Farm Service Agency

Overview

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA) authorizes 

seed cotton as a covered commodity under the

The Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss 

Coverage (PLC) programs effective for the 2018 crop 

year. Owners of a farm with generic base acres as of 

September 30, 2013, and recent planting history of 

covered commodities, have a one-time opportunity to 

allocate generic base acres.

Implementation of the seed cotton provisions will be 

similar to those for crops initially included in 2015 in 

the ARC/ PLC programs resulting from the 2014 Farm 

Bill. The process will be multi-step to allocate generic 

base acres to seed cotton base acres.

Steps for implementing the allocation of seed cotton 

are:

1. Determine if a covered commodity was planted on 

the farm during the 2009 through 2016 crop years.

2. Identify planted and considered planted (P&CP) 

history of covered commodities, including upland 

cotton, on the farm with generic base acres.

3. Current owner(s) of the farm allocate generic base 

acres to seed cotton or allocate generic base to 

seed cotton and other planted covered commodities 

as applicable.

4. Current owner(s) of the farm updates the seed 

cotton yield.

5. Current producer(s) on the farm elect the 

applicable program for seed cotton, unless 

ARC-Individual Coverage (ARC-IC) was 

previously elected on the farm.

6. The producer(s) on the farm enroll the farm.

1

FACT SHEET

August 2018

Seed Cotton Base Acre Allocation,

Yield Update, Election and Enrollment

Eligibility to Allocate Generic Base 

Acres to Seed Cotton Base Acres

A requirement to allocate generic base acres to seed 

cotton or other covered commodity base acres is that 

the farm must demonstrate a recent history of planting 

covered commodities, including upland cotton. The 

farm must have been planted or approved prevented 

planted to a covered commodity (including upland 

cotton) at any time during the 2009 through 2016 crop 

years.

Identifying Planting History

on the Farm

Producers will review the 2009 through 2012 planting 

history on farms that are determined eligible with 

generic base acres to ensure the planting history is 

complete.

BIPARTISAN BUDGET ACT

OF 2018
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SEED COTTON BASE ACRE ALLOCATION - AUGUST 2018

Generic Base Acre Allocation Options

Generic base acres may be allocated to seed cotton 

base acres according to the following options:

 Option 1: Allocate generic base acres on a farm to 

 seed cotton base acres to the higher of the following: 

 a. 80 percent of the generic base acres on the farm 

- the remaining 20 percent goes to unassigned base 

 acres for which there will be no payments.

b. The average of planted and considered planted 

(P&CP) upland cotton acres on the farm in crop 

years 2009-2012, not to exceed the total generic 

base acres on the farm.

NOTE: Any remaining unallocated generic base 

acres will become unassigned generic base acres. 

Unassigned generic base acres means the number 

of acres derived from generic base acres where no 

ARC or PLC payments are generated or earned.

 Option 2: Allocate generic base acres in proportion 

to the 4-year average P&CP of covered 

commodities, including upland cotton, in crop years 

2009-2012, to the total P&CP acres of all covered 

commodities planted on the farm.

An increase in total base acres on the farm, as of 

September 30, 2013, is not allowed.

For farms without P&CP history of covered 

commodities, including upland cotton, during the 

2009-2016 crop years, all generic base acres shall be 

converted to unassigned generic base acres for which 

no payments may be made.

If an owner fails to allocate generic base acres during 

the allocation period, the generic acres will be 

allocated to seed cotton base under the provisions in 

Option 1 if a covered commodity was planted on the 

farm during 2009 through 2016.

Generic Base Acre Allocation 

Example 

The following tables illustrate the generic base 

allocation options available for Farm 1234 that has 300 

generic base acres.

Table 1 shows the planting history and the average 

planted acres for each covered commodity on the farm 

for crop years 2009-2012.

TABLE 1: PLANTED AND CONSIDERED PLANTED HISTORY OF

FARM 1234 FOR CROP YEARS 2009-2012

COVERED

COMMODITY

Upland Cotton

Soybeans

Corn

Wheat

TOTAL ACRES

500

300

200

1000

700

150

150

1000

100

600

300

1000

600

400

1000

175.0

550.0

187.5

87.5

1000

17.50%

55.00%

18.75%

8.75%

2009 2010 2011 2012 AVERAGE TOTAL PLANTED ACRES %
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SEED COTTON BASE ACRE ALLOCATION - AUGUST 2018

TABLE 2: GENERIC ACRE CONVERSION RESULTS

CROP BASE

Seed Cotton

Soybeans

Corn

Wheat

Unassigned

TOTAL

240

60

300

175

125

300

52.5

165.0

56.4

26.1

0

300

OPTION 1-A OPTION 1-B OPTION 2

Table 2 shows the generic base acre allocation results for Option 1 and Option 2 for this farm.

NOTE: In this example, if the current owner choses option 1, the higher result is Option 1-A.

Seed Cotton PLC Yield Update

The BBA provides owners of a farm a one-time 

opportunity to update the farm’s payment yield for 

seed cotton with one of the following options:

Option 1: Retain the Counter-Cyclical (CC) yield for 

upland cotton, as listed on the farm record as of 

September 3, 2013, multiplied by 2.4.

