Farmers have until March 15 to enroll and make elections in Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) or Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs for 2021.

ARC provides income support payments on historical base acres when actual crop revenue declines below a specified guarantee level. The PLC program provides income support payments on historical base acres when the price for a covered commodity falls below its effective reference price.

Covered commodities applicable to Alabama farmers include canola, corn, grain sorghum, oats, peanuts, seed cotton, sesame, soybeans and wheat.

Producers who have not signed a contract or who want to make an election change should contact their local U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Service Center to make an appointment.

Web-Based Decision Tools

USDA’s Farm Service Agency has made program data available to help producers make ARC and PLC decisions.

Additionally, USDA partners with universities to offer web-based decision tools:

• Gardner-farmdoc Payment Calculator, the University of Illinois tool that offers farmers the ability to run payment estimates modeling for their farms and counties for ARC-County and PLC.
• ARC and PLC Decision Tool, the Texas A&M tool that allows producers to analyze payment yield updates and expected payments for 2019 and 2020.

For more information, visit farmers.gov/arc-plc.