Base acres on farms where all cropland acres have been planted entirely to grass or pasture, including cropland that was idle or fallow, from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2017, will be maintained, but no ARC or PLC payments will be issued for those base acres from 2019 through 2025. Reconstitutions are not permitted to void or change this treatment of base acres.

Unassigned base acres resulting from the 2018 allocation of generic base acres are ineligible for payment. Payment acres under ARC-CO and PLC are equal to 85% of the specific covered commodity base acres. For ARC-IC, payment acres are 65% of the farm’s total covered commodity base acres. A producer is not eligible to receive ARC PLC payments if the sum of base acres on ALL farms in which the producer has an interest is 10 acres or less. This 10-acre rule will not apply to a socially disadvantaged, beginning, veteran, or limited resource farmer or rancher. All farm producers with interest in the cropland have the opportunity to make a unanimous program election of either ARC-CO or PLC on a crop-by-crop basis; or ARC-IC for all covered commodity base acres on a farm for the 2025 crop year during the election period. Failure to make a valid election during the election period in 2025 will result in a continuation of the program elected for 2024 for all covered commodities with base acres on the farm.

To be eligible for payments, producers must annually enroll their respective share interest of covered commodity base acres. Enrollment will occur on a covered commodity-by-covered commodity base acre crop basis. Enrolling less than 100% of a covered commodity’s base acres on a farm is not allowed. Producers who previously selected a multi-year enrollment option will remain enrolled through the 2025 program year, provided there are no changes to the election or shares on the contract.

Election and enrollment can impact eligibility for some forms of crop insurance. Producers who elect and enroll in PLC also have the option of purchasing Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) which has been referred to as “shallow loss coverage” through the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA). Producers of covered commodities who elect ARC are ineligible for SCO on their planted acres. Producers of upland cotton 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. To be eligible for STAX coverage, producers must not enroll their seed cotton base acres into the ARCPLC program. Because enrollment is now completed on a commodity-by-commodity basis, producers can choose to enroll all base acres, with the exception of cotton, if they wish to purchase STAX coverage. Those producers who do enroll in ARCPLC for seed cotton will have their STAX eligibility determined based on that enrollment.