This study examines the impact of publicly supported insurance on agricultural land values. The analysis employs confidential, nationally representative panel data on field-level pastureland values and exploits a natural experiment provided by gradual introduction of the Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Insurance Pilot Program. We use a field-level fixed-effects model that controls for several time-variant factors. We find that insurance availability is associated with an increase of at least 4 percent in pastureland values. This increase is comparable with increases generated by other government programs but is much smaller than total farmland value increases experienced in recent years.
