About 13 percent of U.S. farms participated in Federal crop insurance programs in 2022, with the highest share from small family farms. USDA’s Economic Research Service reports small family farms accounted for 54 percent of the participants in Federal crop insurance programs and received 12 percent of the insurance payments.
Small family farms harvested 26 percent of all cropland acres. Midsize and large-scale family farm operators accounted for a slightly lower proportion of Federal crop insurance participants, 42 percent, but harvested most of the U.S. cropland acres, 67 percent, and received 80 percent of payments from Federal crop insurance. Larger farms like these account for 46 percent of agricultural acres operated in 2022.
Researchers with USDA’s Economic Research Service examined survey data and found that participation rates varied widely across commodity production. In 2022, 62 percent of farms producing row crops purchased Federal crop insurance, while nine percent of farms growing specialty crops, such as fruits, vegetables, and nursery crops, did the same.
