April 15 looms for crop insurance enrollment
Agricultural producers who have not yet enrolled in the Agriculture Risk Coverage or Price Loss Coverage programs for the 2025 crop year have until April 15 to revise elections and sign contracts.
Both safety net programs, delivered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency, provide income support to eligible farmers who experience substantial declines in crop prices or revenues for the 2025 crop year. FSA officials in High Plains region noted the importance of the deadline in a news release.
Producers can elect coverage and enroll in ARC-County or PLC, which provide crop-by-crop protection, or ARC-Individual, which protects the entire farm. Although election changes for 2025 are optional, producers must enroll, with a signed contract, each year. If a producer has a multi-year contract on the farm, the contract will continue for 2025 unless an election change is made.
If producers do not submit their election revision by the April 15, deadline, the election remains the same as their 2024 election for eligible commodities on the farm. Also, producers who do not complete enrollment and sign their contract by the deadline will not be enrolled in ARC or PLC for the 2025 year and will not receive a payment if one is triggered. Farm owners can only enroll in these programs if they have a share interest in the commodity.
Eligible crops
Producers are eligible to enroll farms with base acres for the following commodities: 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.
Web-based decision tools
Many universities, including Kansas State University’s AgManager.info, offer web-based decision tools to help producers make informed, educated decisions using crop data specific to their respective farming operations. Producers are encouraged to use the tool of their choice to support their ARC and PLC elections.
Glance at several High Plains states
In Kansas, producers have completed 72,222 contracts to date, representing 70% of the more than 104,500 expected contracts. In Iowa, producers have completed 121,598 contracts to date, representing roughly 74% of the more than 164,162 expected contracts. In Oklahoma, producers have completed 24,443 contracts to date, representing 51.6% of the more than 47,361 expected contracts. In Texas, producers have completed 47,688 contracts to date, representing 54% of the more than 88,000 expected contracts. In Arkansas, producers have completed 19,649 contracts to date, representing 71.2% of the more than 27,612 expected contracts.
Optimizing FSA office visits
Agricultural producers visiting FSA to complete ARC/PLC elections and enrollment are encouraged to also conduct other FSA program business during their scheduled appointment including completing farm loan applications and applying for the recently announced Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP).
Sign up for ECAP began on March 19. ECAP, authorized by the American Relief Act, 2025, provides up to $10 billion to agricultural producers for the 2024 crop year. Administered by FSA, ECAP will help agricultural producers mitigate the impacts of increased input costs and falling commodity prices. Congress gave USDA 90 days to implement the program, and that deadline was met.
Producers of eligible commodities must submit ECAP applications to their local FSA county office by Aug. 15. Only one application is required for all ECAP eligible commodities nationwide. ECAP applications can be submitted to FSA in-person, electronically using Box and One-Span, by fax or by applying online at fsa.usda.gov/ecap utilizing a secure login.gov account. For more information, visit the ECAP website or review the ECAP Fact Sheet.
More details are forthcoming on more than $20 billion to be made available through the American Relief Act, 2025, for producers who suffered losses from natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 including $2 billion set aside for livestock producers and other funds that will be administered through block grants with states.
