Farm Policy Resources
Updated September 25, 2026
We would rather you read the analysis yourself than take our word for it. These are the three sources we lean on, what each is good for, and the pieces worth starting with. Every link goes to the original — we summarise, we do not reproduce.
AFPC — Agricultural and Food Policy Center
What it is. The policy centre at Texas A&M that builds the representative farm models Congress leans on when it wants to know what a policy change does to an actual operation rather than to an average. Dr. Joe Outlaw and Dr. Bart Fischer co-direct it, and both presented at the SWCA annual meeting.
Why it matters to you. AFPC runs one of two efforts funded nationally by USDA to help producers with the ARC/PLC sign-up decision — a free decision aid, plus a staffed helpdesk. The tool saves your farms and your analysis behind a login, so you can set an operation up, walk away, and come back rather than starting over.
- The tool
- afpc.tamu.edu/tools — 2026 FSA ARC/PLC Expected Payments
- Helpdesk
- 844-229-7373, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Central, Monday to Friday
- Use it before
- December 11, 2026 — when the election and enrollment window closes
How the election works, on Colorado ground →
Southern Ag Today
What it is. A free daily publication written by extension economists from thirteen land-grant universities, launched in 2023 and backed by the Southern Extension Economics Committee, AFPC, and the Southern Risk Management Education Center at Arkansas. More than a hundred authors contribute.
Why it matters to you. It is written for farmers and policymakers rather than for other economists — short pieces, published daily, on what a policy change actually does to an operation. The crop focus is Southern, so not everything will be about corn on the plains, but the farm bill and safety net analysis travels. It costs nothing to subscribe.
Worth starting with:
- Making the ARC/PLC Election for the 2026 Crop Year (September 17, 2026) — the mechanics of the decision closing December 11, and the piece most of our own October payments page is built on.
- Upcoming Farm Policy Decisions for Producers (July 23, 2026) — the wider set of decisions landing on producers this year, taken together rather than one at a time.
Farm Policy Facts
What it is. A Washington-based coalition of farmers and commodity groups, organised as a 501(c)(4), that makes the case for federal farm policy to Congress, the media and the public. Explainers, fact sheets, and pushback when agriculture gets described carelessly.
Why it matters to you. It is the national version of the argument this association makes in Colorado — that farm programs are cheap relative to what they protect, widely misunderstood, and worth defending. When a farm bill title is under attack in the national press, this is usually where the counter-argument is assembled first. It is advocacy rather than extension analysis, and it is useful to know the difference: read AFPC to work out your own number, read this to understand the fight the number sits inside.
Worth starting with:
- 250 Years of American Agriculture at a Pivotal Moment (July 7, 2026) — how the farm bill builds on the reconciliation wins, including the higher reference prices now reaching Colorado corn base, with crop insurance treated as the cornerstone of the safety net.
- Go-Time: Consideration of Farm Bill 2.0 Underway in House (April 29, 2026) — the House bill, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, as it came to the floor.
- Bipartisan Farm Bill Advances from Committee – Now What? (March 24, 2026) — the House Agriculture Committee advancing that bill 34 to 17, and what came next.
Read those three alongside the Senate side, which moved its own bill out of committee on September 16 and carries permanent year-round E15 — covered here — and you have both halves of the conference that is coming.
Using These Together
They do different jobs, and the difference is worth holding onto.
- AFPC tells you what a decision does to your operation. Use it to work your own numbers before December 11.
- Southern Ag Today tells you what economists make of a change, in short pieces, as it happens.
- Farm Policy Facts tells you how the case for farm policy is being argued nationally, and where it is under pressure.
None of the three is a substitute for your FSA county office, which is the only place that can tell you your actual number.
These are outside organisations. CCGA does not control what they publish and links are not endorsements of every position they take. Summaries here are ours; follow the link for the original. CCGA administers no USDA program.