Crops > Costs & Returns > Government Programs
Updated January, 2015
File A1-36
2014 Farm Bill Calculator
The Farm Bill Calculator is an educational tool designed to compare possible payment options of the 2014 Farm Bill. Its goal is to help you make informed decisions regarding:
(1) the reallocation of base acres and
(2) the ELECTION of a commodity program for the life of the Farm Bill (PLC, ARC-CO, ARC-IC, or PLC + SCO)
Step 1 - Farm data: Please enter your farm-specific data in the yellow shaded cells. Then, review the projections in the green shaded cells. You can modify the projections manually by entering new data in the green shaded cells.
Step 2 - Payments: Please choose the set of Marketing Year Average (MYA) price.
The available sets of price projections are derived from USDA data, FAPRI data and the CME (futures prices).
Then, review the projections in the green shaded cells. You can modify the projections manually by overwriting the green shaded cells.
Based on the information entered in Step 1, MYA price, planting price, harvest price, county yield and farm yield for 2014 through 2018, program payments are calculated for possible combinations of programs across crops. The program with highest net present value of expected payments is highlighted in Box 4.
Payments by year, by crop and for the whole farm can be analyzed in Box 5.
Net present values of payments and indemnities for different combinations of programs at the whole farm level for the years 2014-2018 can be visualized in the "Payments Chart."
Step 3 – Revise Acre Reallocation: All calculations are based on base acreage allocation in Row 20 from Step 1-Farm Data.
In Step 3 you can analyze the potential differences of choosing the alternative base acreage allocation.
Alejandro Plastina, extension economist, 515-294-6160, plastina@iastate.edu
