26 Sep 2014

ARC/PLC Farm Program Announcement

by | posted in: Wheat, Wheat News | 0

September 26, 2014
(updated Sept. 30, 2014)

On Thursday, Sept. 25, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack released information on the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs that were created in the 2014 farm bill. According to the timelines announced, producers will have through early spring of next year (2015) to select which program works best for their operation.

Base Acre Reallocation/Yield Updates
The first step of the sign up process will begin Monday, Sept. 29, when farm owners can update their yield history and/or reallocate base acres at their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) county office. This step is optional and farmers can choose to leave base acres and yields as established with no further action. FSA sent letters out to all farm owners earlier this summer with their crop planting history, which should help owners make the decision to keep current base acres or reallocate them closer to recent year’s plantings. The deadline to complete the base reallocation and yield update will be Feb. 27, 2015.
Decision Aid Calculators
The availability of two new decision aid tools was also announced. One of the decision aid calculators, USDA-NAAFP, was developed by the Ag Food and Policy Center (AFPC) at Texas A&M in conjunction with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri. The other calculator, USDA-APAS was developed by the National Coalition for Producer Education (NCPE), led by the University of Illinois. Both decision aids are now FSA approved and available online. Farmers who have been waiting for the official tools to be released can now move forward in confidence to start making program decisions. Both tools are listed below:
  1. USDA-NAAFP Decision Aid Calculator | Texas A&M University and University of Missouri
    This site of integrated tools can help producers analyze their options and choices for making base acre reallocation/yield update decisions, as well as the decision between the ARC and PLC programs required in the 2014 Farm Bill. Although the look and feel have changed, any data previously entered into the preliminary version of the calculator are still available from the previous site. If you are new to the site, you can start by creating an account.
  2. USDA-APAS Decision Aid Calculator | University of Illinois
    This decision aid calculator will aid producers in making decisions for updating yields, base acre reallocation and the decision between ARC and PLC.  Several webinars are also available that will review the farm bill programs and decisions, provide training and demonstration on the APAS farm bill decision calculator and include updates on prices and program analysis.
ARC and PLC Programs

Details on the differences between the ARC and PLC programs may be found in the final rule. FSA has also released a fact sheet that provides several examples for base acres reallocation, yield updates and scenarios of choosing ARC or PLC. Some common questions between ARC and PLC have been answered with the ARC-PLC FAQ sheet. Additional information can also be found on the USDA-FSA homepage. Producers can elect either ARC or PLC beginning Nov. 17 and the deadline to select a program will be March 31, 2015. 

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