ARC / PLC

Basic Info

• ARC & PLC are both FSA programs that provide coverage on 85% of your BASE acres

  • ARC - Agriculture Risk Coverage

    • ARC is revenue ONLY

  • PLC - Price Loss Coverage

    • PLC is price ONLY

• Calculations for how each program works are shown below

• For more info on these programs, refer to the FSA website

2026 Decision

• Enrollment for 2026 programs is open now through Dec. 11th

• I lean PLC on beans (PLC on wheat, ARC-CO on milo), BUT it depends on your estimated county yield.

• Corn is a tough one. I can make a case for either one.. more info below

  • if you are bearish on price, lean PLC

  • if you think your county yield may be off (below avg), lean ARC-CO

  • if you think your county yield will be good, lean PLC

• 2026 is unique with the delayed sign up... since they are giving us until Dec 11th to sign up, the longer we wait, the more info we will have about price & yield.

• PLC provides a simple & solid price floor, $4.42 on corn (no yield component).

• ARC-CO provides a 90% revenue guar. (price x yield). At avg yields, ARC-CO provides an eff. price cov. level of $4.53 on corn. But if yields come in above avg, that lowers the eff. ARC-CO price cov. level.

  • Previously, it was not possible to select ARC-Co if you had SCO (an endorsement on MPCI policy) but that restriction has been removed. You can now have SCO and still choose either ARC or PLC.

• ARC-IC: if your 2026 yield is low on a particular FSA farm number, ARC-IC could have a uniquely good fit this year.

  • - ARC-IC pays on only 65% of your base acres vs 85% of base acres for the other programs but its based on your enrolled farms, not county performance.

  • Can enroll some of your farms (by FSN) in ARC-IC and the rest in the other programs.

  • ARC-IC does require reporting 2026 production to FSA as well as 2020-2024 production to establish your avg yields.

  • Please contact us for more info about ARC-IC.

• Sign-up for ARC & PLC is done through your FSA office (by crop, by FSN).

• Important Dates

  • 2026 Election and Enrollment - Sept. 16 through Dec. 11, 2026

  • 2027 Election and Enrollment - Nov. 2, 2026, through March 15, 2027

    • For 2027, I lean ARC-CO on corn & beans (PLC on wheat, ARC-CO on milo)

    • If the eff. price coverage levels are similar between the two options, and assuming you're not bearish on commodity prices, then I lean ARC-CO to have YIELD protection as well.

2025 Payments

• ARC/PLC payments for 2025 crop year will be paid in October 2026. Producers will automatically receive the higher payment between the two programs.

• ARC/PLC Payments for 2025 Crop Year in table and map below

KEY SUMMARY TABLE of the 2025 and 2026 prices

• Prices

  • The ARC prices have been set at $5.03 Corn & $12.17 Beans

  • The PLC prices have been set at $4.42 Corn & $10.71 Beans

  • National Marketing Year Average (MYA) prices are still being formalized but are currently estimated at $4.15 Corn & $10.47 Beans

    • the pricing period runs from Sep 1, 2025 to Aug 31, 2026

ARC-CO payment calculation details:

• The ARC-CO revenue guarantee = 90% x (ARC-CO benchmark revenue)

• ARC-CO benchmark revenue = (ARC-CO benchmark price) x (ARC-CO benchmark yield)

  • ARC-CO benchmark price = 5 yr. olympic (drop high and low) avg. of the 5 most recent annual benchmark prices

    • annual benchmark prices = higher of: effective reference price -OR- the respective MYA price

  • ARC-CO benchmark yield = 5 yr. olympic (drop high and low) avg. of previous ARC-CO county yields (2 year lag and now trend adjusted up as mentioned above, and each year is capped at)

• ARC-CO actual revenue = (ARC-CO actual price) x (ARC-CO actual county yield)

  • 2025 ARC-CO actual price = higher of : 2025-26 MYA price -OR- 2025 national avg. loan rate

  • ARC-CO actual county yield = actual average yield for the county based on RMA yields that are received through crop insurance production reporting (MPCI).

• ARC-CO payment rate = lesser of

  • (ARC-CO revenue guarantee) - (ARC-CO actual revenue)

  • capped at 12% of the ARC-CO benchmark revenue

• YOUR FARM’S PAYMENT = (applicable payment rate)  x (your farm’s base acres) x 85%

PLC payment calculation details:

• If MYA price comes in LESS THAN the PLC reference price, then there is a payment:

• PLC ERP (Effective Reference Price) = higher of:

  • base Reference Price - $4.42 Corn, $10.71 Soybeans

    • -OR-

  • 85% of the 5yr Olympic MYA price for the previous 5 crop years given a 2 year lag (so for 2026, it looks at the MYA prices for 2020-2024).

    • i.e. take out the high and low prices for last 5 yrs & discount by 15%

  • 2026 PLC prices: $4.42 corn and $10.71 beans

• The PLC ERP is capped at 115% of the Reference Prices

  • In other words, the PLC reference prices can NOT increase by more than 15%.

• YOUR FARM’S PAYMENT = (ERP - MYA price)  x (your farm’s PLC yield) x (your farm’s base acres) x 85%

Related webinars from 2024

Links to key websites / documents:

Last Updated: 9-9-2026

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