Authors: Bart L. Fischer and Joe Outlaw
In June 2024, we wrote (link) about a novel new concept for adding base acres to farms that had been proposed in the House Ag Committee-passed version of the 2024 Farm Bill (Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024). The concept ultimately was adopted in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) that was signed into law by President Trump on July 4, 2025. As we noted in July 2025 (link), the provision allowed up to 30 million additional base acres across the nation. Over the past year, USDA has been working to implement the provision. On June 1, 2026, USDA began notifying producers about the opportunity to add base acres to farms. The notification includes a “Base Allocation Summary” that provides the farm’s reported acres by covered commodity for any planted, prevented planted, failed, double crop, and subsequent acres (acres planted after an initial commodity)—along with the total number of acres of non-covered commodities—for each year from 2019 to 2023. While the calculations in the worksheet can be a little confusing to follow, the good news is that the additional base allocation will occur automatically (and can only increase the base acres on your farm—in other words, the additional base allocation cannot take base acres away from you nor reallocate existing base acres). Since the process is largely automated, you really only have to make some basic decisions by the August 31, 2026, deadline. Specifically, according to USDA, you should notify your local FSA office if:
- the acreage history data in your Base Allocation Summary is incorrect or missing;
- there are “subsequent acres” listed and you would like to choose the subsequent acreage for base allocation; or
- you elect to opt out of receiving any additional base acres.
It is clear from the implementing rule and the Base Allocation Summary that the additional base allocation process first converts unassigned base acres on an acre-for-acre basis, so long as the converted acres do not exceed the total amount of additional allocation on the farm. To read more on the implications for unassigned base acres, see this February 2026 article by Dr. Amy Hagerman (link). Finally, you will note that the Base Allocation Summary refers to “Potential Allocation” because USDA will have to apply an across-the-board pro-rata reduction if the total calculated additional base acre allocation exceeds 30 million acres. Notably, neither the 30-million-acre limit nor the pro-rata reduction apply to the converted unassigned base acres.
Beyond decisions about the allocation of additional base acres, producers will soon have to make the annual election and enrollment decisions for ARC and PLC for the 2026 crop year. This decision is typically made in the Spring before most crops are planted, but it has been delayed for the 2026 crop year as USDA has been implementing various provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. USDA has made it clear that they will announce ARC/PLC election/enrollment timeframes once the additional base acre allocation process has been completed. This is beneficial for producers because they will have much more knowledge about how the 2026 crop year is unfolding before having to make the decision. Once USDA announces the election/enrollment timeline, you can utilize the Agricultural & Food Policy Center’s ARC/PLC decision tool (which will be available at this link) to run the latest payment projections. While you can find a number of ARC and PLC payment projections online, we’d encourage you to use AFPC’s decision tool to compare both ARC and PLC projected payments and to make decisions based on your own level of risk tolerance. It is also important that you consider any implications for crop insurance as you are making your decisions about ARC and PLC.
