Impacts of switching the ACRE program trigger from State to county revenue varies for corn producers

Few producers have chosen the Average Crop Revenue Election or ACRE program, which was introduced under the 2008 Farm Act and uses revenue variability and a combination of State- and farm-level payment triggers. Switching the State trigger to a county trigger has been suggested as a means to make ACRE more attractive. In most cases, county-level revenue is more variable than State-level revenue and is more highly correlated with farm-level revenue; thus the switch would increase expected payments. In some cases, however, these relationships do not hold, and the switch would decrease expected payments. This map is from Alternatives to State-Based ACRE Program: Expected Payments under a National, Crop District, or County Base, ERR-126, September 2011.