Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 7/3/19 

Farmers unable to plant commodities this year could file upward of $1 billion in insurance claims, according to top Agriculture Department officials. Planting delays throughout the Midwest following record rainfall and flooding are the worst in at least a decade, said Bill Northey, undersecretary for farm production and conservation, during a call with reporters on Monday.

Acres up: Typically, a few million acres per year qualify for prevented planting insurance. This year, it could climb to 10 million acres, Northey said. USDA has paid out $151 million to farmers with prevented planting claims, most of which cited flooding and excess moisture. A complete tally won't be known until later this month.

The officials didn't say how much prevented planting indemnities cost in previous years. In 2018, federal crop insurance payouts totaled $7.1 billion, per the CBO.

Incentivizing cover crops: The department wants farmers who can't get a cash crop in the ground to plant cover crops in order to control weeds and soil erosion.

USDA offices in eight states are launching "special sign-ups" this month for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, a cost-share program for farmers who want to adopt conservation practices.

Cover crops will also be eligible for trade mitigation payments,and USDA expanded the window to harvest them while still being eligible for prevented planting insurance. The move gives farmers an advantage when selling cover crops for livestock feed. Keith Gray, chief of staff at the Risk Management Agency, said officials are considering making that change permanent.