Tools

ARC vs. PLC Analyzer

Elections and enrollment for the 2026 crop year are open through December 11. This shows what each election pays per base acre on your county and crop, and where the two cross over — plus an ARC-IC check that runs the farm on its own yields.

Pick a county, crop and practice and it loads FSA's published benchmark yield, benchmark price, guarantee and 12% cap. Set a marketing-year price and a final county yield — the price starts at USDA's own forecast — and both programs settle side by side, with every step of the arithmetic on the page. Further down, enter a farm's own yield history to see whether ARC-IC beats both — the case for a farm that took a hit the county didn't.

Your farm

From your FSA farm record. Pre-filled with an estimate — replace it with the real number.

Price & yield scenario

Both elections are settled by these two numbers.

ARC-CO County revenue

$0
per base acre (after the 85% factor)
On 160 base acres$0

PLC National price

$0
per base acre (after the 85% factor)
On 160 base acres$0

At this scenario

Gross estimates at a 100% share — before producer-share adjustments, sequestration, payment limits and eligibility reductions.

How the numbers are built

FSA formulas, step by step

ARC-CO worksheet

Step 1 — Benchmark revenue (2020–24 Olympic averages)
Step 2 — Revenue guarantee (90% of benchmark)
Step 3 — Actual county revenue
Step 4 — Payment rate, capped at 12% of benchmark revenue
Step 5 — Payment per base acre

PLC worksheet

Step 1 — Effective reference price (2026)
Step 2 — Payment rate: reference price less the higher of MYA price or loan rate
Step 3 — Payment per base acre

Payment grid

ARC-IC check — this farm’s own yields

Whole-farm revenue · paid on 65% of base

ARC-IC ignores the county. It compares this farm’s 2026 revenue across every covered crop it planted with a guarantee built from the farm’s own 2020–24 yields. It earns its place when the farm took a loss the county didn’t — hail, wind, ponding, a dry pocket. Enter each crop on the farm (FSN), its yield history, and what it actually made in 2026.

ARC-CO Crop by crop

$0
across the farm

PLC Crop by crop

$0
across the farm

ARC-IC Whole farm

$0
across the farm

ARC-IC vs. the rest

Gross estimates at a 100% share — before producer-share adjustments, sequestration, payment limits and eligibility reductions.

ARC-IC worksheet

Whole-farm guarantee, step by step
Step 1 — Farm benchmark revenue per planted acre (weighted by 2026 planted acres)
Step 2 — Revenue guarantee (90% of benchmark)
Step 3 — Actual 2026 farm revenue per planted acre
Step 4 — Payment rate, capped at 12% of farm benchmark revenue
Step 5 — Payment on 65% of all base acres on the farm

Each year’s farm revenue is the farm’s yield times FSA’s annual benchmark price for that year — the higher of the MYA price or the 2026 effective reference price. A crop’s benchmark revenue is the Olympic average of its five annual revenues (the highest and lowest revenue years, struck through above, are dropped). Crops are weighted by 2026 planted acres. 2026 revenue uses the higher of the MYA price or the national loan rate. Base acres from every covered commodity on the farm are paid at one rate.

  • All ARC-IC farms in a state are combined. A producer’s ARC-IC farms in the same state are pooled into one revenue calculation, so a good farm can dilute a hurt one. Run every farm the producer would put in ARC-IC in that state together before choosing which FSNs to elect. Farms that span counties or mix irrigated and non-irrigated ground are weighted by FSA’s rules — confirm those with the county office.
  • It’s the whole FSN. ARC-IC takes every covered-commodity base acre on the farm — you can’t put corn in ARC-IC and leave soybeans in PLC.
  • Yield records drive it. The farm needs production evidence for each crop and year. Enter the farm’s ARC-IC benchmark yields as FSA has them. This tool doesn’t apply FSA’s substitutions for missing or low years, and county trend adjustments don’t apply to a farm’s certified yields.
  • It’s still an annual choice. Electing ARC-IC for 2026 doesn’t lock the farm into it — the farm can elect differently in a later year’s election period. Ask the county office how a change affects a multi-year enrollment.
  • Crop insurance indemnities don’t reduce ARC-IC, and SCO/ECO can now be bought alongside any election.

Method & sources

  • County benchmark yields, benchmark prices, guarantees and 12% caps: USDA FSA ARC-CO Trend Adjusted Yields, Benchmark Yields and Guarantee Revenues for Program Year 2026 (file dated 2026-01-16).
  • Trend-adjustment factors: USDA FSA Trend-Adjusted Yield Factors for Program Year 2026. FSA adds the factor once for each year between the yield year and 2026, so the de-trended yield shown in the yield-history card is the trend-adjusted figure less that adjustment. FSA’s benchmark inputs can include an 80% T-yield substitute for a low or missing year, so these are reconstructed benchmark inputs, not necessarily what was harvested. Where a county and crop have no factor, no adjustment was applied and the two series are identical. The 2026 final county yield that settles ARC-CO is not trend-adjusted.
  • ARC guarantee is 90% of benchmark revenue and the payment rate is capped at 12% of benchmark revenue, per the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. Actual revenue uses the higher of the MYA price or the national loan rate. ARC-CO pays on 85% of base acres; ARC-IC on 65% of all base acres on the farm.
  • PLC effective reference prices are FSA's published 2026 figures: the greater of the statutory reference price or 88% of the 5-year Olympic-average MYA price, capped at 115% of statutory. Payment rate is the effective reference price less the higher of the MYA price or the national loan rate, paid on 85% of base acres times the farm's PLC yield.
  • Default MYA prices are the 2026/27 projections in FSA's 2026 Benchmark and Actual Price Calculations for ARC-IC (September 11, 2026); corn, wheat and grain sorghum are refreshed to the October 9, 2026 WASDE. Loan rates are FSA's 2026 national rates. The grid marks your price row, and labels it the USDA forecast only when it matches.
  • ARC-IC follows FSA's method: each 2020–24 year's farm revenue is the farm yield times FSA's annual benchmark price (the higher of that year's MYA price or the 2026 effective reference price); the high and low revenue years are dropped and the rest averaged; crops are weighted by 2026 planted acres; the guarantee is 90%, the payment rate is capped at 12% of farm benchmark revenue, and payment is made on 65% of all base acres on the farm.
  • SCO and ECO can now be purchased alongside either election. Seed cotton base enrolled in ARC or PLC makes planted cotton on that farm ineligible for STAX.

This tool is an estimate for planning conversations. Actual payments depend on final FSA ARC-CO county yields (for ARC-IC, the farm’s certified yields) and the final national MYA price, published after the marketing year ends. All payment figures are gross estimates at a 100% share, before producer-share adjustments, sequestration, payment limits and eligibility reductions. ARC and PLC are governed by FSA program rules and county office determinations. Confirm base acres, PLC yields and shares with your FSA county office.

Before you sign the contract

An election is a crop-by-crop decision on each farm, and the base acres and PLC yields that drive it come off your FSA records rather than anything we can look up. Bring us your 156EZ and we will run it against your actual numbers — and it is worth doing before December 11, because a farm with no election on file stays on its 2025 choice and draws no 2026 payment.

Send us your base acres Open the indemnity estimator