Recently passed out of committee, the House Farm Bill proposes several changes to reference prices and base acres. Reference prices would increase across the board, with the smallest increases in barley, oats and corn. The most significant increase would be for rice.

These are the proposed changes in reference prices for other crops:

  • Legumes, approximately 19%
  • Peanuts, 17.8%
  • Cotton, 14.4%
  • Wheat, 15.5%
  • Soybeans, 18.5%

CPA Paul Neiffer explains that the proposed change in base acres provides a one-time opportunity. If you have planted more acres than your base acres, the excess acres now qualify to be increased to reflect what your plantings were over the average of 2019 to 2023 crop years. This base acre update will be based on what you planted. Non-covered commodities, such as potatoes or onions can now be used on up to 15% of total farm acres.

Read more about how the House farm bill could affect reference prices and base acres here.