Market News & Headlines >> USDA Announces Safety-Net Payments

USDA on Monday announced that nearly half of the 1.7 million farms that signed up for the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs will receive safety-net payments for the 2014 crop year.

Nearly $4 billion in payments is being provided through the two programs to farms that suffered from lower crop prices or reduced revenues. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack noted the national average price of corn for 2014 was 30% below the historical benchmark price used by the ARC-county program, while revenues of farms participating in that program were down about $20 billion from the benchmark over the same period.

Nationwide, 96% of soybean farms, 91% of corn farms, and 66% of wheat farms elected the ARC-County coverage option, USDA said. Some 99% of long grain rice and peanut farms, and 94% of medium grain rice farms elected the PLC option. Overall, 76% of participating farm acres are protected by ARC-County, 23% by PLC, and 1% by ARC-Individual.