A quick update first. As of November 2, 2026, there’s still no new farm bill and no extension. The old one ran out on September 30. The House passed its version back in April, and the Senate Ag Committee moved its own bill in September, but the two haven’t been reconciled.

The four lead negotiators, the top Republican and Democrat on each Ag Committee, all say they want it finished before the new Congress is sworn in January 3. Right now they’re hung up on SNAP cost-sharing with the states and country-of-origin labeling for beef. Congress comes back November 9, after the election.

Last month I wrote about CRP, where new contracts are stuck until Congress acts. I said crop insurance would be next, so here it is, along with ARC and PLC.

I’ve had a few people ask whether the lapse puts their farm program payments or crop insurance at risk. For the most part, it doesn’t. But there are a couple of dates between now and January that you’ll want on the calendar.

Why ARC, PLC and crop insurance are still running

The budget reconciliation bill Congress passed in July 2025, the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” did a lot of farm bill work on the side. It extended ARC, PLC, marketing loans, and Dairy Margin Coverage through the 2031 crop year, and it extended crop insurance too. So when the farm bill itself expired, those programs kept going.

It also made them better for wheat country. The PLC reference price on wheat went from $5.50 to $6.35 a bushel, and barley went from $4.95 to $5.45. ARC’s county revenue guarantee went from 86% to 90%, and the most it can pay went from 10% to 12% of benchmark revenue. The per-person payment limit went from $125,000 to $155,000, and it’ll move with inflation from here on.

On crop insurance, the government now picks up a bigger share of your premium at most coverage levels. SCO goes up to 90% coverage with an 80% premium subsidy, and you can buy it whether you’re in ARC or PLC, which wasn’t the case before. Beginning farmers are now anyone with 10 years or less of experience, up from five, and they get extra help on premiums.

December 11 is the date that matters

FSA sign-up for the 2026 crop year closes December 11. For 2025, Congress just paid everybody whichever program came out higher. That was a one-time deal. For 2026, you’re back to choosing. If you don’t sign up at all, your farm stays in whatever program it had for 2025, but you won’t get a 2026 payment. I’d hate to see anyone leave money on the table over paperwork.

On wheat, it’s a close call this year. The University of Illinois economists behind Farmdoc have the 2026 wheat price projected just a nickel under the $6.35 reference price. They give PLC a slight edge for most farms, though ARC-CO could come out ahead in a county where wheat yields come up short.

The University of Idaho built a free comparison tool that covers counties in Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington, and it’s worth a few minutes of your time. After that, sit down with your county FSA office and your crop insurance agent before you sign anything.

One more thing: 2027 sign-up opened November 2 and runs through March 15.

New base acres

This one slipped past a lot of people. For the first time in about 20 years, USDA added base acres, up to 30 million nationwide, for farms that planted program crops between 2019 and 2023 beyond what their base covered. More acres qualified than the law allowed, so FSA trimmed every new allocation by 3.69%.

Those notices went to landowners, not to whoever is farming the ground. If you own farmland and haven’t looked at your FSA records lately, call the county office and find out whether your farm picked up base. ARC and PLC pay on base acres, so they’re part of what a farm earns.

The January 1 “dairy cliff”

There’s one piece the 2025 law didn’t touch. The 2018 farm bill set aside the old “permanent law” from 1938 and 1949, and one-year extensions have kept it set aside through the 2026 crop year. The Congressional Research Service says that if Congress doesn’t act, the old law comes back January 1, 2027. Dairy is first in line because its year starts January 1.

That’s the “dairy cliff” you may have heard about. Those old formulas could force USDA to buy dairy products at prices way above today’s market. Most analysts don’t expect a mess right away, and a new bill or even a short extension would take care of it. Still, if you milk cows in Washington or Idaho, keep an eye on December.

What it means for land and leases

If you rent ground out, now’s a good time to make sure your lease and your FSA paperwork line up. ARC and PLC are for producers, meaning whoever shares in the risk of growing the crop. On a crop-share lease, the landlord counts as a producer. On cash rent, the tenant is the one who makes the election, and FSA says a landowner can only enroll with a share interest in the farm. With a December 11 deadline, that’s a conversation to have this month.

If you’re buying, ask for the farm’s FSA records and find out whether it picked up new base this year. Base acres, the program election, and the crop insurance history all tell you something about what that farm can earn.

If you’re selling, pull those same records together before you list. Higher reference prices and new base help a farm’s income picture, and buyers and their lenders are going to ask. At the end of the day, soil, rainfall, water, and location still set what a farm is worth. But a safety net people can count on makes lenders and buyers more comfortable with dryland ground, and that matters when it’s time to sell.

What’s next?

I’ll be watching the lame-duck session. We could get a full five-year bill, another short extension, or something narrower that just handles the dairy cliff and CRP. If anything big happens, I’ll write about it next month. If not, I’ll move on to drought and water.

If you want to talk through what any of this means for a farm you own, or are thinking about buying, give me a call.

Sources

• MCOOL in spotlight as ‘Four Corners’ negotiate a final farm bill (Agri-Pulse, Oct. 21, 2026)

• Beyond the Midterms: Congress Faces Converging Year-End Deadlines (Holland & Knight, Oct. 2026)

• Farm Bill Expires Again as Lawmakers Continue Negotiations (Farm Policy News, Oct. 2, 2026)

• Farm bill expiration creates uncertainty for ag programs and priorities
(Wyoming Livestock Roundup, Oct. 9, 2026)

• The Farm Bill After FY2025 Budget Reconciliation: Frequently Asked Questions (CRS R48775, Dec. 18, 2025)

• ARC/PLC Program Fact Sheet 2026 (USDA FSA)

• USDA Announces 2026 and 2027 Enrollment for Key Price and Revenue Safety Net Programs
(USDA FSA, Sept. 15, 2026)

• USDA Ready to Add 30 Million Base Acres (DTN, May 21, 2026)

• One Big Beautiful Bill Act: Final Agricultural Provisions (American Farm Bureau Federation, July 17, 2025)

• USDA crop insurance changes under the One Big Beautiful Bill (USDA RMA, Aug. 20, 2025)

• The 2026 ARC/PLC Decision: ARC-CO vs PLC (Farmdoc Daily, Oct. 27, 2026)