USDA Sets 2015 PLC Wheat, Oats Payment Rates

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Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payment rates for 2015 crops of wheat and oats have been set, with wheat at 61 cents per bushel and oats at 28 cents per bushel, according to USDA, with no payment for barley.

However, under provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill, no payments will be made until after Oct. 1 as the program provisions call for payments on 2015 PLC or Ag Risk Coverage (ARC) programs cannot be made until the latter of Oct. 1, 2016, or the final 2015 market-year price has been announced. The marketing year average prices for 2015-crop wheat, barley and oats were announced June 29.

As for the Ag Risk Coverage – County Coverage (ARC-CO), actual crop revenue is calculated by multiplying the actual average county yield for the covered commodity times the higher of either of the following:

• MYA price for the covered commodity

• national loan rate for the covered commodity.

Those are as follows:

Once the yield is known for the specific county and covered commodity, the ARC-CO actual revenue can be determined for wheat, barley, or oats.

As for Ag Risk Coverage Individual Coverage (ARC-IC), for 2015 wheat, barley and oats that will use the same marketing year average price/national average loan rate determinations as ARC-CO, but the actual crop revenue cannot be calculated until the producer(s) reports all production for all covered commodities planted on the farm and all marketing year average prices for all covered commodities planted on the farm are set. Until that time, the ARC-IC actual revenue for the farm cannot be calculated.

For most crops, the marketing year average price will be published by Nov. 30, 2016, but will not be published for temporate Japonica rice until January 31, 2017.

NOTE: This column is copyrighted material; therefore reproduction or retransmission is prohibited under U.S. copyright laws.