The Senate Farm Bill, proposed by Senator Debbie Stabenow, differs from the House version in several significant ways. Key differences include the ARC (Agricultural Risk Coverage) and PLC (Price Loss Coverage) programs, reference prices and disaster assistance.

Farm CPA Paul Neiffer highlights disparities between the Senate bill and the House bill. This includes an automatic selection of the higher ARC or PLC payment for 2023 or 2024, a 5% increase in reference prices (compared to the 10% to 20% increase in the House bill) and expanded ARC payment limits from 10% to 12.5%, though PLC payments face stricter caps.

The Senate bill allows partial ARC/PLC payments in advance but limits base acre updates to underserved farmers, capped at 160 acres per farm from 2025 to 2029.

Another change is the permanency of the Emergency Relief Program starting in 2025. This is designed to streamline disaster assistance. However, Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) limits drop from $900,000 to $700,000 and apply to landowners and tenants cash renting ground. This could impact tenant farmers renting from high-income landowners because, with the new AGI limits, nobody gets any payment if the landlord’s AGI is over $700,000.

Read more on the key difference between the Senate and House Farm Bill proposals here.