WASHINGTON (DTN) -- The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is about one month away from completing its work to compile the full universe of acreage that could be eligible for new enrollment in base acres, said USDA's undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC).

Richard Fordyce spoke to DTN about the status of the base-acre update after an event Wednesday at USDA announcing the new Office of Seafood, while also celebrating Tax Day because of tax breaks from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The OBBBA also included a provision allowing USDA to add up to 30 million base acres to commodity programs. These acres are expected to have production history, but have not been eligible for typical commodity payments such as the Agricultural Risk Coverage/Price Loss Coverage (ARC/PLC) payments.

Agricultural economists have noted over the past year that the addition of 30 million base acres in the legislation is arguably one of the OBBBA's most important provisions for the farm safety net, because it is a major expansion of commodity program payments to current noncovered crops and a major expansion of the footprint of commodity programs.

Right now, FSA staff are "finalizing the history dig," Fordyce said. "In order to have a crop eligible for the base-acre increase, it had to be planted sometime between 2019 and 2023, so we're going back and looking at that. Some places have a bigger task than others."

Fordyce said FSA staff are about a month away from completing that task.

"Some offices are just better equipped to be able to do that, or there are less farms, right, and ad-hoc disaster programs in some locations," Fordyce said. "So, you know, we've even had a situation where, if we've got a big county with a lot of farms and they need some help to get that done."

Once that history dig is complete, FSA will start adding up acres. "We'll see what the universe is, right? Because some farms already have base for corn or whatever. So, we'll know what the acreage is over and above that."

The big-picture question is just where FSA lands on those total planted acres because the cap for additional enrollment is 30 million.

"If it is a lot more, we will prorate it equally across the country to get it down to 30 million," Fordyce said.

Currently, FSA shows landowners have 246.6 million base acres across 27 commodities. Corn (92.8 million acres), wheat (62.2 million acres) and soybeans (52.8 million acres) make up the lion's share of base acres at 207.8 million acres.

An analysis last summer by the University of Illinois' Farmdoc team noted there is a 38.4-million-acre spread between the average planted acres for principal crops from 2019-2023 and FSA base acres. There also could be acres listed for prevented-planting filings that aren't base acres.

If the acreage currently outside of base comes in at 40 million acres, then essentially everyone's eligible acreage would be reduced by 25%, Fordyce said. "So, if you were going to get 10 acres of additional base, you'll get 7 and 1/2 acres."

The OBBBA included some caveats to adding base acres to a farm. First, planted acres must be higher than total base acres for all commodities as of Sept. 30, 2024. A farm's base acres cannot exceed total acres. The added base must be "the lesser of 15% total acres on an FSA farm, or the 2019-2023 average, all years included, of planted or prevented planting acres to eligible noncovered commodities."

Given that a large percentage of farmland is rented, the renters should be paying close attention to whether their landlords are aware of the update. One key element is that base-acre information will go to the landowner, not a renter-operator, Fordyce said.

"I've been encouraging operators that are leasing that land to start having a conversation with the landlord, saying, 'Hey, you're going to be getting this notification. It's probably something we ought to talk about.'"

Landowners will have the option to opt out if they don't wish to enroll those planted acres as base acres. It's unclear why a landowner would make that choice, but they may choose not to participate in USDA programs.

While the land may have had a corn-soybeans-wheat rotation, that also doesn't mean the landowner will get to choose what crop designation is selected for that base.

"We already know what the history is on that crop. That's why the history dig is important," Fordyce said.

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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