Farm program · seed cotton
Seed cotton: ARC or PLC for 2026 and 2027
Find your county’s short answer
- Dec 112026 signup ends Dec 11, 2026.
- Nov 2 to Mar 152027 signup runs Nov 2, 2026 to Mar 15, 2027.
- Skip itDo nothing for 2026 and that farm gets no 2026 payment.
- SignEvery owner and operator on the farm signs.
- BringBring the farm’s FSA-156EZ. It lists the base acres and PLC yields.
Quick answer. The 2026 PLC effective reference price for seed cotton is $0.4200/lb (FSA). PLC pays when the national season-average price ends below that; the loan rate, $0.3000/lb, is as low as the price counts. ARC-CO pays when county revenue falls below 90% of benchmark revenue, figured at the 2026 benchmark price of $0.4311/lb.
At FSA’s projected 2026/27 season-average price (FSA table of Sep 11, 2026), $0.4114/lb, PLC would pay a 2026 rate of $0.0086/lb. The real rate comes from the final price after the marketing year ends (Aug 2026 to July 2027).
2027: These figures wait on USDA’s closing 2025/26 season-average price; FSA’s table of Sep 11, 2026 still shows it as projected ($0.3411/lb), and the answer depends on it.
Typical-farm verdicts, 2026: Leans PLC 595.
Prices in dollars per pound, FSA’s unit for seed cotton. FSA’s seed cotton price is its own weighted average of the upland cotton lint price and the cottonseed price. We use FSA’s seed cotton series as published and never build it from the lint price.
Run seed cotton in the calculator
How the seed cotton prices are figured
The effective reference price is the lesser of 115% of the statutory price, or the greater of the statutory price and 88% of the Olympic average season-average price for the five most recent crop years (2020 to 2024 for 2026; 2021 to 2025 for 2027). The ARC-CO benchmark price uses the same five years, each raised to at least the effective reference price.
2026 effective reference price. Season-average prices 2020: $0.3393 · 2021: $0.4675 · 2022: $0.4533 · 2023: $0.3949 · 2024: $0.3404 (struck: the high and low year). Average of the middle three: $0.3962. 88% of that is $0.3487, below the $0.4200 statutory price, so the statutory price holds: $0.4200.
2026 ARC-CO benchmark price. 2020: $0.4200 (raised from $0.3393) · 2021: $0.4675 · 2022: $0.4533 · 2023: $0.4200 (raised from $0.3949) · 2024: $0.4200 (raised from $0.3404). Drop the high ($0.4675) and low ($0.4200); the middle three average $0.4311.
2027. These figures wait on USDA’s closing 2025/26 season-average price; FSA’s table of Sep 11, 2026 still shows it as projected ($0.3411/lb), and the answer depends on it.
2026 figures are FSA’s and match our math from FSA’s own price column. 2027 is our math (est.); FSA publishes the official figures.
Seed cotton ARC-CO benchmarks by county
FSA’s official 2026 county file has a seed cotton benchmark yield for 672 counties in 18 states. Each county page shows the benchmark, the five yields behind it, the yield where ARC-CO starts to pay and the PLC vs ARC-CO break-even.
Alabama (56 counties)
Autauga · Baldwin · Barbour · Bibb · Blount · Bullock · Butler · Calhoun · Chambers · Cherokee · Chilton · Choctaw · Clarke · Clay · Colbert · Conecuh · Covington · Crenshaw · Cullman · Dale · Dallas · DeKalb · Escambia · Etowah · Fayette · Franklin · Geneva · Greene · Hale · Henry · Houston · Jackson · Lamar · Lauderdale · Lee · Limestone · Lowndes · Macon · Madison · Marengo · Marion · Marshall · Mobile · Monroe · Montgomery · Morgan · Perry · Pickens · Pike · Shelby · St. Clair · Talladega · Tallapoosa · Tuscaloosa · Washington · Wilcox
Arkansas (22 counties)
Ashley · Chicot · Clay · Craighead · Crittenden · Cross · Desha · Drew · Greene · Jackson · Jefferson · Lee · Lincoln · Little River · Lonoke · Mississippi · Monroe · Phillips · Poinsett · Prairie · Pulaski · Woodruff
California (12 counties)
Colusa · Fresno · Glenn · Imperial · Kern · Kings · Madera · Merced · Riverside · San Bernardino · Sutter · Tulare
Florida (19 counties)
