Ag Policy Blog

A lot of the major growing areas in the country for corn and soybeans did not trigger any Agricultural Risk Coverage or Price Loss Coverage (ARC and PLC) payments for the 2022-23 crop year.

PLC did not pay on most commodities in the 2022-23 crop year, including corn and soybeans. This actually cuts to the heart of the debate about reference prices and the farm bill.

ARC-County payments operate on a formula based on the Olympic average of county yields and national marketing-year average prices. That generates a benchmark revenue, that then is multiplied by 86% which is the guaranteed revenue. If actual revenue comes in under the guaranteed revenue, then a payment is generated – capped at 10% of the benchmark.

A spreadsheet from the Farm Service Agency lays out ARC payments for each county and each commodity in the country.

Nationally, just under 60% of corn base acres and nearly 85% of soybean base acres are enrolled in ARC-County.

Based on actual revenue for farmers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota, none of the counties in those states triggered any ARC-County payments for corn or soybeans.

A look at some states and crops in the Midwest and Plains:

Kansas: Non-irrigated corn producers in most western Kansas Counties will see payments that range from $11.93 an acre up to $45.04 an acre in a southeastern county of Cherokee, Kansas. For irrigated corn producers in Kansas, Cherokee County also had the only ARC-County payments at $58.68 per acre. For soybeans, producers in more than 50 counties in Kansas will receive ARC payments, ranging from a low of $19.71 an acre up to $56.41 an acre in Rawlins County. Most of the soybean payments in Kansas are above $30 an acre.

Looking at another crop, nearly every county in Kansas generated ARC payments for sunflower seeds.

Missouri: Farmers triggered soybean payments in 12 counties that range from a low of $1.88 an acre for non-irrigated soybeans in Dade County to a high of $41.13 an acre for farmers in McDonald County. Nine Missouri counties have payments for corn, the highest being $50.40 an acre in Jasper County, Mo.

Nebraska: Non-irrigated corn shows payments in 40 counties. Those payments range from $15.75 an acre up to $57.76 an acre. Soybeans generated ARC-County payments in 34 counties. Payments ranged from a low of $2.66 an acre to a high of $53.75 an acre, depending on the county.

North Dakota: Farmers growing non-irrigated corn in Williams County show an ARC payment of $35.44 an acre, the only county in the state that generated a payment for corn. Just one county has ARC payments for soybeans, McKenzie County at $25.39 an acre. Canola and barley did not generate any payments. Kidder County shows a $35.78 an acre payment for sunflower seeds.

South Dakota: Farmers will receive ARC payments in 12 counties for corn. Producers in Yankton County will see ARC payments of $64.90 per acre. For soybeans, USDA shows farmers in one South Dakota county, Butte County, will receive a payment of $30.11 per acre.

Texas: The crop with the highest ARC payments nationally seed cotton grown in Texas. Farmers with seed cotton base acres in majority of counties in Texas received payments. At least 12 counties generated payments of more than $90 an acre with Milam County, Texas, seed cotton hitting the highest average ARC-CO payments in the country at $128.96 per acre.

More information on ARC payments for the 2022-23 crop can be found at https://www.fsa.usda.gov/…

Kansas State University Extension also has a map at https://www.agmanager.info/…

Also see, "Higher Reference Price Expected for Corn, Soybeans and Wheat in Future Marketing Years," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ChrisClaytonDTN

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