If you’re involved in production agriculture, you may have spent many hours trying to figure out and, comply with, the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs, the two cornerstone safety nets created by the 2014 farm bill.
Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reminded Americans that many of the 1.7 million farms enrolled in one of the programs will receive payments due to market downturns in the 2015 crop year.
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said this in a written statement:
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"This fall, USDA will be making more than $7 billion in payments under the ARC-County and PLC programs to assist participating producers, which will account for over 10 percent of USDA's projected 2016 net farm income. These payments will help provide reassurance to America's farm families, who are standing strong against low commodity prices compounded by unfavorable growing conditions in many parts of the country.”
Under the old direct payment program, farmers received payments in both good and bad market conditions, USDA noted. In contrast ARC and PLC payments kick in only when when decreases in revenues or crop prices, respectively, occur.
As known previously, U.S. producers enrolled 96 percent of soybean base acres, 91 percent of corn base acres and 66 percent of wheat base acres in the ARC-County coverage option. Overall, 76 percent of participating farm base acres are enrolled in ARC-County, 23 percent in PLC and one percent in ARC-Individual.
For other program information including frequently asked questions, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc or visit your local office of the Farm Service Agency, an arm of USDA.
