Crop and Livestock Income Protection (CLIP), a federally reinsured crop insurance product, protects revenue across multiple crops and livestock. Rather than insuring each commodity at a high individual Revenue Protection (RP) coverage level—often expensive in regions with rising premiums—you can combine RP-insured commodities under a CLIP umbrella, buying higher and more affordable protection for eligible crops and livestock.
What is CLIP?
CLIP provides umbrella revenue protection on top of your individual RP policies. It functions as a supplemental layer that raises the overall revenue guarantee when two or more RP policies are combined.
How CLIP works
Instead of buying high coverage levels crop-by-crop, CLIP allows you to apply an additional layer of protection across your entire farm (within one county) at a more affordable cost.
A CLIP indemnity is triggered only after underlying RP indemnities are applied, and the total actual revenue (production plus RP payments) still falls below the CLIP guarantee. This layered structure protects the coverage gap between the RP level and the higher CLIP level.
RP claims are settled first, then CLIP evaluates the combined revenue to determine if an additional payment is owed.
All three crops met their Revenue Protection (RP) guarantees so no payment was owed. But all three of the revenue payments combined did not meet the 85% CLIP guarantee, so a CLIP indemnity covered that gap.
All three crops were short of their guarantees for their individual policies, so all three Revenue Protection (RP) policies paid an indemnity. CLIP paid out to cover the gap between the lower RP guarantees and the 85% CLIP coverage.
All three crops did well with revenues above the 85% CLIP guarantee. No loss payments are owed for CLIP or any of the Revenue Protection (RP) policies.
CLIP availability varies by county within 13 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas.
CLIP cannot be paired with certain plans and endorsements, including:
- Catastrophic Risk Protection, Yield Protection, Revenue Protection with Harvest Price Exclusion
- Supplemental Coverage Option, Stacked Income Protection Plan, Margin Protection, Post-Application Coverage Endorsement
- Malting Barley Endorsement
Commodities eligible for CLIP
CLIP covers weaned calves and RP-eligible crops with a spring closing date. Crops include:
- Barley (spring), canola (spring), corn, cotton
- Dry beans, dry peas, flax, grain sorghum, oats (spring)
- Peanuts, popcorn, rice, soybeans, sunflowers
- Wheat (spring)
How CLIP interacts with RP policies
CLIP is designed to complement, not replace, RP coverage.
RP first, CLIP second:
- RP policies handle individual crop losses and pay indemnities crop by crop.
- After RP is settled, CLIP evaluates whether the combined revenue still falls below the CLIP guarantee.
Because CLIP insures diversified revenue across multiple commodities, premium costs are generally lower than insuring each crop with high‑level RP coverage.
Why CLIP might be the right fit
CLIP solves several challenges producers face with modern revenue risk:
- Affordability: Bundling crops makes high coverage levels more cost effective.
- Stability: CLIP protects revenue when prices or yields decline.
- Flexibility: Producers choose which crops to include in CLIP and tailor coverage.
A new revenue insurance tool, CLIP strengthens farm‑wide financial resilience. By combining two or more RP policies into a single umbrella structure, CLIP delivers higher coverage at a more affordable cost, simplifies insurance management, and stabilizes income across diversified operations.
