AFBF: Farmers Need To Prepare Now For ARC, PLC Deadlines

It may sound like you have all of the time in the world, but March 15^th will be here before you know it.  That’s the signup deadline for the USDA programs for the 2019 Program Year.

“As far as options available, there’s the Agricultural Risk County coverage option, known as ARC-County, which is a county-level, crop revenue-based enrolled on a crop-by-crop basis," said Shelby Myers Economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation.  "The Agriculture Risk Coverage individual coverage, known as ARC-IC, which is a whole-farm program, based on individual farm yields for all covered crops. There’s the Price Loss Coverage, known as PLC, which is a crop price-based program enrolled on a crop-by-crop basis.”

Myers said these programs are designed with one purpose in mind; help producers manage a difficult growing season.

“Unpredictable weather that impacts expected yields, or market impacts that cause crop prices to drop to low levels. 2019, with excessive rains, drought, fires, and even fall weather that has pushed harvest out to where we have crops still out in the fields in February," Myers continued.  "Farmers can utilize these farm programs to help their businesses manage through a difficult year of unexpected events and continue to stay in business for the next year.”

New this year, farmers can enroll in the ARC-County option or the PLC option on a crop-by-crop basis.  Which means a new layer of complexity.  To help producers make the right decision for their operation, the University of Illinois and Texas A&M have posted on their respective websites calculators to help in the decision making process.

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