GRAND ISLAND, Neb., (DTN) -- Farmers can enroll their base acres for Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) for their 2026 crops.

USDA announced enrollment began Sept. 16 for the 2026 crop year and will run through Dec. 11. USDA also will open ARC/PLC enrollment for the 2027 crop year from. Nov. 2 through March 15, 2027.

As part of the enrollment, producers who added base acres will also be allowed to enroll those acres. USDA added more than 30 million base acres to the commodity programs following passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year.

At the same time, USDA stated in its news release that eligible acres exceeded the nationwide 30-million-acre cap, so the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is applying an across-the-board, prorated reduction of 3.69% to all newly allocated base acres.

Base allocation notifications became available Sept. 16. Landowners can access notifications online at fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc using a Login.gov account. Landowners who do not currently have a Login.gov account can contact their FSA county office to obtain their base allocation notification as well.

Farmers can change their elections and enroll in ARC-County (ARC-CO), PLC or ARC-Individual (ARC-IC), which provides whole-farm protection.

USDA noted, "Although election changes for 2026 are optional, producers must enroll through a signed contract each year."

At the moment, market prices for corn, soybeans and wheat are above the PLC reference prices for payments. The corn reference price is $4.10 a bushel while the soybean reference price is $10 a bushel and wheat is $6.33 a bushel.

DTN Cash Indexes on Thursday put the average national corn price at $4.92 a bushel while soybeans are at $12.64 a bushel and wheat ranges from $6.59 to $7.32 a bushel depending on the variety.

Check with your land-grant university. Many offer web-based decision tools to help producers make informed election decisions using crop data specific to their respective farming operations.

A WORD OF WARNING

USDA also cautioned that if farmers do not submit their 2026 election by Dec. 11, their election remains the same as their 2025 election for crops on the farm, and "the farm is ineligible for payments for the 2026 program year." Landowners cannot enroll in either program unless they have a share interest in the farm.

Farm accountant Paul Neiffer posted a column reiterating that farmers need to ensure they make an election and sign a contract.

"If you do not submit a 2026 election by December 11, your election from 2025 carries forward for all crops on the farm. That sounds harmless. It is not. The farm is ineligible for payments for the 2026 program year. So, the election survives and the payment does not."

USDA also stated that existing multi-year contracts ended in 2025, but farmers have the option to sign a new multi-year contract for 2026 through 2031. Farmers who opt out of a multi-year contract can enroll for the 2027 crop year starting Nov. 2, through March 15, 2027.

ELIGIBLE CROPS

Covered commodities include 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.

CROP INSURANCE IMPACTS

ARC and PLC election and enrollment can impact eligibility for some crop insurance products as well.

Farmers now can add Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) coverage or the Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) regardless of their ARC or PLC election. Previously, farmers who elected ARC-CO or ARC-IC were ineligible to purchase the SCO for the same acres, but One Big Beautiful Bill Act removed this restriction.

Upland cotton farmers who choose to enroll seed cotton base acres in ARC or PLC are ineligible for the Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) on their planted cotton acres for that farm.

Farmers can make their ARC/PLC elections and enroll either online at fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc using a Login.gov account or by making an appointment at their local FSA office.

Also see, "USDA Official: ARC, PLC Payments Will Be Significantly Higher and on Time,"

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