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Economist urges farmers to study 2026 safety net updates

An ag economist says farmers will want to learn just what changes in the USDA safety net programs means for their operation.

University of Wisconsin economist Paul Mitchell tells Brownfield his team is analyzing the changes made in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and other polices so they can make recommendations to farmers early in the new year.  He says many things are different for 2026.  For example, “On the crop insurance side, subsidies have increased on premiums and I think farmers are going to start maybe looking at higher coverage levels.  If you’re normally buying 75%, you might want to look at buying 80% because they’ve made all of the premium subsidies… they’re going to be lower cost to increase your coverage.”

Mitchell says several crop insurance tools for 2026 have changed.  “The support of them has changed, so we really want to sit down and think about that.  What kind of farmers should be looking at ECO or SCO?  Who would want to look at PLC now with the new reference prices?”

Mitchell says with changes comes additional training for crop insurance agents.  “What I really think they’re going to have to start thinking about is are these programs, the updated coverage levels and these ECO-SCO options, what kind of farmers are going to find these useful and then how to I explain these to farmers and why they’re useful.” Mitchell says one of his jobs is to help farmers understand the programs, and what they should be asking about when they meet with their agents.  He urges farmers to be patient optimistic as they buy inputs and plan for 2026, harvest 2025 crops, and await payments for the 2024 crop year all at the same time.

Audio: Dr. Paul Mitchell with the University of Wisconsin discusses changes in the farm safety net programs and things to watch out for before the 2026 crop year with Brownfield’s Larry Lee.