The U.S. Department of Agriculture has set the 2025 Price Loss Coverage payment rates for southern long-grain and medium-grain rice, beginning payments under the updated farm safety net that includes changes backed by Chairman John Boozman.
The USDA’s Farm Service Agency published the rates Friday after finalizing the 2025 market-year-average prices. Payments to producers with eligible base acres were expected to begin Monday. The program applies to the 2025 crop year, the first year covered by the enhanced protections enacted through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Payment rates for the 2025 crop
| Rice type | Market-year-average price | PLC payment rate |
|---|---|---|
| Southern long grain | $10.10 per hundredweight | $6.80 per hundredweight |
| Southern medium grain | $14.60 per hundredweight | $2.30 per hundredweight |
The law raised the statutory reference price for long- and medium-grain rice to $16.90 per hundredweight. PLC payments are calculated using the reference price and the market-year-average price, with the resulting payment rate applied to eligible base acres. The newly published rates reflect the difference between those prices for the two rice categories.
The USDA also set the payment limit for the 2025 crop year at $160,000, after the law changed the statutory limit to $155,000 and provided for annual inflation adjustments. A sequestration reduction continues to apply to payments.
Payments for temperate japonica rice are scheduled to begin in January 2027, after the USDA finalizes that rice category’s market-year-average price. The agency’s announcement covered the southern long-grain and medium-grain rates that were available for calculation.
USA Rice President and CEO Peter Bachmann said the 2025 crop year had been difficult for the rice industry and credited the reference-price changes to congressional agriculture leaders. He specifically thanked Boozman and Chairman GT Thompson for leading the effort to update the rates during the reconciliation process, as well as the USDA for implementing the changes.
“We are grateful for the leadership of Chairman John Boozman and Chairman GT Thompson for spearheading the effort to update the reference prices last year as part of the reconciliation process, and for USDA working to implement all of those programmatic changes included in OBBBA.” — Peter Bachmann, USA Rice president and CEO
The updated rates are part of the federal farm programs that provide payments to producers when covered commodity prices fall below statutory reference prices. For the 2025 rice crop, the USDA’s finalized prices determine the payments for the two southern rice categories now entering distribution.
