The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced agricultural producers may now enroll in the Farm Service Agency’s agriculture risk coverage and price loss coverage programs for the 2024 crop year.
Producers can enroll and make election changes for the 2024 crop year starting Dec. 18, according to a news release from the USDA. The deadline to complete enrollment and any election change is March 15, 2024.
The Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024, which extended the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, more commonly known as the 2018 Farm Bill, through Sept. 30, 2024, recently was signed into law by President Joe Biden.
The extension allows authorized programs to continue operating.
Producers can elect coverage and enroll in ARC-County or PLC, which provide crop-by-crop protection, or ARC-Individual, which protects the entire farm.
Although changes for 2024 are optional, producers must enroll through a signed contract annually. If a producer has a multi-year contract on the farm, it will continue for 2024 unless a change is made. If revisions are not submitted by the March 15, 2024, deadline, they will remain the same as their 2023 election for commodities on the farm. Farm owners cannot enroll in either program unless they have a share interest in the cropland.
Covered commodities include barley, canola, large and small chickpeas, corn, crambe, flaxseed, grain sorghum, lentils, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, dry peas, rapeseed, long grain rice, medium grain rice, safflower seed, seed cotton, sesame, soybeans, sunflower seed and wheat.
For information, contact the USDA Service Center office in Brownstown at 812-358-2367.