Row Crops Today — June 17, 2026
The 5-minute 5 AM brief for row crop producers and ag professionals
Headline Stack
📋 FSA sets Aug. 31 deadline for ARC/PLC base acre increases, up to 30M acres eligible
🔬 FMC and Corteva sign $200M co-exclusive deal on rimisoxafen herbicide
🌽 POET Indiana expansion to double corn grind to 70 million bushels annually
📋 Boozman to release Senate farm bill text next week
Top Story
📋 FSA sets Aug. 31 deadline for ARC/PLC base acre increases. — LINK
Eligible landowners have until Aug. 31, 2026 to review and request base acre increases on farms enrolled in the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs, USDA's Farm Service Agency announced. The authority comes from the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Nationwide, up to 30 million new base acres can be added by eligible farms beginning with the 2026 crop year, with prorated reductions applied across the board if requests exceed the cap. To qualify, a covered commodity must have been planted or prevented from being planted during the 2019 through 2023 crop years, and the farm's average planted and prevented-planted acres during that period must exceed total existing base acres in effect on Sept. 30, 2024. "FSA began notifying eligible landowners, by direct mail, that Base Allocation Summaries outlining potential base acre updates will be available for review beginning June 1, 2026," the agency said. Summaries are available online at fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc through a Login.gov account or at local FSA county offices.
More This Week
🔬 FMC and Corteva sign $200M deal on rimisoxafen herbicide. — LINK
Corteva will make an initial $200 million prepurchase payment to FMC under a decade-long co-exclusive supply and license agreement covering rimisoxafen — classified by the Herbicide Resistance Action Committee as the industry's first dual mode of action herbicide — across North and South American corn and soybean markets.
"This agreement ensures that more growers across the Americas will have access to rimisoxafen, one of the most innovative herbicide technologies developed in decades," said Leonardo Bastos, FMC vice president and chief marketing officer.
FMC retains all ownership rights and will supply the active ingredient to Corteva; both companies will develop separate premix formulations, with first commercial sales anticipated by the end of the decade pending regulatory approvals.
🌽 POET Indiana expansion to double corn grind to 70M bushels. — LINK
POET BioProcessing's Indiana facility upgrade will lift annual corn consumption from 35 million to 70 million bushels and raise ethanol output to 193 million gallons per year, with dried distillers grains and corn oil output also doubling.
"Right now, we buy about 35 million bushels of corn, that will turn into about 70 million bushels," said Jason Lucas with POET BioProcessing. "That will help drive basis in the area."
Construction began in March 2026 with completion targeted for Q4 2027; ethanol accounts for nearly half of Indiana's corn usage, according to Shelby County farmer Jim Douglas.
📋 Boozman to release Senate farm bill text next week. — LINK
Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) plans to release the text of his version of the 2026 farm bill next week, according to Punchbowl News.
The Senate text follows recent reporting that SNAP cost-sharing between the federal government and states remains the primary sticking point in bipartisan negotiations.
The release would mark the first formal text from the Senate Ag Committee this Congress on a comprehensive farm bill rewrite.
Basis Watch
Colorado East Central old-crop corn basis firmed 15 cents on Tuesday, the largest single move in the corn complex. Colorado North Central new-crop corn improved 13 cents on the low end, and the East Central new-crop bid strengthened 10 cents at the top. Nebraska Northeast old-crop corn firmed 5 cents, with Nebraska Northwest tops up the same amount. Most Illinois locations held within 3 cents on the day.
In soybeans, Missouri Central, Northwest, and West each firmed 10 cents on old-crop top bids. South Dakota East Central old-crop soybeans improved 10 cents on the low end. North Dakota Northwest old-crop soybeans broke 5 cents on both ends, the only weakening move in the bean complex against a backdrop of generally firmer Plains bids.
Source: USDA AMS
Palmer amaranth and waterhemp — the primary targets of FMC and Corteva's new rimisoxafen herbicide — cost US corn and soybean farmers billions of dollars in lost yield each year, according to the companies' June 16 announcement of their $200 million supply-and-license agreement.
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