SUMMARY OF CHANGES FOR THE ORGANIC PRICING METHODOLOGIES FOR BARLEY, CORN, COTTON, GRAIN 

SORGHUM, OATS, RICE, RYE, SOYBEANS, SUNFLOWERS, AND WHEAT (24-CEPP-MO)

The following is a brief description of changes to the Organic Pricing Methodologies for Barley, Corn, Cotton, Grain 

Sorghum, Oats, Rice, Rye, Soybeans, Sunflowers, and Wheat for the 2024 and succeeding crop years. Please refer to the 

Organic Pricing Methodologies for Barley, Corn, Cotton, Grain Sorghum, Oats, Rice, Rye, Soybeans, Sunflowers, and 

Wheat document below for complete information.

• The 2024 crop year is the first year that revenue coverage is offered for rye, and rye is now added to this 

document. Prior to the 2024 crop year, rye was insured under the Actual Production History plan of insurance. 
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24-CEPP-MO

(Released June 2023)

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Federal Crop Insurance Corporation

Organic Pricing Methodologies for Barley, Corn, Cotton, Grain Sorghum, Oats, Rice, Rye, 

Soybeans, Sunflowers, and Wheat

The Commodity Exchange Price Provisions (CEPP) provide the authority to derive factors as “determined by RMA” to establish 

organic prices, as applicable. This document contains the methodologies used to derive these factors.

1. Organic Barley

For the most recent five years, annual organic barley prices 

from the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) are divided 

by annual conventional barley prices from AMS. A simple 

average of these annual factors is computed to produce the 

organic barley price factor.

This ratio is multiplied by the conventional barley price 

factor computed in accordance with the barley methodology 

paper. The resulting factor is the organic barley factor. A 

single organic barley factor is used for all locations specified 

in the barley CEPP.

2. Organic Corn and Soybeans

National organic corn and soybean prices are published biweekly by AMS. RMA uses the low end cash bid price, 

when available. Otherwise, the low end spot transactions 

price is used. The bi-weekly prices are averaged for each 

month to derive monthly organic prices.

To compute the corn factor, the monthly organic corn prices 

are divided by the corresponding monthly average price of 

the December corn futures contract. To compute the 

soybean factor, the monthly organic soybean prices are 

divided by the corresponding monthly average of the 

November soybean futures contract. A simple average of 

these factors over the most recent five years (60 monthly 

factors) provides the basis for each respective factor. A 

single corn factor and a single soybean factor are used for 

all locations specified in the corn and soybean CEPPs.

3. Organic Cotton

Proprietary industry data that represents a majority of the 

United States organic cotton market is made available to 

RMA. Season average organic market prices are 

compared to National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) 

season average conventional market prices to derive a 

linear relationship between conventional and organic 

prices. The average Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)

futures price for October of the pre-harvest year (e.g., 

October 2018 for the CTZ19 contract) is used to forecast an 

expected organic premium for the harvest year’s crop 

based on the linear relationship. The amount resulting from 

this calculation will be added to the discovered ICE cotton 

#2 futures prices as described in the CEPP. Due to the 

proprietary nature of this data, the factor cannot be 

calculated independently. The value will be released prior 

to the contract change date.

4. Organic Grain Sorghum

To compute the organic grain sorghum factor, national 

organic grain sorghum prices from data contained in the 

Organic Production Surveys, beginning in 2011, are 

obtained. The average October futures price for the CBOT 

December corn contract is derived by year for the years 

corresponding with the Organic Production Surveys. From 

these, a ratio is derived for each year that equals the 

national organic grain sorghum price divided by the 

associated average corn futures price. 

The average of the ratios is multiplied by the conventional 

grain sorghum price factor to generate the organic grain 

sorghum factor. A single factor is used for all locations 

specified in the grain sorghum CEPP.

5. Organic Oats

Data used to derive the organic oats factor is gathered from 

USDA NASS Organic Surveys, NASS oats price received 

by U.S. farmers, and Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) 

market information. Due to inconsistent reporting of organic 

price data, the method may change slightly from year to 

year based on the data available at that time. As such, a 

specific methodology is not presented, and the factor will be 

released prior to the earliest oats contract change date.

6. Organic Rice

Growers are eligible to insure organic rice production under 

terms detailed in RMA’s Contract Price Addendum (CPA), 

using the price in the contract to establish coverage for the 

crop insurance program (see www.rma.usda.gov/-

/media/RMA/Policies/Contract-PriceAddendum/2014/Contract-Price-Addendum.ashx). 

The organic rice price factor reflects the low end of the 

range of the most recent five years of organic contract 

prices submitted to RMA under the CPA. The organic rice 

price factor is set conservatively to minimize the impact 

RMA coverage might have on price negotiations between 

growers and buyers. Due to the proprietary nature of this 

data, the factor cannot be calculated independently. The

value will be released prior to the contract change date.

7. Organic Rye

Data used to derive the organic rye factor is gathered 

primarily from USDA NASS Organic Surveys. Due to 

inconsistent reporting of organic price data, the method 

may change slightly from year to year based on the data 

available at that time. As such, a specific methodology is 

not presented, and the factor will be released prior to the 

rye contract change date.
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8. Organic Sunflowers, Oil and Confectionary Types

Data used to derive organic sunflower seed factors is 

gathered from USDA Organic Production Surveys, NASS 

oilseed prices received by U.S. farmers, and proprietary 

industry data. The organic price available for oil type 

sunflowers each year is divided by the average

conventional oil type price for that year to get an annual 

organic to conventional ratio. The organic sunflower factor 

for oil type sunflowers is an average of the annual organic 

to conventional ratios. The factor for organic confectionary 

types is set to equalize organic prices for confectionary and

oil types. These factors are multiplied by the discovered 

conventional prices for sunflowers as described in the 

sunflowers CEPP. Due to the proprietary nature of this 

data, the factor cannot be calculated independently. The 

value will be released prior to the contract change date.

9. Organic Wheat

For the most recent five years, national monthly organic 

wheat prices from AMS reports are divided by monthly 

conventional NASS wheat prices. A simple average of 

these monthly factors is computed for each crop year, and 

the resulting annual factors for the past five crop years are 

averaged to produce the organic wheat price factor. Due to 

the nature of the data, a single wheat factor is applied to all 

the discovered conventional prices as described in the 

wheat CEPP. In the case of the durum type, the product of 

the organic wheat price factor and the durum factor will be 

applied directly to the average daily settlement price, as 

described in the CEPP (see separate durum wheat 

methodology paper).