Iowa Farmers Weigh ARC and PLC as 2026 Sign-Up Raises the Stakes

By Marcus Bennett

Eighty-five Iowa counties triggered ARC-CO payments on corn base acres for the 2025 crop, against just 18 counties for soybeans. That gap, disclosed in Iowa State University Extension payment data, frames the choice now facing every producer in the state ahead of the 2026 enrollment window.

The 2026 election and enrollment period with the USDA Farm Service Agency runs Sept. 16 through Dec. 11, 2026. Enrollment for the 2027 crop year opens Nov. 2, 2026, and closes March 15, 2027. Producers can sign up for multiple years at once or enroll annually.

What changed for 2026?

The safety net itself moved. Congress rewrote key parameters through the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, and Iowa came out ahead on base acres.

• The ARC-CO revenue guarantee rose from 86% to 90% of benchmark revenue. The payment cap climbed from 10% to 12% of that benchmark.
• National loan rates increased from $2.20 to $2.42 per bushel for corn and from $6.20 to $6.82 for soybeans. Payment limits also rose for 2025, with further inflation-indexed adjustments to come.
• Iowa gained 1.49 million base acres through the WFTCA allocation, and the state lost no base acres in the process. Payments on the additional acres only will be cut by 3.69% in 2026.

Effective reference prices for 2026 stand at $4.42 per bushel for corn and $10.71 per bushel for soybeans. USDA FSA publishes reference prices for the other covered commodities.

How did 2025 crops actually pay?

Mid-year 2025 changes under the act meant producers received the higher of their ARC-CO or PLC payment in October 2026, regardless of which program they originally chose. The choice, in effect, was made retroactively for them.

For farms where ARC-CO did not trigger, PLC filled the gap. PLC rates ran $0.21 per bushel for corn and $0.17 per bushel for soybeans, applied to each farm's PLC yields. Based on average FSA yield data, Iowa State Extension estimates PLC payments landed between $20 and $40 per base acre for corn and $6 to $9 per base acre for soybeans.

Those figures assume a 5.7% sequestration rate and payment on 85% of a farm's base acres. They do not account for program payment limits, which can trim returns on larger operations.

What does this change for an individual farm?

The honest answer is that it depends on geography and crop mix. ARC-CO pays when county revenue falls below a benchmark. PLC pays when national marketing year average prices fall below effective reference prices. A corn-heavy farm in a county that missed the ARC trigger last year may read those 2025 maps differently than a soybean producer in a triggered county.

Iowa State Extension updated its Ag Decision Maker Decision Tool with FSA county-level yields and price projections, so producers can compare alternatives farm by farm before enrolling. Entering farm-level data also pulls up 2025 payment results.

Where to run the numbers

Extension produced two video walkthroughs: one covers enrollment options and deadlines with FSA, and a second demonstrates the payment estimator Decision Tool. Additional resources include:

• The Ag Decision Maker Farm Bill information page, with sign-up dates and publications.
• The 2026-2027 ARC-CO and PLC Payment Estimator for Iowa.
• The CARD ARC/PLC Payments Mapping Tool, which visualizes projected county-level payments across the state.
• FSA news releases, including its announcement of $1.39 billion in safety net and conservation program payments to Iowa and its confirmation that the 2026-2027 enrollment completed the first base acre increase in two decades.

FSA urges producers to contact their local office and review farm-specific base acres, yields and enrollment options well before the deadlines. With corn reference prices at $4.42 and a 90% guarantee now in force, the December sign-up date gives Iowa growers roughly three months to decide how much downside risk they want Washington to carry.