The U.S. Department of Agriculture says direct payments made to farmers are expected to increase roughly 31 percent this year to $13.9 billion.
Direct farm program payments are those paid directly by the U.S. Government to farmers and include fixed payments, crop price and revenue-based payments, and other payments such as conservation payments and disaster relief.
The forecast reflects changes made in the 2014 Farm Bill that eliminated several programs and added new support programs, the Price Loss Coverage program, or PLC and the Agricultural Risk Coverage program, known as ARC.
PLC and ARC together are expected to account for over $9 billion in 2016, about 96 percent of all crop price, and revenue-based payments.
The majority of ARC payments were paid to farms with a history of corn production, followed by wheat and soybeans.
PLC payments were primarily made to farms with a history of long-grain rice, peanuts, and canola production.
