"There's probably not a more important time than right now for producers to take advantage of all the safety-net provisions available," says newly appointed Farm Service Agency Administrator Zach Ducheneaux in a phone interview with Farm Press regarding enrollment in the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) or Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs.
The enrollment deadline for the USDA programs is Monday, March 15, 2021.
"We've still got a lot of economic uncertainty regarding what's going to happen as the pandemic hopefully winds down, but that could flare up at any point in time.
"The markets can be so volatile in times of economic uncertainty. These programs can help mitigate that impact."
Farm Service Agency Administrator Zach Ducheneaux
See, USDA RMA clarifies STAX eligibility procedures
To enroll, Ducheneaux said producers need to contact their county FSA office to be added to the enrollment registry. "Producers need to call ahead. Because of the pandemic, our offices are in a more restricted posture. We're not taking visitors at our offices right now, so we'll have to find a way to do it through phone, zoom or drop-off the relevant documents."
While Ducheneaux admits the restricted access is inconvenient, he said, "It's important to remember that our staff has still been able to roll out a record number of program dollars even with some of these more restrictive processes. We've got to put the safety of our staff and producers first."
Decision Tools
Two online decision tools are available to assist producers in their program election process.They are as follows:
ARC and PLC Decision Tool (Texas A&M University)- allows producers to analyze payment yield updates and expected payments for 2019 and 2020.
Gardner-farmdoc Payment Calculator (University of Illinois)- offers farmers the ability to run payment estimates modeling for their farms and counties for ARC-County and PLC.
Thus far, producers have signed 1.4 million contracts. "That's about 81% of what we expected," said Ducheneaux, who hopes more will sign up before Monday's deadline. In 2020, enrollment was 99% of what FSA expected, while in 2019, it reached 106%.
Enrolling in ARC or PLC programs can impact eligibility for some crop insurance products offered by USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA). Producers who elect and enroll in PLC also have the option of purchasing Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) through their Approved Insurance Provider, but producers of covered commodities who elect ARC are ineligible for SCO on their planted acres, according to a recent USDA press release.
Unlike SCO, RMA's Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) is unaffected by participating in ARC for the same crop, on the same acres. Producers may elect ECO regardless of their farm program election.
Upland cotton farmers who choose to enroll seed cotton base acres in ARC or PLC are ineligible for the stacked income protection plan, or STAX, on their planted cotton acres, USDA stated.
"There' been some confusion about the applicability of STAX along with cotton," Ducheneaux said. "Make sure you double-check that."
For more information, click on the following link, "2021 STAX AND Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage," to access RMA's question and answer sheet.
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