ARC-IC Pays on Only 65% of Base Acres: Is It Worth It for 2026?

ARC-IC pays on just 65% of base acres — 20 points less than the 85% payment rate under ARC-CO and PLC — yet some 2026 producers could still clear more money from it. That math gap is the central tension in the farm program decision growers now face, with sign-up for the 2026 crop year closing Dec. 11, 2026, at local USDA Farm Service Agency offices. The deadline to enroll for 2027 is March 15, 2027.

In a typical year, producers weigh the price-only Price Loss Coverage program against Agriculture Risk Coverage, which uses market-year average prices and county average yields. For 2026, a third option is drawing attention: ARC-IC. It uses the same national MYA prices as ARC-CO but swaps county yields for farm-level yields, says Kent Thiesse, a Farm Management Analyst.

How the ARC-IC math works

The 2026 benchmark revenue is the five-year average (2020–2024) of farm-level crop insurance yields for each crop on a farm unit — as reported to the USDA Risk Management Agency — multiplied by the national MYA price for each crop in those years.

Only crops raised on a specific farm unit in 2026 count toward the benchmark. One crop, one calculation. Multiple crops, and the calculation weights each crop's benchmark revenue by its share of the farm unit's 2026 plantings, as reported to local FSA offices.

What do the numbers look like on paper?

Consider a county with a 200-bushel-per-acre corn yield, an identical farm benchmark yield, and the 2026 benchmark price of $5.03 per bushel. The maximum ARC-CO payment would be $102 per corn base acre. The maximum ARC-IC payment? $78 per base acre.

Split the farm unit 50-50 between corn and soybean base acres, add a 60-bushel soybean benchmark yield at the $12.17 soybean benchmark price, and the maximum soybean ARC-CO payment is $74 per acre. The blended maximum ARC-CO payment falls to $88 per crop base acre — still above ARC-IC's ceiling.

When does ARC-IC actually beat the alternatives?

The program's best shot is a single farm unit, in a county with strong yields, planted to one program crop that came in short at the farm level. Here's the scenario: a county corn benchmark yield of 200 bushels per acre and a final 2026 county yield of 210 bushels means zero ARC-CO payment at a $4.35 MYA price. But if the farm benchmark yield is also 200 bushels, the producer hits the maximum ARC-IC payment at a farm-level yield of 180 bushels per acre — provided the entire unit was planted to corn in 2026.

Two aggregation rules constrain the program. All crops on an FSA farm unit are calculated together, so low yields on one crop but not others can limit payments. And all farm units enrolled in ARC-IC within a state are pooled together for payment calculations.

Thiesse flags situations that favor ARC-IC in 2026:

• Farm units with below-average 2026 yields in counties at or above benchmark county yields
• Individual farm units in a separate county, not combined with other units for FSA purposes
• Single-crop units with a lower 2026 yield
• Multi-crop units where all crops came in low
• Units with high farm-level benchmark yields versus county benchmarks that posted average or lower 2026 yields

What does this change for growers?

The decision hinges on likely final yields — farm versus county — weighed against potential PLC payments, with the final 2026 MYA price not settling until September 2027. Producers can run their own comparisons through the University of Illinois FarmDoc site (farmdoc.illinois.edu) or North Dakota State University's farm bill resources (ag.ndsu.edu/farmmanagement/farm-bill). Thiesse is reachable at (507) 381-7960 or [email protected] for farm-specific analysis before the Dec. 11 deadline.