USDA April Outlook for 2025 PLC Payments
USDA made some revisions in April to the 2025/26 commodity price outlook and 2025 Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payment rates. At the present time, USDA is projecting 2025 PLC payments for several program commodities. Projected payment rates as of April 9th are shown in the far-right column of Table 1.
|
Table 1. 2025 Projected Price Loss Coverage (PLC) Payment Rates. |
|||||||
|
Crop |
Marketing Year |
Publishing Date for Final 25/26 MYA Prices |
Unit |
2025 Effective Reference Price |
2025 National Loan Rate |
Proj. 2025 MYA Price |
Proj. 2025 PLC Payment Rate |
|
Wheat |
June 1 – May 31 |
June 30, 2026 |
bu |
$6.35 |
$3.38 |
$5.00 |
$1.35 |
|
Peanuts |
Aug.1 – July 31 |
Aug. 31, 2026 |
lbs |
$.3150 |
$.1775 |
$.2350 |
$0.0800 |
|
Corn |
Sept.1 – Aug. 31 |
Sept. 30, 2026 |
bu |
$4.42 |
$2.20 |
$4.15 |
$0.27 |
|
Sorghum |
Sept.1 – Aug. 31 |
Sept. 30, 2026 |
bu |
$4.67 |
$2.20 |
$3.55 |
$1.12 |
|
Soybeans |
Sept.1 – Aug. 31 |
Sept. 30, 2026 |
bu |
$10.71 |
$6.20 |
$10.30 |
$0.41 |
|
Cotton |
Aug.1 – July 31 |
Sept. 30, 2026 |
lbs |
$.4200 |
$.2500 |
$.3349 |
$0.0851 |
|
Rice: long-grain |
Aug.1 – July 31 |
Oct. 30, 2026 |
bu |
$7.61 |
$3.15 |
$4.68 |
$2.93 |
|
Rice: med. grain |
Aug.1 – July 31 |
Oct. 30, 2026 |
bu |
$7.61 |
$3.15 |
$6.61 |
$1.00 |
|
Source: USDA Farm Service Agency, April 2026. |
|||||||
The Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program will trigger payments whenever the marketing year average (MYA) price is below the PLC Effective Reference Price. The payment rate equals the Effective Reference Price minus the higher of the MYA price or the national loan rate.
The PLC payments are made on 85% of a farm’s base acres. The payment rate is multiplied by a farm’s specific PLC yield. Any 2025 crop year PLC payments are subject to a $155,000 per entity limit: up from $125,000 per entity in 2024.
Note, under current peanut program provisions, peanuts have a separate program payment limit. As a result of this feature, a farm operation with peanut base has in effect two different program payment limits: the first payment limit (of $155,000) is for an aggregation of program payments made to all program crops other than peanuts; and the second (also of $155,000) is for program payments made exclusively to peanuts.
To estimate the projected PLC payment, multiply the average PLC yield for a farm by the projected payment rate. For example, in Table 2, the projected 2025 PLC payment for long-grain rice is estimated at $326.45 per base acre (.85 x $2.93/bu. payment rate x 139 bushels per acre PLC yield – 5.7% budget sequestration). We are assuming in the example, budget sequestration will be deducted from 2025 Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) farm program payments. Estimates for 2025 and 2026 ARC/PLC payments typically factor in an expected 5.7% sequestration rate.
|
Table 2. 2025 Projected Price Loss Coverage (PLC) Payments Per Base Acre. |
||||
|
2025 Soybeans |
2025 Corn |
2025 Seed Cotton |
2025 Long-Grain Rice |
|
|
Effective Reference Price |
$10.71 |
$4.42 |
$0.42 |
$7.61 |
|
25/26 Avg. Farm Price |
$10.30 |
$4.15 |
$0.3349 |
$4.68 |
|
Projected PLC Rate |
$0.41 |
$0.27 |
$0.0851 |
$2.93 |
|
Average PLC Yield |
37 |
137 |
2,059 |
139 |
|
PLC Payment / base acre* |
$12.90 |
$31.44 |
$148.94 |
$346.18 |
|
Less 5.7% budget sequestration |
$12.16 |
$29.65 |
$140.45 |
$326.45 |
|
*PLC payments are made on 85% of a farm’s base acres. Source: USDA Farm Service Agency, April 2026. |
||||
PLC yields will vary from farm to farm. Under the provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, existing PLC yields will remain in effect. A farm’s PLC yields established under the 2018 Farm Bill (known as the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018), were equal to 90% of a farm’s average yields from 2013-2017.
In this article we provide a look at USDA’s April 2026 projections for 2025 PLC payments. Given that the 2025/26 marketing year is not complete, these payment projections are preliminary and subject to change. Final marketing year average prices for spring planted crops will generally be determined in October and November 2026.
References
FSA. April 2026. Informational Forecast: 2025 PLC Payment Rates. Farm Service Agency, USDA. https://www.fsa.usda.gov/documents/2025-plc-pdf
FSA. April 2026. 2025 PLC Yields and Base Acres by County. Farm Service Agency, USDA. https://www.fsa.usda.gov/documents/plc-county-yields-py2025