The Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) is a county-level crop insurance option that provides additional coverage for a portion of a producer’s underlying crop insurance policy deductible. Producers must buy it as an endorsement to either the Yield Protection, Revenue Protection, or Revenue Protection with the Harvest Price Exclusion policies.

RMA is using yield data reported by insured producers, which allows SCO to be offered in more areas, and allows for more practice-specific insurance coverage to be offered. The federal government pays 65 percent of the premium cost for SCO.

For the 2016 crop year, SCO will now be available for alfalfa seed, canola, cultivated wild rice, dry peas, forage production, grass seed, mint, oats, onions, potatoes and rye in select counties for the 2016 crop year. It will also be expanded to additional counties for barely and winter wheat. SCO was first made available, starting with the 2015 crop year, in select counties for spring barley, corn, soybeans, wheat, sorghum, cotton, and rice. It has since been expanded to include many crops, including fresh fruit and vegetables.