General Terms
Acreage report - An annual report for each insured crop in the county in which the producer has an ownership share. It indicates the crop planted, acreage prevented from planting, the producer’s share in those crops, acres planted, the dates planted, and other information. Acreage reporting dates vary from crop to crop based on the production cycle. For example, the crop insurance acreage reporting date for many counties is November 15 for winter wheat.
Summary acreage history report - Acreage of covered commodities reported to FSA, 2008 - 2012 per FSA FARM. Current (2014) "Base" Acres & "CC Yields".
Base acres - A farm’s crop-specific acreage of wheat, feed grains, rice, oilseeds, pulse crops, or peanuts eligible used for FSA program purposes. Base acres do not necessarily align with current plantings. Upland cotton base acres on the farm are renamed "generic" base acres.
Current producer - The person or legal entity meeting the "definition" of producer on the day that person or legal entity is signing any form or performing any action required under this part.
Farm (FSA Farm) - A farm is made up of tracts that have the same owner and the same operator. Land with different owners may be combined if all the land is operated by one producer with all of the following elements in common and substantially separate from that of any other tracts: labor, equipment, accounting system, management. Note: Land on which other producers provide their own labor and equipment, but do not meet the definition of an operator, shall not be considered a separate farm.
Farm number - An identifier attached to all land units under control of a particular "operator". The land units may have different owners. Land units may come and go from the farm as interest (lease, ownership) in the land units changes. An "operator" is the person or business that actually controls day-to-day operation of the farm. The Farm Number requires a state code and county code for uniqueness. Domain: Values of 0 to 9,999,999; with 0 indicating the lack of a specific farm number.
Generic base acres - Former upland cotton base acres. Generic base acres are not involved in, or subject to, base acre reallocation. If generic base acres are planted to a covered commodity in a given year, then those acres are considered base acres for that planted covered commodity in that crop year. For example, if a farm with 500 generic base acres plants 250 of those generic base acres to corn, and the farm elected ARC-County Coverage for corn, then those 250 generic base acres are treated as corn base in that crop year and receive an ARC-County Coverage payment if one is triggered.
Limited resource producer - Limited resource producer status may be determined using the USDA Limited Resource Farmer and Rancher Online Self Determination Tool located on the Limited Resource Farmer and Rancher page. The automated system calculates and displays adjusted gross farm sales per year and the higher of the national poverty level or county median household income.
Olympic average - Previous five years’ data, excluding the highest and lowest value; average the remaining three values.
Operator - An operator is an individual, entity, or joint operation who is determined by the County Committee (COC) as being in general control of the farming operations on the farm for the current year.
Owner - An owner is an individual or entity who has legal ownership of farmland, including individuals or entities that are any of the following:
- buying farmland under a contract for deed
- retaining a life estate in the property
- purchasing a farm in a foreclosure proceeding and both of the following apply: the redemption period has not passed, the original owner has not redeemed the property
- a spouse in a community property state
- spouses owning property jointly.
Planted and considered planted (P&CP) - With respect to an acreage amount, the sum of the planted and prevented planted acres approved by the FSA county committee on the farm for a crop.
Producer - A person or legal entity with a share in a crop on cropland on the farm and shares in the risk of producing the crop on the farm. NOTE: Cash rent owners do not have a share in the crop nor does the owner share in the risk of producing the crop.
Socially disadvantaged producer - Includes American Indians or Alaskan Natives, Asians or Asian Americans, Blacks or African Americans, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, and women.
Tract - A unit of contiguous land that is under one ownership and operated as a farm or part of a farm.
Corn and Soybean Program Terms
Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) - new program authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. ARC provides revenue loss payments to eligible producers for the 2014 through 2018 crop years.
Agriculture Risk Coverage-County Coverage (ARC-CO) -provides revenue loss coverage at the county level for eligible crops.
Agriculture Risk Coverage - Individual Coverage (ARC-IC) -provides revenue loss coverage at the farm level for all acreage devoted to eligible crops across all of your farms enrolled in ARC-IC.
Covered commodities - Include wheat, oats, barley, corn, grain sorghum, rice, soybeans, sunflower seed, rapeseed, canola, safflower, flaxseed, mustard seed, crambe and sesame seed, dry peas, lentils, small chickpeas, large chickpeas and peanuts.
Fruits and vegetables (FAV) - If grown for use or sale, can affect payment levels under PLC, and ARC programs. If grown for conservation or double cropped, will not affect payments.
Noninsured crop disaster assistance program (NAP) - Provides financial assistance to producers of noninsurable crops when: low yields, loss of inventory or, prevented planting occur due to a natural disaster.
Phases of ARC/PLC - The following table summarizes the planned phases of ARC/PLC.