I have had several questions over the past few weeks about the PLC peanut payments for the 2016 peanut crop. The Marketing Year Average (MYA) price for peanuts is calculated from August 1 – July 31 using National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) prices. That being said, we are about 60% of the way through the 2016 marketing year.
The Farm Service Agency (FSA) has a Projected 2016 PLC Coverage Payment Rate on their ARC/PLC website. The MYA price for peanuts from this source has the price at $388/ton for peanuts.
NASS publishes weekly peanut prices in their Peanut Prices report (not to be confused with FSA Weekly Posted Price for peanuts). Looking at published weekly prices of peanuts since August 1, 2016 through week ending February 25, 2017 brings the MYA of peanuts to $391.36/ton. The only peanut prices from this source that is not included for each week are those values not published due to individual buyer disclosure concerns.
I will continue to update my spreadsheet weekly to calculate Marketing Year Average Price (2016) to get the latest MYA price for peanuts. Remember that you must subtract the MYA from the Statutory Reference Price to get PLC Payment Rate.
$535.00 – $391.36 = $143.64
$143.64/ton is the current estimated PLC payment for peanuts as of week ending February 25, 2017. The final payment rate for 2016 will not be determined until after July 31, 2017. Payments for the 2016 production year will not be paid by FSA until October 2017.
