Crop Insurance 101: Determining Units

Unit structure impacts both premium and claims for multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI).

A "unit" refers to each parcel of land insured separately. A farming operation can have multiple units. Below are the unit structure options:

Basic Units (BU) A unit for all owned or cash-rented land within a county with the same ownership split.

• PRO: Lower base cost.
• CON: Lower premium subsidy from Risk Management Agency (RMA).

Optional Units (OU) This option divides basic units into sections.

• PRO: Coverage per section; if one section suffers a loss, you may still receive payment for others.
• CON: Lower premium subsidy from RMA.

Enterprise Units (EU) Combines all acres of a single crop within a county, regardless of ownership or landlords. Separate EUs can be elected based on irrigation or cropping practices.

• PRO: Higher premium subsidy from RMA.
• CON: Less protection against isolated losses, with a lower chance of payment each year.
• Available for Yield Protection (YP) and Revenue Protection (RP, RP-HPE) policies.

Multi-County Enterprise Units (MCEU) Allows combining acreage from two adjacent counties in the same state into one enterprise unit, based on irrigation practices if needed.

Whole Farm Unit (WU) Combines corn and soybean acres into one insurance unit per county.

• PRO: Higher premium subsidy from RMA.
• CON: Less protection against isolated losses, with a lower chance of payment each year.
• Available only for Revenue Protection (RP and RP-HPE).

Happy Farming!