The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that agricultural producers can begin enrolling in the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs following the first expansion of base acres in two decades.
The USDA recently updated the programs to include more than 30 million new base acres, made possible by the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. Enrollment for the 2026 crop year runs from September 16 through December 11, 2026. Enrollment for the 2027 crop year runs from November 2, 2026, through March 15, 2027.
Because eligible acres exceeded the nationwide 30-million-acre cap, the USDA Farm Service Agency applied an across-the-board prorated reduction of 3.69 percent to all newly allocated base acres.