The Agriculture Department today awarded $6 million in grants for universities and state cooperative extension services to educate farmers about the farm bill.

The new resources will help farmers and ranchers make an educated choice between the new Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) program and the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program, USDA said in a news release.

The University of Illinois (lead for the National Coalition for Producer Education [NCPE]), along with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri and the Agricultural and Food Policy Center (AFPC) at Texas A&M (co-leads for the National Association of Agricultural and Food Policy [NAAFP]), will receive a total of $3 million to develop the new online tools and train state-based extension agents who can in turn help educate farmers, USDA said.

The awards are as follows:

• For the NCPE, University of Illinois as lead: Michigan State University, Montana State University, Watts & Associates, Delaware State University, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, North Carolina A&T University, University of Wisconsin, Cornell University, Pennsylvania State University, Ohio State University, and University of Minnesota.
• For the NAAFP, FAPRI and AFPC as co-leads: Texas Tech University, University of Missouri, Iowa State University, University of Nebraska, Kansas State University, Mississippi State University, Oklahoma State University, Tennessee State University, University of Georgia, and Fresno State University.

USDA — Farm Service Agency: Base Reallocation, Yield Updates, Price Loss Coverage & Agricultural Risk Coverage

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