Producers have until March 15 to enroll in the Agriculture Risk Coverage or Price Loss Coverage programs for the 2022 crop year.
USDA offers these two safety net programs to provide vital income support to farmers experiencing substantial declines in crop prices or revenues, explains USDA’s FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux.
“As producers continue to weather a bruising pandemic and new, climate-induced disasters, these programs are all the more important,” he says. “I am encouraging producers to reach out to their county offices to learn about program eligibility and election options today, so that they can begin the enrollment process as soon as possible.”
You can elect coverage and enroll in ARC-County or PLC, which are both crop-by-crop, or ARC-
Individual, which is for the entire farm. Although election changes for 2022 are optional, you must enroll through a signed contract each year. Also, if you have a multi-year contract on the farm and make an election change for 2022, it will be necessary to sign a new contract.
If an election is not submitted by the March 15 deadline, the election remains the same as the 2021
election for crops on the farm. Farm owners cannot enroll in either program unless they have a share interest in the crop.
Producers have completed 976,249 contracts to date, representing 54 percent of the more than 1.8 million expected contracts.
You are eligible to enroll farms with base acres for the following commodities: barley, canola, large and small chickpeas, corn, crambe, flaxseed, grain sorghum, lentils, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, dry peas, rapeseed, long grain rice, medium and short grain rice, safflower seed, seed cotton, sesame, soybeans, sunflower seed, and wheat.
Decision Tools
Gardner-farmdoc Payment Calculator — a tool available through the University of Illinois allows you to estimate payments for farms and counties for ARC-CO and PLC: https://fd-tools.ncsa.illinois.edu/
ARC and PLC Decision Tool — a tool available through Texas A&M that allows you to estimate payments and yield updates and expected payments for 2022: https://www.afpc.tamu.edu/
Other Deadlines
In addition to the March 15 deadline for ARC and PLC, other important deadlines include:
March 1 — Livestock Indemnity Program
https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/disaster-assistance-program/livestock-indemnity/index
March 11 — Conservation Reserve Program General Signup
https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/conservation-programs/conservation-reserve-program/
March 15 — Pandemic Cover Crop Program
https://www.farmers.gov/cover-crops
March 25 — Dairy Margin Coverage
https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/dairy-margin-coverage-program/index
