Key Changes Coming to DRP, LGM and LRP Programs: What Producers Need to Know

The USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) recently announced several updates to Dairy Revenue Protection (DRP), Livestock Gross Margin (LGM) and Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) programs that will take effect beginning with the 2027 crop year on July 1, 2026. The changes are intended to improve flexibility, expand coverage opportunities and create more consistency across livestock insurance products.

Uniform Changes Across Programs

Several updates will apply across DRP, LGM and LRP, including:

Updated subsidies for beginning farmers and ranchers, providing more affordable insurance coverage.
Offering concurrent coverage, enabling producers to use multiple livestock programs together.
Producers must utilize the policy and add coverage otherwise the policy will be automatically canceled if it isn't used for three years.

DRP Updates

DRP sales periods will now extend through the following calendar day to better align with other livestock insurance programs. This means that producers can no longer add coverage on Sunday morning. The deadline to add coverage will be Saturday.

LGM Changes

Several updates were made to LGM coverage, including:

Increasing the maximum cattle weight to 1,800 pounds
Increasing feeder cattle target weights from 9 to 12 cwt for yearling finishing operations
Increasing live cattle target weights for both yearling and calf finishing operations
Clarifying ownership requirements for covered cattle

These changes better reflect today’s cattle feeding practices and provide additional flexibility for producers.

Updates to LRP Coverage

Key LRP updates include:

Additional forage disaster exemption guidelines for drought and natural disasters
Increased maximum weights for Fed Cattle types
Expansion of Cull Cow coverage up to 52 weeks
Added new unborn feeder cattle categories, creating additional coverage options for producers

What This Means for Producers

These updates continue to modernize dairy and livestock insurance programs and provide producers with additional flexibility and opportunities to manage today’s volatile dairy and livestock markets. As always, evaluating risk management opportunities and understanding available coverage options remain important parts of protecting profitability.

Updated 2027 handbooks and policy documents can be found on the USDA RMA Livestock Insurance Plans website.

Contact your Dairy & Livestock Risk Management agent to learn more about how these updates may impact your operation and overall risk management strategy.

To learn more about a customized risk management strategy, contact the Crop Growers team at livestock@cropgrowers.com.

Contact Crop Growers