New Farm Bill Potentially Adds 30 Million Base Acres Nationwide
Kansas Among the States With the Largest Potential Increase
A provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) authorizes an expansion of the base acreage for which farmers are eligible to receive payments under the USDA’s Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) programs.
The expansion will potentially add 30 million base acres (about a 10% increase nationwide) with about 2 million of those base acres added in Kansas. Kansas is among the five states with the largest number of potential new base acres, which also includes Texas, North Dakota, Nebraska and South Dakota. Taken together, these states account for 38% of the potential new base acres.
This provision of the 2025 Farm Bill, which was rolled into the OBBA legislation, could prove to be one of the most consequential legislative measures for American farmers in many years. Base acres are the crop-specific acreage of wheat, feed grains, rice, oilseeds, pulse crops or peanuts eligible for Farm Service Agency-administered programs. Because a farm’s base acreage is based on the historical record of growing each crop during certain years, the farm’s eligible base acres do not necessarily reflect current plantings.
Specifically, the legislation provides the following:
- The OBBA extends the authority for base acres and allows for the allocation of up to 30 million new base acres nationwide. Kansas, in particular, could see an increase of nearly 2 million acres on top of its existing 20.97 million base acres.
- Eligibility for these new acres is based on planting history from 2019 to 2023, including acres planted to covered commodities, eligible non-covered commodities, and acres prevented from planting due to natural disasters. New allocations are tied proportionally to past plantings. Farmers must have planted a covered commodity at least once during this period to be eligible for additional base acres.
- Farmers do not have to relinquish existing base acres to qualify for the new allocations. The new base acres will be allocated based on the farm’s historical planting mix and cannot exceed 15% of the total acres on the farm.
- These new base acres will make producers eligible for future ARC or PLC payments starting in the 2026 program year.
- Payments on base acres are decoupled from actual plantings in a given year, allowing farmers flexibility to “plant for the market.”
- If total allocations nationwide exceed 30 million acres, a pro-rata reduction will be applied.
- The USDA will notify eligible farm owners, who have 90 days to opt out. An appeals process will be available.
The base acreage measure is a major expansion of the footprint of commodity programs in the U.S., and will benefit many farmers whose base acreage allocations have been outstripped by their actual planted acres.
If you would like to discuss the ramifications of increasing your farm’s base acreage, contact an Adams Brown agribusiness accountant.
