The Agriculture Department offers Pasture, Rangeland and Forage, an area-based insurance plan that covers pasture, rangeland or forage used to feed livestock by insuring against the lack of precipitation. In the event precipitation amounts within an area fall below the insured level and rainfall index, PRF uses county-based values to make a loss payment to the policyholder. The lack of precipitation is the only insurable loss under PRF.

For 2019, USDA’s Risk Management Agency modified the method for determining CBVs for PRF to reflect the value of forage production per acre, grazing fees and state-level pasture rental rates. This will better account for state-level average grazing fees and pasture rental rates than using hay prices alone.

State-level pasture rental rates represent an average of the county-level data. During 2018, pasture cash rental rates in the U.S. averaged $12.50 per acre and were unchanged from 2017. Pasture rental rates ranged from a low of $6.70 per acre in Texas to a high of $54 per acre in Iowa. Pasture rental rates in 13 states increased over 2017 levels, were unchanged in seven states and decreased in five states.