Farmers in the first few months of the year will be making decisions regarding 2021 ARC/PLC, that’s the Agricultural Risk Coverage or Price Loss Coverage risk management programs.
The decision will be based largely on what producers think the price of crops will be in the coming months, according to Gary Schnitkey, economist with the University of Illinois Extension.
“Farmers, for the remainder of this farm bill, will have a decision to make by March 15, the same day as the crop insurance final date. So, farmers have the opportunity this year to not only set their crop insurance policy, but their commodity title program, and again, that will continue throughout this year.”
Schnitkey says for now, it’s okay to wait a while before making those decisions.
“Waiting isn’t necessarily a bad thing because we’ll know more about what prices look like. But we’re already getting questions about what that choice should be. And I guess we would sort of focus on, for corn, think about PLC. Soybeans, maybe ARC County, although, that’s a tougher call. And wheat, probably PLC.”
However, Schnitkey says at the current price levels in the market, none of the commodity title programs will make payments this year. Letting the market develop in the days ahead of the deadline, should provide a better picture on what farmers should decide.