By Justin Walker
Communications Specialist

An online tool is available through Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service to help farmers with decisions regarding signup for safety net programs.

The 2018 Farm Bill Decision Aid tool helps farmers decide between the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs, according to Dr. Justin Benavidez, AgriLife Extension economist in Amarillo.

“The first decision for producers to consider is whether or not they want to update their payment yields,” Benavidez said. “The decision aid allows producers to enter their 2014 PLC payment yield and the information associated with the chosen crop, practice, acreage and yield for that farm. The tool will use that information to calculate an updated payment yield based on the regulations in the farm bill.”

The second decision is between ARC and PLC, he said. The tool, using information from the 2014 Farm Bill, develops expected payment outcomes for both plans.

There are a few things to remember when using the tool, Benavidez said.

“First, the tool is only set for the 2019-2020 crop-year decision, the first to be made under the 2018 Farm Bill,” he said. “Second, remember that expected payments produced by the decision aid do not account for a government sequester, payment limits or interactions with crop insurance.”

There’s also been a change that should benefit growers, allowing for yearly swaps between plans.

Previously, growers would have to choose between either ARC or PLC and stay with it until the end of the farm bill. Growers will now select a plan for the 2019-2020 crop year and then again in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

“Whatever program you picked you were stuck with for the life of the bill,” DeDe Jones, AgriLife Extension risk management specialist in Amarillo, said. “That’s not the case this time.”

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced signups for the 2018 Farm Bill on Sept. 3, but it may serve growers to wait until Oct. 1 to enroll for both 2019 and 2020 crop years, Jones said. Due to the government shutdown delaying 2019 signups, growers will have the opportunity to enroll for both 2019 and 2020 at the same time in October.

For more information on the decision tool and program signup, click here.