Farm Program Changes in One Big Beautiful Bill Act

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law on July 4^th. The Bill contained many key updates to the farm safety net.

Important Immediate Changes

• Changes to the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) programs are retroactive to the 2025 crop year. For 2025 only, producers will be automatically enrolled in the program—PLC or ARC—that results in the highest payment. Beginning in 2026 and continuing through 2031, producers will resume making annual enrollment decisions.

Price Loss Coverage Program (PLC)

• Increased statutory reference prices for all commodities
  • Corn: $3.70/bushel to $4.10/bushel
  • Long Grain Rice: $14.00/cwt to $16.90 cwt
  • Soybeans: $8.40/bushel to $10.00/bushel
  • Seed Cotton: $0.367/lb to $0.42/lb
  • Wheat: $4.95/bushel to $6.35/bushel
  • Peanuts: $535/ton to $630/ton

• The 2018 Farm Bill included an escalator clause allowing effective reference prices to rise when market prices stayed high relative to the statutory reference price. Recent changes adjust the escalator formula by increasing the threshold from 85% to 88% of the 5-year Olympic average price.
• Starting in 2031, statutory reference prices will increase by 0.5% each year, unless changed by future legislation. Reference price increases are capped at 113% of the statutory price.

Agricultural Risk Coverage County (ARC-CO) Program

• Benchmark revenue guarantees are increased to 90%. This will provide producers with a higher level of coverage.
• Maximum payments are increased to 12% of the benchmark revenue.

Base Acres Update

• All existing base acres are maintained, and a one-time allocation of up to 30 million new base acres nationwide is available. This allocation is for producers who either have no current base acres or whose average planted and prevented planted acres from 2019–2023 exceed their farm’s base acres as of September 30, 2024.

Crop Insurance

• Individual policy subsidy rates for basic and optional units increased by 3-5% depending on coverage level.
• Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) maximum coverage level increased to 90% and the subsidy rate is increased from 65% to 80%. Producers can also now purchase SCO and enroll in ARC-CO.
• Whole farm revenue protection maximum coverage level increased to 90%
• Area Yield Protection and Area Revenue Protection max coverage level increased to 95%.

Payment Limitations

• Payments limits are increased from $125,000 to $155,000 and indexed to inflation.
• Certain entities, such as S-Corps and LLCs, can be treated the same as General Partnerships concerning the structure of payment limits.