N Rate Risk Protection Program

We will use your crop insurance records to determine your 2027 yield and your non-adjusted actual production history. If you do not have 10 years of cropping history, we will use county averages for your benchmark yield.

Reducing nitrogen rates can save you money! Less wasted excess nitrogen applied to your fields means less wasted cost for yourself. Use this program to explore your own economical nitrogen rate for your fields. Plus, reducing nitrogen rates can have tremendous benefits for water quality and reductions in GHG emissions.

On average, farmers will need to reduce nitrogen applications by approximately 20 pounds of nitrogen per acre from their typical application. Farmers that are already applying low rates of nitrogen may still be eligible to participate in the program with a smaller reduction in nitrogen. If you have recently reduced your nitrogen in the last five years and are still unsure if it is the right rate for your farm, you may be eligible to enroll at your current reduced rate.

Any nitrogen applied via synthetic fertilizer sources or through manure is counted in your application rates. If you do not have a manure analysis, we will use book values from Iowa State University and the University of Minnesota to estimate your applied nitrogen. Biological products or legume credits are not calculated into your typical applied nitrogen rate.

No. Products with no NPK analysis (i.e., biologicals, inhibitors, soil amendments) will be noted but will not be calculated into your applied nitrogen rate. For example, if you are cutting 20 pounds of nitrogen per acre in addition to using a biological, which claims to cut 30 pounds of nitrogen per acre, this is a 20 pounds of nitrogen per acre cut, not a 50 pounds per acre cut. 

1) Not following the nitrogen reduction plan you and the PFI agronomist discussed.

2) You receive payment from insurance for a multi-peril, hail or wind claim as yield loss may be due to another intervening event.

If your revenue protection coverage results in a payment specifically due to a price change between the projected price set before planting (the spring price) or the market price at harvest (the harvest price), your claim will not be voided.

The N Rate Risk Protection Program is not supposed to replace crop insurance. Participants must maintain and carry a Multi-Peril Crop Insurance Revenue or Yield Protection policy at a minimum of 65% coverage to be eligible for this program. In addition, you must certify your crops through your local FSA office.

*Note: If a claim is paid for yield loss due to an event (such as hail, wind, or flooding) other than nitrogen reduction through your insurance, PFI's $30 per acre warranty payment will be void.

As both SCO and ECO are county-based coverage options for extending coverage beyond 85%, these options do not impact warranty eligibility.

The contract covering your enrolled acres is non-binding for the participant, meaning you can end enrollment of some or all fields in the program at any time before receiving payment without penalty. The weather has large effects on nitrogen crop needs. If you determine it is in your best interest to apply more nitrogen than recorded in your reduced plan, simply let us know what fields need to be unenrolled.

The form of nitrogen applied and the number of passes of nitrogen applications can change without affecting your eligibility status, as long as the total pounds of nitrogen applied is similar, or lower, than the reduced rate in your reduction plan. Please let us know of any changes so we can update your plan.