ARC, PLC Signup to be Significantly Delayed

Jan 13, 2026

By Ryan Hanrahan

Agri-Pulse’s Philip Brasher reported that “the Agriculture Department has finalized some revisions to two major farm commodity programs, including rules for adding new base acres, but signup for the programs won’t be scheduled until after planting season at the earliest, according to a top USDA official.”

“The changes, which take effect for 2026, include increases in reference prices for the Price Loss Coverage program and raising the Agriculture Risk Coverage program guarantee to 90% of the benchmark revenue,” Brasher reported. “A 61-page final rule to be published in the Federal Register on Monday makes those and other revisions to ARC, PLC and the Dairy Margin Coverage program that were required by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by Congress in July.”

“Richard Fordyce, USDA’s undersecretary for farm production and conservation, said in an interview with Agri-Pulse that annual signup for DMC will start on Monday, but he had no timetable for enrollment in ARC and PLC for the 2026 crop year,” Brasher reported. “‘We are going to have a signup period that is going to be certainly fair to producers (and) that will reflect the work … we’ve got to get done on the front end to get to the place where we can do that signup,’ Fordyce said. ‘By no means will the signup time frame put any producer in peril.'”

“Fordyce indicated that one issue delaying ARC and PLC enrollment is the workload in Farm Service Agency offices,” Brasher reported. “The rule being published on Monday indicates that the ARC and PLC enrollment could be delayed significantly: ‘Producers will know their 2026 production and yields before they decide whether to elect and subsequently enroll in ARC or PLC for the 2026 crop year.’”

What are the ARC/PLC Changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act?

Progressive Farmer’s Chris Clayton reported that “OBBBA raised reference prices under the Prices Loss Coverage program (PLC) and the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) program. For the 2025-26 crop year, USDA will provide producers with the higher of the calculated ARC or PLC payment rates after the marketing year ends. ARC/PLC payments next fall are projected at $13.5 billion.”

Source : illinois.edu

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