New this year, users will be able to enter their information into the application and validate it during a pre-enrollment period starting at 8 AM on December 4, 2023. Applications can be submitted once the program opens at 8:00 AM on December 15, 2023. Applications can be saved and edited at any time, prior to submittal. The program closes at 11:59 PM, on January 15, 2024.

A total of 140,000 acres are available for the 2024 program. In the 2023 program, this acreage allotment was met in under 24 hours and a total of over 182,688 acres were requested by the time the application period ended. Funding of eligible acreage is on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The program is applicable for acreage in Illinois seeded to cover crops in the fall of 2023 that will be planted to an insurable crop in 2024. Eligible applicants will receive a premium discount of up to $5 per acre on the following year's crop insurance, depending on individual crop insurance policies, for every cover crop acre enrolled and verified in the program.

Applicants will be required to certify that their cover crops are approved through their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office before applying. Applicants will also need their current FSA-578 and federal crop insurance policy number(s) for the application.

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

Pre-enrollment and applications are available at the Illinois Department of Agriculture's website.