Alachua · Columbia · Escambia · Gadsden · Gilchrist · Hamilton · Holmes · Jackson · Jefferson · Lafayette · Leon · Levy · Madison · Marion · Okaloosa · Santa Rosa · Suwannee · Walton · Washington
Georgia (94 counties)
Appling · Atkinson · Bacon · Baker · Bartow · Ben Hill · Berrien · Bleckley · Brantley · Brooks · Bryan · Bulloch · Burke · Calhoun · Candler · Chatham · Chattooga · Clay · Clinch · Coffee · Colquitt · Cook · Crawford · Crisp · Decatur · Dodge · Dooly · Dougherty · Early · Echols · Effingham · Elbert · Emanuel · Evans · Floyd · Glascock · Gordon · Grady · Hancock · Hart · Henry · Houston · Irwin · Jeff Davis · Jefferson · Jenkins · Johnson · Lanier · Laurens · Lee · Liberty · Long · Lowndes · Macon · Marion · Miller · Mitchell · Monroe · Montgomery · Morgan · Newton · Oconee · Peach · Pierce · Polk · Pulaski · Quitman · Randolph · Screven · Seminole · Stewart · Sumter · Tattnall · Taylor · Telfair · Terrell · Thomas · Tift · Toombs · Treutlen · Turner · Twiggs · Upson · Walton · Ware · Warren · Washington · Wayne · Webster · Wheeler · Wilcox · Wilkes · Wilkinson · Worth
Kansas (22 counties)
Anderson · Barber · Butler · Chautauqua · Cowley · Edwards · Ford · Gray · Harper · Harvey · Kingman · Kiowa · Marion · Meade · Morton · Pratt · Reno · Rice · Sedgwick · Seward · Stevens · Sumner
Louisiana (24 counties)
Avoyelles · Bossier · Caddo · Caldwell · Catahoula · Concordia · De Soto · East Carroll · Evangeline · Franklin · Grant · La Salle · Madison · Natchitoches · Ouachita · Pointe Coupee · Rapides · Red River · Richland · St. Landry · Tensas · West Baton Rouge · West Carroll · West Feliciana
Mississippi (60 counties)
Adams · Alcorn · Attala · Benton · Bolivar · Calhoun · Carroll · Chickasaw · Choctaw · Claiborne · Clay · Coahoma · Copiah · Covington · DeSoto · Forrest · George · Greene · Hinds · Holmes · Humphreys · Issaquena · Itawamba · Jackson · Jefferson · Jones · Lafayette · Lawrence · Leake · Lee · Leflore · Lowndes · Madison · Marshall · Montgomery · Newton · Noxubee · Oktibbeha · Panola · Pearl River · Perry · Pontotoc · Prentiss · Quitman · Rankin · Scott · Sharkey · Sunflower · Tallahatchie · Tate · Tippah · Tishomingo · Tunica · Union · Warren · Washington · Webster · Winston · Yalobusha · Yazoo
Missouri (7 counties)
Butler · Dunklin · Mississippi · New Madrid · Pemiscot · Scott · Stoddard
North Carolina (58 counties)
Anson · Beaufort · Bertie · Bladen · Brunswick · Cabarrus · Camden · Carteret · Chatham · Chowan · Cleveland · Columbus · Craven · Cumberland · Currituck · Davidson · Duplin · Edgecombe · Franklin · Gaston · Gates · Granville · Greene · Halifax · Harnett · Hertford · Hoke · Hyde · Johnston · Jones · Lee · Lenoir · Lincoln · Martin · Montgomery · Moore · Nash · Northampton · Onslow · Pamlico · Pasquotank · Pender · Perquimans · Pitt · Richmond · Robeson · Rowan · Rutherford · Sampson · Scotland · Stanly · Tyrrell · Union · Wake · Warren · Washington · Wayne · Wilson
Oklahoma (37 counties)
Alfalfa · Atoka · Beaver · Beckham · Blaine · Bryan · Caddo · Canadian · Cleveland · Comanche · Cotton · Custer · Dewey · Garfield · Garvin · Grady · Grant · Greer · Harmon · Jackson · Jefferson · Kiowa · Le Flore · Logan · Love · Major · Marshall · McClain · McCurtain · Noble · Roger Mills · Sequoyah · Stephens · Texas · Tillman · Wagoner · Washita
South Carolina (32 counties)
Abbeville · Anderson · Bamberg · Barnwell · Berkeley · Calhoun · Cherokee · Chester · Chesterfield · Colleton · Darlington · Dillon · Dorchester · Edgefield · Florence · Georgetown · Hampton · Horry · Jasper · Kershaw · Lancaster · Lee · Lexington · Marion · Marlboro · Newberry · Orangeburg · Richland · Saluda · Sumter · Williamsburg · York
Tennessee (23 counties)
Carroll · Chester · Coffee · Crockett · Dyer · Fayette · Franklin · Gibson · Giles · Hardeman · Hardin · Haywood · Henderson · Henry · Lauderdale · Lawrence · McNairy · Obion · Rutherford · Shelby · Tipton · Wayne · Weakley
Texas (167 counties)
