Base and Generic Base Acres: State Level Implications for the Current and Next Farm Bill

The Agricultural Act of 2014 removed upland cotton from eligibility for Title I Commodity Program payments. As a result, former upland cotton base acres were transitioned to generic base. In the current Farm Bill, Commodity Program payments (ARC and PLC) can be obtained if a producer plants a covered commodity on generic base acres. However, given the diversity of Southern row-crops, state level planting decisions are influenced differently across the region. In the South there are 16.7 million generic base acres. From 2014-2016, average annual planted acreage of upland cotton, in the South, was 9.66 million acres (USDA-Farm Service Agency). Generic base-to-upland cotton planted acreage ratios across the region ranged from 1.24 in Georgia to 6.76 in Louisiana (or simply stated, in Louisiana, there were 6.76 acres of generic base for each acre planted to upland cotton on average from 2014-16). This analysis examines the difference between planted upland cotton acres and generic base acres for twelve cotton producing states across the South and evaluates planting decisions for producers on a state-by-state basis for the 2014 Farm Bill and for the next Farm Bill.