1. Your crop and policy
2. Quoted premiums and the years you want to test
Result
Questions people ask
Which coverage level should I buy?
There is no universal answer, and this tool does not pick one. It lays your agent's quoted farmer-paid premiums beside what each level guarantees, what each extra 5 points costs per dollar of added protection, and what you would net in the yield-and-price years you describe. A higher level costs more in good years and protects more in bad ones; the step-cost table shows how fast the price per added dollar rises.
What is the difference between RP, RP-HPE and YP?
Revenue Protection sets the guarantee at the higher of the projected (spring) and harvest (fall) price, so a drought that lifts prices still pays on the higher value. RP with Harvest Price Exclusion guarantees only the projected price. Yield Protection pays missing bushels at the projected price and ignores price falls. The tool applies each rule to your scenarios.
Where do I get the premium numbers?
From your crop insurance agent's quote or the USDA RMA Cost Estimator. Use the farmer-paid premium per acre, which is after the federal premium subsidy. The tool does not know your county rates, unit structure or subsidy, so it cannot produce a quote.
What is the break-even yield?
The yield at which an indemnity first covers the premium if the harvest price equals the projected price: APH times coverage minus the premium divided by the price. Below it the policy pays more than it cost; above it the premium was the cost of protection.
Does it calculate expected value?
Only over the scenarios you type, with the probabilities you choose. It does not know your county's yield or price distribution, so the expected figure is as good as your scenarios. The worst-case column does not depend on probabilities.
Is this insurance or financial advice?
No. It is arithmetic on numbers you type in. It does not sell, quote or bind insurance, and it does not know your policy's unit structure, prevented-planting, replant, trend-adjusted APH or endorsements such as SCO and ECO. Talk to your crop insurance agent before choosing coverage.
Not decided
Which level you should buy, your county's real premium rates and subsidy, optional versus enterprise units, trend-adjusted APH and yield exclusions, prevented planting and replant, SCO and ECO endorsements, the harvest price the insurer will actually announce, and whether a payment on one unit is netted against another. The defaults are placeholders, not a quote: replace each with your own APH and your agent's numbers, and talk to your agent before you choose.
Related tools: the farmland lease calculator for the rent side of the same farm.