Kiowa County USDA Service Center Staff

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

• CRP CONTRACT MANAGEMENT – Light disking and grazing is available until March 15, 2027.
• ARC-PLC ELECTION and ENROLLMENT – 2026 crop year – September 16 through December 11, 2026
• LIVESTOCK FORAGE PROGRAM - Kiowa County eligible for 5-month payment. Apply before March 1, 2027.
• FALL ACREAGE REPORTING DEADLINE - November 15, 2026 - All fall seeded crops will need to be reported to crop insurance and/or FSA by the date of November 15th.

NON-INSURED ASSISTANCE PROGRAM or NAP

Sales closing date for native grass is December 1, 2026. Cost is $325.00 per producer, per crop.

VISIT Farmers.gov for more information regarding deadlines and programs available through FSA and NRCS

OCTOBER PAYMENT CYCLE

CRP

CRP annual rental payments are set to begin being issued beginning Friday, October 2. Most offices will most likely not start issuing the payments until Monday, October 5th. Here in Kiowa County, if your CRP payment is not in your bank account by October 21st, please contact the office.

2025 ARC-PLC payments

The 2025 ARC-PLC program payments are forthcoming. Offices haven’t been notified when those payments will be available to issue. Be reminded that for 2025 due to the One Big Beautiful Bill, the election is irrelevant. If the farm has a valid enrollment of either ARC-CO or PLC then eligible producers will be paid based on the higher of ARC-CO or PLC for the commodity.

Here in Kiowa County, it appears that PLC is going to be winner; we are still waiting for the final payment rate to be posted for corn, milo and sunflowers. Below is the projected rate for those commodities and the final rate for wheat, which is $1.29 per bushel.

PLC payments are computed as follows:

85% of the farms base for the specific commodity x PLC yield for the commodity x rate x share = gross payment x 5.7% for sequestration = net payment

Ex. A farm with 100 acres of wheat base with a 50-bushel yield will receive $5170.00

Currently, the only commodity that triggered for 2025 ARC-CO is oats. There were producers who retained their oat bases for this very reason. 2025 ARC-CO payment on oats is $22.45 bu.

Payment limitation for ARCPLC has also been changed and could change yearly due to inflation. For 2025, the limitation will be $155,000 per person and 2026 will be $164,000 per person.

CRP CONTRACT MANAGEMENT

Contract management activities are available to be completed until primary nesting season begins, which will begin March 15th, 2027. Light disking and grazing are available. It’s important that producers check in with FSA to make certain that the activity can be completed and that all the required paperwork is in place. For grazing, NRCS must conduct a field check to determine that grazing can be utilized and in many case the Conservation Plan of Operations will need to be revised to reflect grazing as the management activity.

2026 ARCPLC ELECTION and ENROLLMENT

ARCPLC election and enrollment are now underway. Below are some talking points regarding 2026 and 2027 crop year. The office will most likely complete a multi-year contract, that will reduce the workload for the office in future years. If an operator enrolls into a multi-year contract, that operator can change the election during the applicable crop year election and enrollment process.

2026 – Sept. 16 through Dec. 11, 2026

2027– Nov. 2, 2026, through March 15, 2027

Producers have the option to sign a new multi-year contract for 2026 through 2031.

Review the talking points below.

ARCPLC and base allocation

• Agricultural producers can begin enrolling in the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently updated to include more than 30 million new base acres.  
• This expansion, the first in 20 years, was made possible by the Working Families Tax Cuts Act and is part of USDA’s efforts to put Farmers First.  
• Now that the base allocation process is complete, producers can make ARCPLC elections and enroll for the 2026 crop year from Sept. 16 through Dec. 11, 2026, and for the 2027 crop year from Nov. 2, 2026, through March 15, 2027.  Producers can enroll into:
• ARC-CO, based on county yield data for the commodity.
• PLC or Price Loss Coverage, based on national price for the commodity.
• Payments are based on 85% of the crop base on the farm. Producers can select ARC-CO or PLC on any commodity that has base acres on the farm.
• ARC-IC, Individual Coverage, looks at the combined revenue of all covered commodities planted across your entire enrolled farm. Payments are issued on 65% of the total base acres on the farm.
• Because eligible acres exceeded the nationwide 30-million-acre cap, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is applying an across-the-board, prorated reduction of 3.69% to all newly allocated base acres.  
• Producers can now change their election and enroll in ARC-County (ARC-CO) or PLC, which both provide crop-by-crop protection, or ARC-Individual (ARC-IC), which protects the entire farm.  
• Although election changes for 2026 are optional, producers must enroll through a signed contract each year.  
• Existing multi-year contracts ended in 2025, but producers have the option to sign a new multi-year contract for 2026 through 2031.  
• Producers who opt out of a multi-year contract can enroll for the 2027 crop year starting Nov. 2, 2026, through March 15, 2027. 
• If producers do not submit their 2026 election by Dec. 11, 2026, their election remains the same as their 2025 election for crops on the farm, and the farm is ineligible for payments for the 2026 program year.  
• Landowners cannot enroll in either program unless they have a share interest in the farm.  
• Covered commodities 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.    

Base Allocation Notifications 

• The opportunity for landowners to review their base allocation summaries and take necessary action ended Aug. 31, 2026.  
• This included correcting inaccurate information, designating subsequent acres or opting out of adding base acres.  
• Landowners did not lose base acres through the base allocation process. 
• If landowners did not notify FSA of changes, the base allocation summary is considered accurate and complete; however, an across-the-board factor will apply. 
• FSA determined the base allocation percentage reduction using all acreage reported as eligible, and new base acres will automatically be allocated to farms after applying the 3.69% reduction.   
• Base allocation notifications will be available beginning Sept. 16, 2026.  
• Landowners can access notifications online at fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc using a Login.gov account.  
• Landowners who do not currently have a Login.gov account can contact their FSA county office to obtain their base allocation notification beginning Sept. 16, 2026.    

 Crop Insurance Considerations  

• Producers are reminded that ARC and PLC election and enrollment can impact eligibility for some crop insurance products.   
• Producers can now add SCO coverage or the Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) regardless of their ARC or PLC election.  

Previously, producers who elected ARC-CO or ARC-IC were ineligible to purchase the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) through their Approved Insurance Provider for the same acres, but The Working Families Tax Cuts Act removed this restriction.

• Upland cotton farmers who choose to enroll seed cotton base acres in ARC or PLC are ineligible for the Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) on their planted cotton acres for that farm.    
• Crop insurance information is available through USDA’s Risk Management Agency.