Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced Friday that the sign-up period for the Crop Insurance Discount Program will run until Jan. 26, 2024. Offered by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, the program provides farmers and landowners who plant fall cover crops the opportunity to apply for a $5 per acre discount on their spring crop insurance premiums. “Cover crop utilization in Iowa continues to rise because of innovative incentives like the Crop Insurance Discount Program,” Naig said in a prepared statement. “Iowa is a leader in conservation innovation, and this successful program, which was first developed and launched in Iowa, has become a model in other states and at the national level. … As cover crops offer water quality and soil health improvements, valuable forage for livestock and many more agronomic benefits, we want to significantly increase the number of Iowa cover crop acres in the years ahead.” To qualify for the program, the cover crop acres cannot be enrolled in other state or U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service cost share programs. More information on applying is available here.