Farmers Should Make ARC-PLC Election Decisions by March 15

Farmers can elect coverage and enroll in crop-by-crop Agricultural Risk Coverage-County (ARC-CO) or Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs within each Farm Service Agency (FSA) farm unit, or ARC-Individual for the entire farm, for the 2022 crop year, says Ron Haugen, North Dakota State University (NDSU) Extension farm management specialist.

Although election changes for 2022 are optional, enrollment by signed contract is required for each year of the program.

This is an annual decision that farmers need to make, Haugen says.

If an election is not submitted by the deadline of March 15, the election defaults to the current election for crops on the farm from the prior crop year.

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 national marketing year average price for a covered commodity falls below its effective reference price.

Covered commodities include 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.

NDSU Extension has developed an online tool to aid farmers in making this decision. The tool can be found at https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/ag-hub/ag-topics/farm-management

Contact your local FSA office to make this election.

For more information on ARC and PLC, farmers can go to the FSA website at https://www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc or contact their local FSA office.