Anderson · Andrews · Aransas · Archer · Armstrong · Atascosa · Austin · Bailey · Bastrop · Baylor · Bee · Bell · Bexar · Borden · Bosque · Bowie · Brazoria · Brazos · Briscoe · Brooks · Brown · Burleson · Caldwell · Calhoun · Callahan · Cameron · Carson · Castro · Childress · Clay · Cochran · Coke · Coleman · Collin · Collingsworth · Comanche · Concho · Cooke · Coryell · Cottle · Crockett · Crosby · Culberson · Dallam · Dallas · Dawson · DeWitt · Deaf Smith · Delta · Denton · Dickens · Donley · Duval · Eastland · El Paso · Ellis · Erath · Falls · Fannin · Fayette · Fisher · Floyd · Foard · Fort Bend · Frio · Gaines · Garza · Glasscock · Goliad · Gray · Grayson · Guadalupe · Hale · Hall · Hansford · Hardeman · Harris · Hartley · Haskell · Hays · Henderson · Hidalgo · Hill · Hockley · Hopkins · Houston · Howard · Hudspeth · Hunt · Hutchinson · Irion · Jack · Jackson · Jim Wells · Johnson · Jones · Karnes · Kaufman · Kent · King · Kinney · Kleberg · Knox · Lamar · Lamb · Lavaca · Leon · Limestone · Live Oak · Lubbock · Lynn · Martin · McCulloch · Medina · Midland · Milam · Mitchell · Moore · Motley · Navarro · Nolan · Nueces · Ochiltree · Oldham · Palo Pinto · Parmer · Pecos · Potter · Randall · Reagan · Reeves · Refugio · Robertson · Rockwall · Runnels · San Patricio · Schleicher · Scurry · Shackelford · Sherman · Stephens · Sterling · Stonewall · Sutton · Swisher · Taylor · Terry · Throckmorton · Tom Green · Travis · Upton · Uvalde · Victoria · Walker · Waller · Ward · Washington · Wharton · Wheeler · Wichita · Wilbarger · Willacy · Williamson · Wilson · Yoakum · Young · Zapata
Virginia (19 counties)
Accomack · Brunswick · Charles City · Chesapeake City · Dinwiddie · Essex · Greensville · Henrico · Isle of Wight · King William · King and Queen · New Kent · Northampton · Northumberland · Prince George · Southampton · Suffolk City · Surry · Sussex
Questions about seed cotton
What is the 2026 effective reference price for seed cotton?
$0.4200 per pound, from FSA's 2026 table. The statutory reference price is $0.4200; 88% of the 2020 to 2024 Olympic average season-average price is $0.3487, and the cap is $0.4830. The 2026 ARC-CO benchmark price is $0.4311 and the loan rate is $0.3000.
What is the 2027 effective reference price for seed cotton?
Not yet. These figures wait on USDA’s closing 2025/26 season-average price; FSA’s table of Sep 11, 2026 still shows it as projected ($0.3411/lb), and the answer depends on it.
Will PLC pay on seed cotton for 2026?
At FSA table of Sep 11, 2026's projected 2026/27 price of $0.4114/lb, PLC would pay a 2026 rate of $0.0086/lb. FSA's own table of Sep 11, 2026 shows $0.0086/lb at $0.4114. The real rate is set by the final season-average price, published after the marketing year (Aug 2026 to July 2027) ends.
Should I pick ARC or PLC for seed cotton?
We do not give a pick for seed cotton yet. The county pages show FSA's official benchmark, where each program pays more by price, and the calculator runs your own PLC yield and price.
Where do I find my county's seed cotton ARC-CO benchmark yield?
FSA's 2026 county file lists seed cotton benchmarks for 672 counties; each one has a page here. A county FSA does not list has no seed cotton benchmark; ask the county FSA office.
This is an estimate, not a USDA determination. FSA ARC/PLC · FSA program data · Find your county office. Dollars are before the 5.7% sequestration cut.
Sources
- FSA, 2026 MYA prices (Table 1, Sept 11, 2026)
- FSA, 2026 effective reference prices (Table 2, Sept 11, 2026)
- FSA, projected 2026 PLC payment rates (Table 3, Sept 11, 2026)
- FSA, 2026 ARC-CO benchmark prices (Table 4, Sept 11, 2026)
- FSA ARC/PLC program data (official county benchmark files)
- Federal Register 2026-00313, Jan 12, 2026 (FSA rule for the 2025 law)
- 7 CFR 1412.3, definitions (eCFR)
Other crops
Corn, soybeans and wheat · Sorghum · Barley · Oats · Peanuts · Long grain rice · Medium and short grain rice · Temperate japonica rice · Dry peas · Lentils · Small chickpeas · Large chickpeas · Canola · Flaxseed · Sunflower seed · Mustard seed · Rapeseed · Safflower · Crambe · Sesame seed