Illinois Department of Agriculture will open the fourth year of the Fall Covers for Spring Savings Program on Dec. 15. 

Applications will be available at www2.illinois.gov/sites/agr/Pages/default.aspx beginning at 8 a.m. 

Funding of eligible acreage will be on a first come, first serve basis.

IDOA received funding from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to add 40,000 acres to the program for a total of 140,000 acres available for the 2023 growing season. 

In 2022, the 100,000-acreage allotment was met in under 24 hours and a total of over 131,000 acres were requested by the time the application period ended.

The program is applicable for acreage in Illinois planted to cover crops in fall 2022 that will be planted to an insurable crop in 2023. Eligible applicants receive a premium discount of $5 per acre on the following year’s crop insurance for every acre of cover crop enrolled and verified in the program.

Applicants will be required to certify that their cover crops are approved through their local Farm Service Agency office before applying. 

Applicants will also need their current FSA-578 and federal crop insurance policy number for the 2023 application process.

The discount program was designed to promote additional acres of cover crops not covered by other state or federal incentives. 

IDOA will use a combination of tools to verify that acres applied for through this program are planted in cover crops. 

The program is only applicable for those with coverage through the USDA Risk Management Agency crop insurance program. 

Confirmed applications will be forwarded to the USDA-RMA for processing and for application of premium discounts to 2023 crop insurance invoices.

Applications will be available until Jan. 15. For more information, call 217-782-6297.