 1825 as part of the standing committee structure within the United States Senate [source]. The committee oversees policies related to agricultural production—including crop insurance—nutrition assistance programs, forestry resources, rural development initiatives [source], as well as conducting hearings and legislative reviews on issues affecting agriculture nationwide [source].
