The Actuarial Performance of Prevented Planting Buy-Up Coverage

On November 28, 2025, the USDA Risk Management Agency finalized the elimination of the 5% prevented planting (PP) buy-up option. Using policy-level data from 2011–2024, this brief examines whether buy-up coverage historically degraded the actuarial performance of the Federal Crop Insurance Program. While theory suggest that optional PP coverage could lead to adverse selection, national-level results show that buy-up loss ratios (0.818) were lower than base coverage (0.866). These findings suggest that buy-up premiums adequately covered additional indemnities.