2. Commodity Programs

Agricultural Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage. The commodities title of the 2014 Farm Bill replaced direct payments to farmers with two new programs: Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC).¹⁶⁹ Commodity programs are expected to distribute an average of $6 billion annually from 2019 to 2023—about 32% of average annual subsidies under

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the 2018 Farm Bill.¹⁷⁰ These programs supplement crop insurance for specified commodities, such as wheat, corn, sorghum, and rice, by enhancing price or revenue protection for producers.¹⁷¹ Unlike crop insurance, ARC and PLC payments are generally made according to historical plantings, or “base acres,” rather than planted acres.¹⁷² This gives producers greater flexibility in their planting decisions because they can try new crops or use crop rotations while still receiving payments based on historic crop allocations.

In order to receive ARC or PLC payments, farm owners must agree to not grow crops on highly erodible land without a conservation plan or on unconverted wetlands under any circumstances due to statutory conservation compliance requirements discussed below. Under §9018 of the agriculture title, farmers must also control noxious weeds and “otherwise maintain the land in accordance with sound agricultural practices,” which are determined at the discretion of the secretary of agriculture.¹⁷³ Congress gave USDA significant leeway to enforce this section, authorizing it to issue rules “the Secretary considers necessary to ensure producer compliance” with these requirements.¹⁷⁴ While there is no case law directly on this point,¹⁷⁵ §9018 gives USDA the authority to require farmers to implement mitigation strategies in order to receive commodity payments. This argument is strengthened by the law’s explicit requirement that recipients of commodity payments must not degrade highly erodible land or wetlands, indicating that Congress intended to tie environmental protections to ARC and PLC. To help address the threat climate change poses to agricultural land, USDA should use its rulemaking authority to require farmers receiving commodity payments to adopt costeffective climate-friendly practices. These requirements could be instituted slowly, ensuring that farmers have time to adapt.

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