UACES Facebook USDA Releases 2023 ARC-County Payment Rates for Wheat
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USDA Releases 2023 ARC-County Payment Rates for Wheat

by Hunter D. Biram, assistant professor, Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness and H. Scott Stiles, program associate, Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness - July 3, 2024

This week USDA’s Farm Service Agency posted online the 2023 ARC-County payment rates for wheat. Seven (7) counties in Arkansas are eligible for ARC-County wheat payments (shown in the table below).

Wheat: 2023 ARC-County Payment Rates Per Acre, Arkansas

County

ARC-County Payment Rate ($/acre)*

Hempstead

$18.63

Jackson

$  2.68

Lee

$  4.22

Little River

$19.32

Miller

$20.35

Pulaski

$29.28

White

$25.97

* No adjustments were made for any budget sequestration.

Source: USDA Farm Service Agency

The Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) programs were first authorized under the 2014 Farm Bill. The 2018 Farm Bill (aka Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018) extended both programs with a provision for a market-based increase in the target price should historical prices be higher than normal. 

Landowners choose between PLC and ARC based on their preference for protection against a decline in either (a) crop prices or (b) crop revenue measured at the county level, respectively. Furthermore, producers can elect ARC at either the county (ARC-CO) or individual farm (ARC-IC) level. In Arkansas, the vast majority of producers enroll in ARC-CO as opposed to ARC-IC. Beginning in 2021, producers could choose between ARC and PLC annually for each of the 2021, 2022, and 2023 crop years.

Per USDA data, the majority of Arkansas’ wheat base acreage was enrolled in the PLC program for the 2023 crop year.  Arkansas had 801,577 wheat base acres enrolled in the 2023 ARC and PLC programs. Approximately 66% of Arkansas’ wheat base or 531,956 acres was enrolled in PLC and 34% or 269,621 base acres were enrolled in ARC-County.

For 2023, there is no PLC payment available for wheat.  The 2023 marketing year average price of $6.96 per bushel for wheat exceeded the level needed to trigger a PLC payment which was $5.50 per bushel.

The PLC payment rate is multiplied by a farm’s program yield which determines the per-acre payment rate. The PLC payment rate times 85% of base acres signed up for the respective covered commodity equals the total payment.  Combined ARC and PLC payments are subject to annual payment limits of $125,000 per person.

ARC-County, ARC-Individual, and PLC payments for the 2023 crop year will be issued after October 1, 2024. 

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