News

2019 ARC-CO payments

ARC-CO payments for the 2019 crop year are being processed now that FSA has released county yield information.

Kent Thiesse, a farm management analyst and vice president of MinnStar Bank in southern Minnesota, says although about three-quarters of corn farmers nationwide enrolled in PLC for 2019, growers that endured excessively wet conditions leaned toward ARC-CO.

“For example, if you had 11 percent or more below your benchmark yield you started collecting payments. And if you got down to about 21 or 22 percent, you got the maximum payment.”

Farmers had until March 15^th to decide between ARC-CO, ARC individual, or PLC for the 2019 and 2020 program years.

Thiesse tells Brownfield ARC-CO was the popular choice for soybeans.

“And certainly as you look at the map across really the Upper Midwest, there’s counties all over that are getting soybean payments.”

For 2020, Thiesse says if farm-level prices remain elevated it could reduce the number of payouts to producers enrolled in PLC.

And with signup for 2021 just beginning, he reminds farmers that they can switch between programs on an annual basis.