MSU Extension Farm Bill

The 2018 Farm Bill has been extended to cover the 2025 production season.  With that extension, field crop producers will once again look to choose between the Farm Bill commodity programs of Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agricultural Loss Coverage (ARC).  Deciding which program will work best for your farm can seem a bit complex. 

Updated and streamlined for the 2025 production season, the MSU Farm Bill Analyzer decision tool examines potential risk scenarios you may experience in 2025. With those scenarios in mind, the analyzer identifies which Farm Bill program will provide the best protection.

There are two primary decisions to make annually for current commodity programs. The first choice is between Agricultural Risk Coverage - County (ARC-CO) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC).  ARC-CO provides revenue-based payments when farm revenue falls below a “coverage guarantee” level. The PLC program provides price-based payments when prices are less than a “reference price.”

The second decision point is considering how the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) insurance policy ties-in to the choice between ARC-CO and PLC.  If chosen, the premium-based option of SCO limits your Farm Bill program choice to PLC. Streamlining insurance considerations for 2025, the MSU Extension analyzer looks at how a combination of SCO & PLC compares to ARC-CO.

NOTES:

• In order to make the most use of this tool, producers are encouraged to meet with their crop specialist/insurance agent to discuss and obtain estimated premiums and payments for an SCO insurance option. Additional resources for calculating estimates are also provided within the analyzer. These estimates are not calculated within the analyzer itself.
• The tool is a macro-based Excel file.