The Farm Service Agency (FSA) has extended the election and enrollment window for the 2026 crop year through December 11 for two federal programs—Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC)—giving producers more time to see how this year’s crop performs before choosing between the two. This will allow producers to use actual harvest results, available commodity prices and their individual farm information to compare the programs.
ARC and PLC provide income protection based on revenue or commodity prices. Producers can select ARC-County or PLC on a crop-by-crop basis and make different elections for different FSA farm numbers.
“If there were dry conditions during the growing season and lower yields across the county, ARC might be the way to go because it is a revenue-based program,” said K-State Extension agricultural economist Robin Reid.
On the other hand, if county yields are above average, ARC would require a lower price to generate a payment, potentially making PLC more relevant. Reid encourages producers to run the numbers for their individual farms because established FSA program yields can significantly affect potential payments.
K-State has developed an online ARC/PLC comparison tool at to help producers evaluate potential payments under different price scenarios. It can be accessed here (https://www.agmanager.info/ag-policy/estimated-arc-plc-payments).
ARC and PLC payments for the 2025 crop year are scheduled to begin in October. As a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, farmers will receive the higher of the calculated ARC or PLC payment for that crop year, regardless of the program they elected.
The election and enrollment period for the 2027 crop year will run from November 2, 2026, through March 15, 2027.