Michigan Counties Receive 2025 Insurance Payments under SCO and ECO

By Andi Anderson

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (USDA RMA) has released county yield data for the 2025 production year, helping determine insurance payments under the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) and Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO). These programs provide additional protection to farmers based on county-level performance rather than individual farm results.

SCO and ECO are designed to support farmers when yields or revenues fall below expected levels. These plans work along with basic insurance policies such as Yield Protection (YP) and Revenue Protection (RP). While YP focuses on crop yield losses, RP considers both yield and market prices to calculate revenue changes.

For yield-based policies, SCO payments are triggered when county yields drop below 86% of the Actual Production History (APH). ECO provides two levels of coverage, activating at 90% and 95% of APH depending on the plan selected. For revenue-based policies, both yield and price are considered. Prices are determined using futures markets, with base prices set earlier in the year and harvest prices calculated later.

In 2025, soybean prices saw a small 2% decline, with a base price of $10.54 and a harvest price of $10.35. Corn experienced a larger decline of 8%, with prices dropping from $4.70 to $4.31. However, yield losses were the main reason insurance payments were triggered in most cases.

Several Michigan counties qualified for payments, especially in non-irrigated corn production. Under Yield Protection, SCO payments were triggered in counties such as Cass, Clare, Lake, Mason, and Mecosta. ECO 90% payments were triggered in Berrien, Manistee, Oceana, and Ottawa, while ECO 95% payments applied in Allegan, Isabella, and Lapeer.

For Revenue Protection policies, a broader range of counties received payments. SCO payments were triggered in counties including Berrien, Cass, Clare, Isabella, Lake, and others. ECO 90% payments applied in Newaygo and Van Buren, while ECO 95% payments were triggered in counties such as Bay, Genesee, Hillsdale, and Kent.

In many cases, strong yields prevented some revenue-based payments, despite lower market prices. This shows that crop performance at the county level remains a key factor in determining insurance outcomes.

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