January 2011

As authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill (Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008), producers on eligible farms may elect to participate in the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) Program.

Under the ACRE Program, producers may receive revenue-based payments as an alternative to receiving price-based counter-cyclical (CC) payments.

Only farms with covered commodity or peanut base acres may participate in the ACRE Program. Farms that are already enrolled in the Direct and Counter-Cyclical Program (DCP) for a crop year, may elect to switch to ACRE before the end of signup. As provided by the 2008 Farm Bill, farms with 10 or less base acres are not eligible for DCP or ACRE Program payments, except for farms whose owners are socially disadvantaged or are limited resource farmers or ranchers.

The following planted or considered planted crops may be eligible for ACRE payments:

• wheat, barley and oats

• grain sorghum and corn

• upland cotton

• rice (short/medium and long grain)

• soybeans

• other oilseeds: canola, crambe, flaxseed, mustard seed, rapeseed, safflower, sesame seed and sunflower seed

• peanuts

• dry peas, lentils and small and large chickpeas (garbanzo beans).

The deadline to elect and enroll in the ACRE Program is June 1 of the program year. If elected in a previous year, producers must enroll the farm in the ACRE Program by June 1 to receive payments. Farms that elect the ACRE Program cannot receive CC payments.

Producers on participating ACRE Program farms must annually report acreage and production to FSA. Failure to do so may result in ineligibility. Production reports are due by the acreage report date for the subsequent year.

Maximum Payment Amounts

Direct payments are limited to $40,000 per person or entity minus the 20 percent direct payment reduction, and ACRE payments are limited to $65,000 plus the 20 percent direct payment reduction amount. The limitation is applied by attributing both the amounts received directly by entities and persons, and indirect amounts received through entities.

Persons or legal entities whose average nonfarm AGI exceeds $500,000 are not eligible for direct, CC or ACRE payments.

Also, persons or legal entities whose average farm AGI exceeds $750,000 are not eligible for direct payments under the DCP and the ACRE Programs.

Yields for ACRE payments are based on an “Olympic” average of a combination of producer yields and average yields for the county for the five most recent crop years. If a producer certifies yield data for a year and it is higher than the county average, that yield will be used to calculate the ACRE farm yield (Benchmark Farm Yield) as long as yields are certified for the subsequent years. Once established, the yields cannot be updated to replace average yields for subsequent year benchmark farm yields.

Producers on participating ACRE Program farms can receive direct and ACRE payments. Payments will be reduced if base acres are enrolled in a federal program which prohibits the production or harvesting of crops, such as the Conservation Reserve Program, Grassland Reserve Program and the Wetlands Reserve Program.

Direct payments are based on the farm’s base acres and program yields for covered commodities and peanuts. The payment rates for direct payments are 20 percent less than the DCP direct payment rates. Similar to DCP, payment amounts are reduced if fruits or vegetables are planted on base acres, or the acres are used for non-agricultural purposes.

ACRE payments are revenue-based payments and are tied to crop production and the National Average Market Price for planted, and considered planted, covered commodity crops or peanuts on the farm. ACRE payments can only be issued for a crop if two triggers are met for the covered commodity crop or peanuts.

State Trigger: The Actual State Revenue for the program year must be less than the State ACRE Guarantee.

Farm Trigger: The participating farm’s Actual Farm Revenue for the program year must be less the Farm ACRE Guarantee.

ACRE payment acreage is limited to the total amount of base acres on the farm, not to exceed 83.3 percent of the planted and considered planted acreage for each crop. If the planted and considered planted acreage exceeds 120 percent of the base acreage and there is more than one eligible crop, producers must designate payment acreage for each crop by Sept. 30 of the program year.

Table a: DCP and ACRE Payment Comparisons (html, 18 KB)

Table b: ACRE Payment Calculations (html, 10 KB)

ACRE Payment Calculation Table (JPG, 73 KB)

Table 1: ACRE and DCP Rates (html, 74 KB)

Table 2: ACRE 2011 State Guarantee (html, 37 KB)

Table 3: ACRE Triggers Payment Calculation for 2011 (html, 69 KB)

Table 4: Projected Payment Comparison (html, 26 KB)

Table 5: 2011 Program Timeline (html, 22KB)

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