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ACRE Payment Calculators - How to Use the Calculators

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Input Your Data

  1. Open the ACRE calculator in Microsoft Excel. You must have this program on your computer to run the calculators. The seven cells shaded in yellow are for inputting your data.
  2. The top cell contains a drop-down list for conducting "what if" calculations or "expected" calculations. The difference between these will be explained in detail below. Select one of the options by clicking on the down arrow to the right of the cell and then click on the desired option. If the down arrow is not showing simply click on the yellow cell itself.
  3. The next shaded cell (working down) contains a drop-down box of all states. Choose your state. Note that in some states, you must selected irrigated or non-irrigated production.
  4. In the next cell, provide an expected price for the 2009/10 marketing year. This marketing year runs from September 1, 2009, to August 31, 2010, for corn and soybeans, and from June 1, 2009, to May 31, 2010, for wheat.

The season average price is the average price received by farmers for their 2009 crop as reported by the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Typically this price is significantly lower than futures prices. If you selected an "expected" analysis in the first shaded cell, the program uses the expected price you provided as the expected value of a price distribution. The program then calculates ACRE payments and payments under traditional farm programs under many different price and yield outcomes and reports average payments. If you selected a "what if" analysis, the program uses the expected price you provided as the single price that occurs in the 2009/10 marketing year and calculates average payments using that single price.

  1. Enter the 2008 marketing year price in the next cell. Because the 2008/09 marketing year began for wheat on June 1, 2008, and begins for corn and soybeans on September 30, 2008, there is no way of knowing what the actual price will be. Because this price determines the 2009 ACRE price used to set the 2009 ACRE revenue guarantee, the payments received in 2009 will vary with this price. In June, mid-points of the range of prices projected by the USDA were $5.80/bu for corn, $11.75/bu for soybeans, and $7.50/bu for wheat. Users are encouraged to change this price to show how the 2008/09 season average price affects 2009 ACRE payments.
  2. In the next cell, enter the 2008 state average yield per planted acre. This yield helps determine the 2009 ACRE yield used in the 2009 ACRE revenue guarantee. If this cell is left blank, a trend yield is used.
  3. The last two cells contain program yields used to calculate direct payments and countercyclical payments. If these are left blank, the average direct payment yield and the average countercyclical payment yield in the state will be used.

Interpreting the Results

The first results provided are the 2009 ACRE price, ACRE yield, and ACRE revenue guarantee. These are calculated from the user-provided information.

The next results are a breakdown of the estimated payments that a farmer will receive under ACRE and under current farm programs. Under ACRE, farmers will receive direct payments, and may received ACRE payments and marketing loan benefits. Under current programs a farmer will receive direct payments and may receive countercyclical payments and marketing loan benefits. The calculator reports each type of payment and the sum of the payments under ACRE and under current programs.

Users are encouraged to search for a set of 2008 and 2009 prices and yields that favor one program over another. For example, high prices will tend to favor traditional programs because ACRE payments probably will not be greater than the 20 percent reduction in direct payments. Low prices will tend to favor ACRE.

If the user selects the "what if" option, additional results are displayed. Recall that under the "what if" option the user-provided 2009 expected price is used as the actual price in the 2009 marketing year. The program then uses this single price to calculate ACRE payments and payments under current farm programs for different possible yields. The different yields used in the calculation correspond to state average yields that actually occurred from 1980 to 2007. The actual yields have been trend-adjusted to account for changes in technology.

Consider the following scenario and calculator results, for example: "What if the season average price of corn in 2009 is $4.50 and average 2009 growing conditions are identical to the 1988 crop year?" The user would then enter $4.50 as the 2009 expected price and scroll down to 1988 to find the results. Reported results include the trend-adjusted 1988 yield, actual ACRE revenue, the ACRE payment, and the difference between ACRE payments and payments that would be received under current programs. If the results in the last column are negative, then the current programs would pay more than ACRE. If the results in the last column are positive, then ACRE would pay more than current programs in this situation.