News

USDA issues $9.6 billion in safety net programs

The USDA will begin issuing farm safety net and conservation payments this week.

More than $9.6 billion in payments will be made to farmers through the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC), Price Loss Coverage (PLC), and Conservation Reserve programs (CRP). About $8 billion will be given under the ARC and PLC programs for the 2016 crop year and $1.6 billion under CRP for 2017.

More than 500,000 producers will receive ARC payments and more than 250,000 farmers will receive PLC payments for their 2016 crops.

Payments go to farmers who enrolled base acres of barley, corn, grain sorghum, lentils, oats, peanuts, dry peas, soybeans, wheat, and canola.

The ARC and PLC programs were authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill and offer a safety net to farmers when there is a substantial drop in revenue or prices for covered commodities

Signed into law by President Reagan in 1985, CRP is one of the largest private-lands conservation program in the United States

For more information visit www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc or www.fsa.usda.gov/crp.