Pro Farmer Editors

There are 128,620 U.S. farms enrolled in the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program for the 2009 crop year, or 7.70% of farms, according to data from USDA. Total enrollment in the Direct and Counter-cyclical Program (DCP) and ACRE is 255 million base acres on 1.7 million farms. ACRE enrollment covers about 13% of base acres, according to USDA.

Producers who signed up their farm under DCP are eligible for direct payments, counter-cyclical payments and marketing assistance commodity loans.

The optional ACRE program, added under the 2008 Farm Bill, is an alternative revenue-based safety net to the price-based safety net provided by counter-cyclical payments for crop years 2009 through 2012. Producers participating in the ACRE program are also eligible for direct payments and marketing assistance loans, but direct payments are reduced by 20 percent and the loan rate is reduced by 30 percent with respect to covered commodities and peanuts on a farm.

Of the 22 different crops eligible for enrollment, corn had the highest number of base acres enrolled, followed by wheat and soybeans, and producers mainly planted these three crops.

Here are the top 10 states in terms of number of farms enrolled in ACRE for 2009:

While Illinois had the greatest number of farms that opted for ACRE, the state with the greatest percentage of farms in the program was Washington at 24.89%.