Option 2: Update the upland cotton yield to 90 

percent of a simple average of upland cotton yield 

per planted acre on the farm for each of the 

2008-2012 crop years, excluding any year in which 

upland cotton was not planted, times 2.4.

The yield may be updated on each farm, regardless of 

the subsequent program election for seed cotton. The 

decision to update the yield is made by a current 

owner(s) on the farm. The retained or updated yield 

becomes the PLC yield for the farm, effective for the 

2018 crop year, and will be used in calculating 

payment rates for the PLC program. If a request to 

update yields is not filed within the yield update 

period, the former CC yield on the farm times 2.4 will 

be carried forward as the farm’s PLC yield for the 

2018 crop year.

If the generic base acre allocation results in crop base 

acres for a covered commodity base where a PLC 

yield does not exist on the farm, then an owner may 

update the yield(s) for the new crop(s).

Yield Certification

Owners or operators will certify to an actual yield for 

upland cotton that was planted on the farm for each 

year during 2008-2012. The certified yield shall be 

reported at the farm level and must be supported by 

acceptable production evidence if requested by FSA. 

Acceptable evidence includes FSA-658’s from the 

ACRE program, RMA yield records, NAP yield 

records, production data (including gin bale listings, 

warehouse receipts, and CMA/DMA/LSA records), 

and FSA loan records.
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SEED COTTON BASE ACRE ALLOCATION - AUGUST 2018

Yield Update Calculation

A simple average of pounds of lint from each year upland cotton was planted on the farm during 2008-2012, 

excluding zero-planted years, will be multiplied by 90 percent and then multiplied by 2.4 to arrive at the updated 

seed cotton PLC yield for the farm.

A substitute yield is authorized to be used in any year the farm’s yield per planted acre falls below 75 percent of the 

2008-2012 County Average Yield. The Substitute Yield is the simple average of the 2008-2012 yield per planted 

acre of upland cotton in the county multiplied by 75 percent.

The following is a yield update example:

Example 1: Table 3 shows the planting history for the Farm 1 and the updated yield calculations.

Farm 1 has a Counter Cyclical (CC) Yield of 959 pounds. Multiplying 959 by 2.4 determines the retained seed 

cotton yield.

The producer planted upland cotton in all 5 years of the yield period 2008 through 2012. The 2008 and 2011 crop 

year yields are lower than the substitute yield (75 percent of the 2008 through 2012 county average yield). The 

substitute yield will be used for 2008 and 2011.

The 5-year simple average yield on the farm is calculated at 1006 lbs. per acre. The PLC yield is 90 percent of 

1006 lbs. per acre multiplied by 2.4, or 2172 lbs. per acre.

The owner may choose to keep the CC yield of 2302 lbs. per acre or update the yield to 2172 lbs. per acre.

TABLE 3: Planting History of Farm 1

Upland Cotton

Certified Yield

Substitute

Yield

819

840

1207

840

1183

840

721

840

958

840

5028 1006 905 2172

UPLAND COTTON

PLANTING HISTORY

RETAINED YIELD:

CC YIELD 959 LBS. X 2.4 = 2302 PLC YIELD

TOTAL 1/

1/ Total – total of 2008 through 2012 upland cotton year yields

 840 + 1207 + 1183 + 840 + 958 = 5028

2/ Average yield – total of all yields (higher of actual or substitute yield), divided by the number

 of years with planted acres of upland cotton)

 

 5028/5 = 1006

3/ 905 x 2.4 = 2172

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 AVERAGE

YIELD 2/

YIELD AT

90

PERCENT

UPLAND

PLC YIELD

3/

YIELD UPDATE DECISION – RETAIN THE PLC YIELD OF 2302 LBS.
5 USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.

SEED COTTON BASE ACRE ALLOCATION - AUGUST 2018

Seed Cotton Program Election

Following the generic base acre allocation and yield 

update by a current owner(s) on the farm, the current 

producer(s) on the farm will have a one-time 

opportunity to unanimously elect either ARC or PLC 

for the seed cotton base acres resulting from the 

generic base acre allocation. If the generic base acre 

allocation results in other covered commodity base 

acres on the farm, those covered commodities are 

subject to the program election previously made at the 

beginning of the 2014 Farm Bill. Farms with an 

ARC-IC election will continue in ARC-IC, which 

would include any seed cotton base acres allocated to 

the farm.

A farm failing to make an election will be considered 

to have elected PLC for seed cotton.

Enrollment

The last step in the process is enrolling the farm in 

ARC/PLC for 2018. Regardless of the above steps, 

farms MUST be enrolled by the producers on the farm 

for that farm to be eligible for these income support 

programs for 2018. Enrollment of ARC and PLC farms 

for seed cotton, consistent with the program election 

for the farm and covered commodities made in the 

election period, for the 2018 crop year, began 

November 1, 2017 and will end December 7, 2018.

For More Information

This fact sheet is for informational purposes only; 

other restrictions may apply. For more information on 

ARC/PLC, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc or 

contact your local FSA office. To find your local

office visit https://www.farmers.gov.