Grain and oilseed growers will receive $4 billion in crop subsides due to low market prices for their 2014 crops, said the USDA. Payments are being sent to about half of the 1.7 million farmers who enrolled in the new Agriculture Risk Coverage program, intended to shield crop revenue from low prices and poor yields, or the traditionally styled Price Loss Coverage program, based on trigger prices. The $4 billion is split among wheat, corn, soybeans, sorghum, barley, oats, peanuts and dry peas, said the USDA. Long- and medium-grain rice payments will be made in November, with chickpeas and some oilseed payments being disbursed in December.
Earlier this year, growers of the three major field crops – corn, soybeans and wheat – overwhelmingly opted for ARC. Rice and peanut growers stampeded into PLC. Because of the huge amounts of land in the three major crops, 77 percent of cropland enrolled in the farm program is under ARC and 23 percent is under PLC.