ARC vs PLC 2026: Texas and Southern Plains
2026 election and enrollment: December 11, 2026.
Separate 2027 enrollment: November 2, 2026–March 15, 2027.
Start with the base crop on your FSA record and the county where the land lies. Then ask what happens if the national price falls, the county yield falls, or both change.
What changes the comparison?
- ARC-CO: county revenue, using a county yield scenario and the national marketing-year average price (or the loan rate, if higher), compared with the published county guarantee and cap.
- PLC: the program price shortfall and your established FSA payment yield. A county yield placeholder is not your farm’s PLC yield.
- Your farm total: base acres, producer share, physical allocations and, for split practices, FSA historically irrigated percentage (HIP).
Seed cotton, grain sorghum and split irrigation
Choose Seed Cotton for the program comparison; a lint cash quote is a different price. Grain Sorghum is a separate base crop, with its own program price inputs. The county list is national; this guide focuses on Texas rows. Crop and practice availability differs by county.
Where FSA publishes irrigated and nonirrigated rows, review both. HIP comes from the farm’s FSA record. It is not this year’s irrigated acreage share.
Use the result as a worksheet for the office
- Choose your county and base crop in the ARC/PLC calculator by county.
- Replace placeholders with your FSA records. Check the source dates beside the assumptions.
- Try more than one MYA price and county yield. The higher amount at one set of assumptions is not a guaranteed better election.
- Review missing records, print your worksheet and complete the required election and enrollment with FSA.
The calculator compares conditional gross ARC-CO and PLC amounts. It does not predict a final check, calculate ARC-IC payments or file forms. The displayed dollars per base acre already include the 85% payment-acre factor.
See the sign-up checklist and both enrollment windows. For local grain context, read the dated Texas sorghum price report; cash bids do not replace MYA assumptions.
Common questions
Is ARC or PLC better for my Texas farm in 2026?
A county name or crop alone cannot settle the choice. ARC-CO responds to county revenue; PLC responds to the national marketing-year average price (or the loan rate, if higher) relative to program thresholds and your established payment yield. Compare several price and county-yield assumptions using your FSA records. These scenarios are not probabilities or expected payments.
Can I use my harvest yield or today’s cash bid?
ARC-CO uses county yield, not your individual harvest yield. PLC uses your established FSA payment yield. Its price comparison uses the national marketing-year average price (or the loan rate, if higher), not a local cash bid. Keep those values separate when testing scenarios.
Does the tool compare ARC-IC too?
It flags questions for a separate ARC-IC review but does not calculate ARC-IC payments. If individual whole-farm coverage may fit, take your production and revenue records to FSA or an adviser for that analysis.
Do 2026 and 2027 share the same deadline?
No. The 2026 election and enrollment deadline is December 11, 2026. Separate 2027 enrollment runs November 2, 2026 through March 15, 2027. Confirm the crop year on every form with FSA. A conditional payment for the 2026 crop is made no earlier than October 2027 (after October 1, 2027), not when you save this worksheet.
Program guidance carried forward from the worksheet’s October 29, 2026 rules check. Both date windows were re-read on the FSA ARC/PLC page on November 4, 2026. Confirm current deadlines and your farm’s requirements with FSA before signing.
CropInsider is an independent planning tool. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by USDA, the Farm Service Agency or the Agricultural Marketing Service.