By Jake Westlin
USA Rice
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency published the 2025 Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payment rates for southern long grain and medium grain rice and assistance should be hitting participating producers’ accounts as early as today. The 2025 crop year marks the first year rice farmers will receive the enhanced protections provided under the modernized farm safety net provisions enacted under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). For rice farming, the PLC program is the cornerstone of the rice farm safety net, which OBBBA strengthened by raising the statutory reference price for long and medium grain rice to $16.90/cwt.