Farmers have until March 15 to make their 2020-21 farm program elections. University of Illinois economist Dr. Gary Schnitkey says farmers must decide between Agriculture Risk Coverage or Price Loss Coverage for this crop year or they will divert back to the election they made in the 2019-20 season. He says they are making some general recommendations to farmers based on current conditions and prices.
He says the PLC program pays when prices are expected to be lower and is based on reference prices. The ARC County program is a revenue-based program that takes into consideration the County Benchmark Yields and price to figure a county revenue and if payments will be made. So, he says farmers should keep that in mind when making their election.
Schnitkey says the University of Illinois has developed a calculator to help farmers make their decision, but USDA also has a What If Tool farmers can use that will be updated by the end of this week.
Schnitkey provided the farm program information on a webinar this week hosted by the South Dakota Corn Growers Association and you can watch that on their website.
