Economic Research Report No. (ERR-126) 42 pp

September 2011

Alternatives to a State-Based ACRE Program: Expected Payments Under a National, Crop District, or County Base

The Average Crop Revenue Election, or ACRE, program is a commodity support program that bases coverage on aggregate State-level and individual farm-level revenue variability. Changing the level of aggregation from State to one closer to the farm level-Crop Reporting District or county-would generally increase payments. This report models how expected payments and the level of risk reduction from programs triggered at alternative levels would vary across crops-corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, grain sorghum, and rice. It also considers how benefits from the alternative revenue programs would vary relative to benefits from direct payment and price-based commodity programs.

Keywords: Average Crop Revenue Election, ACRE, commodity support, crop revenue variability, farm risk management

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