Navigating the Storm: Crop Insurance and Disaster Relief in 2024

Daniel Munch

AFBF has calculated crop and rangeland damage estimates since 2021 to provide a window into the impacts of natural disasters on domestic food production. This Market Intel updates total crop loss estimates across major weather events for 2024. AFBF’s Methodologies changed between 2023 and 2024 to cover more causes-of-loss types. Therefore, totals between years are not directly comparable. The methodology for these calculations is described at the end of this article.

Weather-associated production risk is a part of life for farmers and ranchers. Through heavy rain, hail, snow, winds, fire and drought, farming families prepare land, plant and harvest knowing their livelihoods are reliant on local weather conditions. In 2024, 27 weather disasters, each with damages exceeding $1 billion, struck the U.S. coast-to-coast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)reportedthat 2024 ranked fourth in terms of the total inflation-adjusted economic impact of these events, with industries across the economy experiencing an estimated $182.7 billion hit (compared to $92.9 billion in 2023). With nearly 570 lives lost, these disasters will haunt impacted communities for years to come, beyond the economic impact.

Overview of Estimated Crop Losses

Updated 2024 crop and rangeland damage estimates highlight the devastating impact of natural disasters on U.S. farm production. Total losses to crop and rangeland (including apiculture) from major 2024 weather and fire events exceeded $20.3 billion, accounting for 11.1% of NOAA’s total economic impact from disasters. Of this total, $10.9 billion in losses were covered by Risk Management Agency (RMA) programs as of February 2024, while approximately $9.4 billion remained uninsured, fell outside policy coverage limits, or did not qualify under existing risk management programs.

Of the $158 billion in total RMA-insured crop value (liabilities), 7% resulted in indemnity payments in 2024. Notably, crop insurance played a critical role in mitigating these losses, covering over 53% of weather-related damages, providing essential financial relief to affected farmers. Drought, excessive heat and wildfires led to over $11 billion in crop losses, while excessive precipitation, flooding and hurricanes accounted for $6.7 billion. Hailstorms caused $1.2 billion in losses, while freezes, cold, wet weather and frost resulted in $854 million in damages and tornadoes and excessive wind led to $291 million in crop losses.

AFBF crop loss estimatesdo notinclude infrastructure damage, livestock losses (besides apiculture), complete horticulture crop losses or timber losses associated with the selected causes of loss. Estimates should be viewed as a minimum baseline since data to estimate these other categories are not readily available. More comprehensive analysis on individual storms may be available from local land-grant universities. For example theUniversity of Georgia estimateda total ag economic impact of $5.58 billion from Hurricane Helene and theUniversity of Florida estimatedag production losses up to $643 million from Hurricane Milton. In both cases, estimates include losses across additional categories (such as livestock and timber) that are not included in this AFBF analysis.

Additional factors also contributed to significant crop losses, many of which were exacerbated by challenging weather conditions and are only partially reflected in RMA data. At least $43 million was lost to insects, $34 million to plant diseases, $24 million to wildlife and $19 million — primarily in wheat — was lost due to mycotoxins, toxins produced by fungi and other molds. However, these figures vastly underestimate the true extent of losses due to insurance coverage limitations, exclusions and reporting challenges. Many federal crop insurance policies do not cover wildlife damage unless explicitly included, and even when coverage exists, indemnities may be capped or denied if the loss is deemed preventable. Similarly, insect damage, plant diseases and mold-related losses are often intertwined with other covered causes, such as drought or flooding. For example, if drought weakens a crop and makes it more susceptible to insect infestations or wildlife foraging, the primary reported cause of loss may be drought, leaving the actual damage from insects or wildlife unaccounted for in indemnity data. As a result, these figures are likely to represent only a fraction of the total economic impact of these additional loss factors.

In 2024, Texas suffered the most significant agricultural losses for the third consecutive year, with total incurred damages exceeding $3.4 billion. Cotton was the hardest-hit crop, sustaining $1.8 billion in losses, followed by $768 million in forage and rangeland damage and $257 million in wheat losses. More than 66% of Texas' total losses were attributed to widespread drought, excessive heat and hot wind, with the most severe impacts occurring between June and September.

Minnesota ranked second, with $1.45 billion in weather-related crop losses, including $678 million in corn, $528 million in soybeans, and $113 million in forage. Intense flooding in June drove more than 80% of the state's total losses, severely impacting agricultural production across the Upper Midwest.

California followed closely behind, with $1.4 billion in crop losses. Over $660 million was attributed to drought and heat-related damage, while $500 million resulted from flooding and excessive precipitation. The state's fruit and nut industry suffered over $860 million in losses, including $272 million in grapes, $204 million in pistachios, $94 million in almonds, and $66 million in mandarins and tangerines. Additionally, California rice losses totaled $176 million in 2024.

Losses by Crop Type

Figure 3 displays overall crop losses by type across all major weather events in 2023. Theother grainscategory includes crops like oats and sorghum, theother oilseedscategory includes canola, mustard, flaxseed, etc. and theall othercategory includes miscellaneous crops like tobacco, sugarcane, sugar beets and mint. Flooding and excessive precipitation across the Upper Midwest, combined with corn’s dominant role in U.S. agriculture, kept corn losses at the top, totaling $3.85 billion in 2024. Forage losses ranked second, reaching $3.8 billion, driven primarily by widespread drought conditions in states such as Texas, South Dakota, Kansas and Oklahoma. Soybeans followed in third, with $3.2 billion in losses, largely due to the same flood-induced conditions that impacted corn. Cotton ranked fourth, with $2.