ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia farmers, ranchers and landowners are in line for roughly $413 million in federal farm safety net and conservation payments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency said Thursday.
Most of the money flows through two commodity programs, Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage, for the 2025 crop year. Nationally, those programs are set to pay about $13.8 billion before reductions, which the agency called the biggest yearly total since Congress created them in the 2014 farm bill. No crop year since 2015 has come close, the agency said.
In Georgia, 15 crops qualified for a Price Loss Coverage payment, among them peanuts, seed cotton, corn, soybeans and wheat. A recent federal law raised reference prices and lifted the per-farmer payment cap from $125,000 to $155,000, adjusted for inflation; the 2025 limit works out to $160,000. For this crop year only, farmers automatically get whichever of the two programs pays more.
Checks will be trimmed by a 5.7% sequestration cut required by law, and payments go out as the agency finishes its calculations. Rice payments will wait until final market-year prices are set.
The state also gained about 451,500 new base acres under the law, which will count toward the programs starting with the 2026 crop year. Signup for 2026 runs through Dec. 11, and enrollment for 2027 opens Nov. 2.
Conservation Reserve Program rental payments for 2026 cover 118,798 acres under active contracts in Georgia, including 18,994 acres of grassland. Farmers with questions should contact their county Farm Service Agency office.
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