Many of you will be considering your risk management options in the coming months, and you may be wondering how the bullish market should play a role.
You have until March 15th to make decisions about 2021 ARC or PLC. That is the same day as the crop insurance finale date. So, you have the opportunity this year to not only set up your crop insurance policy, but your commodity title program that will continue throughout the year.
The deadlines are just two months away, but a University of Illinois ag economist says that it is okay to wait a bit.
According to Gary Schnitkey, “Waiting isn’t necessarily a bad thing because we’ll know more about what prices look like, but we’re already getting questions about what that choice should be... I guess we would sort of focus on, for corn, think about PLC. Soybeans, maybe ARC county, although, that’s a tougher call, and wheat, probably PLC.”
He says that at the current price levels in the market, none of the commodity title programs will make payments this year.
Letting the market develop in the days ahead of the deadline should give you a better idea through the decision making process.
You have got a little more than a month to sign up for the Conservation Reserve Program.
This offering from USDA’s Farm Service Agency provides annual rental payments for land set aside for conservation. The competitive program has been around for 35 years, and it helps prevent soil erosion, reduce nutrient runoff, sequesters greenhouse gases, and benefits wetlands and wildlife.
Sign-up for CRP closes February 12th.
