Farmers are getting a better sense of the new programs in the farm bill that will work best for their operation. Jonathon Coppess was previously head of the Farm Service Agency in Washington D.C. and says the easy decision for farmers is to update their yield and reallocate their base acres by February 27. They’ve not been able to make that update for several years and the yield from 2008 to 2012 will be used to calculate the size of the PLC payment.
He says the program election decision is much harder and so he suggests using one of the calculators to run the numbers. However, he says so far ARC County is looking the best for row crops.
He says PLC or price loss coverage is only the best option if farmers think prices are going sharply lower. The deadline for that signup at FSA is March 31.