Farmers Have Until December 11 to Enroll in ARC/PLC Program for 2026
Farmers have until December 11 to enroll their base acres for the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs for the 2026 crop year. Enrollment began on September 16, according to the USDA.
Eligible crops include barley, canola, large and small chickpeas, corn, crambe, flaxseed, grain sorghum, lentils, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, dry peas, rapeseed, long grain rice, medium and short grain rice, safflower seed, seed cotton, sesame, soybeans, sunflower seed, and wheat.
Producers who added base acres are allowed to enroll those acres as part of the enrollment process. However, eligible acres exceeded the nationwide 30-million-acre cap, so the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is applying an across-the-board, prorated reduction of 3.69% to all newly allocated base acres.
Farmers can change their elections and enroll in ARC-County (ARC-CO), PLC, or ARC-Individual (ARC-IC), which provides whole-farm protection. The USDA noted that while election changes for 2026 are optional, producers must enroll through a signed contract each year.