Lawmakers Look To Speed Up ARC/PLC Payments

House Ag Committee member Rick Crawford sought support from Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins at a recent hearing for his push to speed up ARC and PLC payments, sometimes delayed by more than a year.

“I would say that if conditions are bad enough in a given year, that they trigger a payment, that the payment is necessary in that year and not putting it off for 12 to 14 months,” the Arkansas Republican noted.

Crawford told Rollins he’s working to pass legislation to speed up payments that he complained are basically made in arrears.

“And so what I’ve sought to do is to actually create an opportunity for advanced partial payments for producers to help offset some of the interest expense associated with continuing to produce without those payments being made,” Crawford said.

Crawford argued that ARC and PLC payments need to be made in “real time,” not a year or more after the damage is done.  The Ag Secretary aggreged.

“I couldn’t agree more with that, and we’ve got the best team on the field," Rollin said.  "If it moves forward, we will get it implemented. And it’s especially important with the 30 million acres that we’re now adding into those programs, that we’re able to do this quickly.”

FSA is now figuring out farm eligibility for the added base acres using planting history from 2019 to 2023.  The 30 million new base acres are part of last year’s effort to expand the farm safety net in the absence of a new Farm Bill.

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