The Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-22) was signed into law on November 16, 2023. The bill extended various programs, including the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs, through September 30, 2024. As a result of the extension, ARC and PLC will be in place for the 2024 crop year under the same parameters as those negotiated in the 2018 Farm Bill (i.e., the same base acres, program yields, and Reference Prices, etc). Growers have until tomorrow (March 15, 2024) to make an election between ARC and PLC on a crop-by-crop and farm-by-farm basis and to enroll their farm(s) for the 2024 crop year.
If you are unable to make it to your local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office by the close of business tomorrow, we highly encourage you to call the office to inquire about the possibility of getting on a register to preserve the option of signing up at a later date. Under the 2018 Farm Bill, the election and enrollment are an annual decision; as a result, even if you haven’t participated in recent years, you should be able to sign up for 2024 if you wish (assuming there aren’t other factors impacting your eligibility).
For many growers in the South, March 15th is also the Sales Closing Date for crop insurance on several crops. As we noted in an earlier Southern Ag Today article, we highly encourage you to consider your FSA enrollment in light of the crop insurance options available to you. In many cases, the decisions you make on one will affect the other. For example, you cannot participate in the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) on a farm if the base acres for that crop have elected ARC for the crop year (and vice versa, especially for winter wheat producers who have already purchased SCO on the 2024 crop). Similarly, cotton producers cannot purchase a Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) policy on any farm (FSA Farm Number) where the seed cotton base has been enrolled in ARC or PLC for that crop year.
Despite bearish prices for many commodities, ARC and PLC are still unlikely to provide any assistance in most cases. As a result, we highly encourage you to consider all of the crop insurance options available to you – including area-wide options like STAX, SCO, and the Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) – before making your FSA election/enrollment decisions.
Fischer, Bart L., and Joe Outlaw. “ARC and PLC Deadline TOMORROW!” Southern Ag Today 4(11.4). March 14, 2024. Permalink
