Congress extended the 2018 Farm bill one year, so elections and enrollment in the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs for the 2024 crop year are now in progress. These two programs are the key U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) safety-net programs that help producers withstand fluctuations in either 2023 price for certain crops (PLC) or revenue (price and yield, ARC).
Enrollment for the 2024 crop year program closes March 15, 2024.
ARC provides income support payments on historical base acres when actual crop revenue declines below a specified guaranteed level. PLC provides income support payments on historical base acres when the effective price for a covered commodity falls below its reference price.
Producers can elect coverage and enroll crop-by-crop, ARC-County or PLC, or ARC-Individual for the entire farm for the 2024 crop year. Although election changes for 2024 are optional, re-enrollment requires a new contract be signed by all producers that share in the crops being grown in 2024.
Since Congress only provided a one-year extension, producers will still have the opportunity to make new program elections during this annual sign-up, as they did for 2019-2023. Farm owners cannot enroll in either program unless they have a shared interest in crops produced on the farm. The election decision-making is limited to operator of the farm and landowners with a share interest in the crops grown on the farm in 2024. No election is permanent and can be changed before the sign-up deadline in the current year.
Farms that change operators, owners or producers in 2024 will always require a new ARC/PLC contract be signed with FSA.
Back in 2018, producers were able to sign a multi-year contract that ran for the five years of the farm bill. If an election on a crop, on a farm, was ever changed by a producer, then the multi-year contract was terminated. Multi-year contracts still in effect for 2024 will roll over and continue for 2024.
One last reminder, cotton producers that are considering taking out STAX, which is a supplement insurance coverage on crop insurance available only to cotton producers, should talk to their crop insurance agent before the Feb. 28 crop insurance sale closing date and decide on taking out the optional STAX coverage or not. Enrollment in STAX can only be valid if a cotton producer withdraws all farms cotton is planted on for 2014, from the ARC/PLC seed cotton program by the March 15, 2024, deadline for sign-up.
