Deadline nears for USDA safety net programs

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Agricultural producers who have not yet enrolled in the Agriculture Risk Coverage or Price Loss Coverage programs for the 2025 crop year have until April 15 to revise elections and sign contracts.

Both safety net programs, delivered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency, provide vital income support to eligible farmers who experience substantial declines in crop prices or revenues for the 2025 crop year.

In Illinois, producers have completed 146,455 contracts to date, representing 82.1% of the more than 178,378 expected contracts.

“Agriculture Risk Coverage or Price Loss Coverage programs provide excellent risk protection, for market declines, at no cost to the producer,” said Jean French, Illinois FSA deputy state executive director.

“If you haven’t made your program election or signed a contract, please contact your local FSA county office as soon as possible to set an appointment so you don’t miss the April 15 deadline.”

Producers can elect coverage and enroll in ARC-County or PLC, which provide crop-by-crop protection, or ARC-Individual, which protects the entire farm.

Although election changes for 2025 are optional, producers must enroll, with a signed contract, each year.

If a producer has a multiyear contract on the farm, the contract will continue for 2025 unless an election change is made.

If producers do not submit their election revision by the April 15 deadline, the election remains the same as their 2024 election for eligible commodities on the farm.

Also, producers who do not complete enrollment and sign their contract by the deadline will not be enrolled in ARC or PLC for the 2025 year and will not receive a payment if one is triggered.

Farm owners can only enroll in these programs if they have a share interest in the commodity.

Producers are eligible to enroll farms with base acres for the following commodities: barley, canola, large and small chickpeas, corn, crambe, flaxseed, grain sorghum, lentils, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, dry peas, rapeseed, long grain rice, medium and short grain rice, safflower seed, seed cotton, sesame, soybeans, sunflower seed and wheat.

Web Decision Tools

Many universities offer web-based decision tools to help producers make informed, educated decisions using crop data specific to their respective farming operations.

Producers are encouraged to use the tool of their choice to support their ARC and PLC elections.

Insurance Considerations

Producers are reminded that enrolling in ARC or PLC programs can impact eligibility for some crop insurance products offered by USDA’s Risk Management Agency.

Producers who elect and enroll in PLC also have the option of purchasing Supplemental Coverage Option through their Approved Insurance Provider, but producers of covered commodities who elect ARC are ineligible for SCO on their planted acres.

Unlike SCO, RMA’s Enhanced Coverage Option is unaffected by participating in ARC for the same crop, on the same acres. Producers may elect ECO regardless of their farm program election.

Optimize Office Visits

Agricultural producers visiting FSA to complete ARC and PLC elections and enrollment are encouraged to also conduct other FSA program business during their scheduled appointment including completing farm loan applications and applying for the recently announced Emergency Commodity Assistance Program.

Sign-up for ECAP began on March 19. ECAP, authorized by the American Relief Act, 2025, provides up to $10 billion to agricultural producers for the 2024 crop year.

Administered by FSA, ECAP will help agricultural producers mitigate the impacts of increased input costs and falling commodity prices. Congress gave USDA 90 days to implement the program, and that deadline was met.

Producers of eligible commodities must submit ECAP applications to their local FSA county office by Aug. 15. Only one application is required for all ECAP eligible commodities nationwide.

ECAP applications can be submitted to FSA in-person, electronically using Box and One-Span, by fax or by applying online at fsa.usda.gov/ecap utilizing a secure login.gov account.

For more information, visit the ECAP website at https://tinyurl.com/USDA-ECAP or review the ECAP Fact Sheet at https://tinyurl.com/ECAP-Fact-Sheet.

More details are forthcoming on more than $20 billion to be made available through the American Relief Act, 2025, for producers who suffered losses from natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 including $2 billion set aside for livestock producers and other funds that will be administered through block grants with states.

To learn more about FSA programs, producers can contact their local USDA Service Center.

Producers can also prepare maps for acreage reporting, as well as manage farm loans and view other farm records data and customer information by logging into their farmers.gov account. If you don’t have an account, sign up at www.farmers.gov/account.