Here’s What Ag Operators Should Do Next

 

You’ve already done the hard part if your 2025 acreage was reported to FSA by Dec. 19, 2025. Now USDA has published the national per-acre payment rates, and FSA says payments are expected to start by Feb. 28, 2026.

From an ag business-owner perspective, this is about one thing: cash-flow clarity. What’s the likely check size, when does it hit and what could reduce it?

The Midwest Short List: The Rates Most Operators Will Care About

USDA set flat, national per-acre rates by crop. For most Midwest balance sheets, these are the headline numbers:

  • Corn: $44.36/acre
  • Soybeans: $30.88/acre
  • Wheat: $39.35/acre
  • Sorghum: $48.11/acre
  • Oats: $81.75/acre
  • Barley: $20.51/acre
  • Sunflower: $17.32/acre
  • Flax: $8.05/acre
  • Rice: $132.89
  • Cotton: $117.35
  • Peanuts: $55.65
  • Canola: $23.57
  • Mustard: $23.21
  • Safflower: $24.86
  • Sesame: $13.68
  • Peas: $19.60
  • Lentils: $23.98
  • Chickpeas (Small): $33.36 | Chickpeas (Large): $26.46

FSA also notes crambe had no reported crop acres and rapeseed didn’t trigger an eligible loss, so those don’t have payment rates.

A Fast Way to Estimate Your Payment (Without Overthinking It)

Start with the acres reported on your 2025 FSA -578, and apply the rate per acre, per commodity. USDA’s program is designed to be straightforward: it’s based on planted acres (not yield), and it’s a per-acre payment by commodity.

Quick Example (Typical Grain Operation)

If your 2025 FSA acreage report shows:

  • 1,000 acres corn × $44.36 = $44,360
  • 1,000 acres soybeans × $30.88 = $30,880

Estimated gross = $75,240 (before considering any payment cap constraints).

The Reality Check That Changes the Number

Before you lock this into your 2026 plan, validate two things:

  1. Are you using the right acres?
    • Double-crop acres are eligible (initial and subsequently planted crops).
    • Prevent plant is not eligible.
    • Some intended uses don’t qualify (for example: grazing, cover-only, abandoned/left standing, etc.).
  2. Do caps or AGI limits apply to your structure?
    • Payment limit: $155,000 per producer (including many entities).
    • AGI limit: average AGI over $900,000 makes a person or legal entity ineligible.

What Happens Next: Timing and Paperwork

FSA’s approach is “verify, don’t rebuild”:

  • FSA will use existing records to provide pre-filled applications to eligible producers.
  • FSA intends those pre-filled applications to be available the week of Feb. 23, 2026.
  • FSA expects to start issuing payments by Feb. 28, 2026.
  • There’s an official FBA payment calculator you can use to sanity-check your estimate.

Don’t let the application sit. The value isn’t in debating the program. It’s in executing quickly so your spring working-capital plan has real numbers behind it.

Two Common “Gotchas” That Create Surprises

  • “We can still file it late, right?”

You can file a late acreage report, but late-reported acres aren’t eligible for FBA.

  • “Our internal acres don’t match FSA”

That mismatch is where payment estimates go sideways. If your crop insurance reporting, landlord settlements, precision ag maps and books don’t reconcile to what FSA has on record, your cash-flow forecast will be off. This program runs on the FSA acreage record, not your internal spreadsheet.

Checklist:

  • Pull your 2025 FSA acreage report (FSA-578 data) and confirm planted acres by crop.
  • Run a quick estimate using the rates above and then apply the $155,000 cap as a ceiling check.
  • Flag anything that could disqualify acres (prevent plant, excluded intended uses, etc.).
  • Plan to review the pre-filled application when it becomes available the week of Feb. 23, 2026.
  • Decide now where the dollars go in your 2026 plan (line, inputs, payables, taxes) so you’re not making reactive decisions when the deposit hits.
Questions?

Adams Brown can help you translate the per-acre rates into a practical payment forecast, confirm your FSA acreage data aligns with your internal records and integrate the expected payment into your 2026 cash flow and tax planning.

If you want a quick gut-check, send your planted acres by crop (rounded totals are fine). We’ll help you turn it into a clear estimate and a short action plan so you can make spring decisions with confidence, not assumptions. Reach out to an Adams Brown farm accountant today.