ARC-CO Revenue Guarantees and The Falling Farm Safety Net

The establishment of the ARC/PLC program in the 2014 farm bill was a relatively major change in the structure of U.S. farm program payment mechanisms.  The ARC-CO program was elected by overwhelming numbers of corn (93% of acres) and soybean (97% of base acres) farmers and was also popular with wheat producers (53% of base acres).  For these producers, the program is a major component of the so-called farm safety net provided by the farm program.  For most producers, the amount of coverage provided by the ARC-CO program has declined since 2014.  We examine the extent of the declines and which commodities have seen the biggest impacts. (more…)