Farmers and farmland owners will face some complex and binding decisions this fall and winter as they sign up for key commodity crop programs in the new farm bill, according to Steven Johnson, a farm and ag business management specialist at Iowa State University Extension (ISU).

"These programs are really a different breed of cat and a few things that we haven’t seen before," Johnson said last week during an ISU Extension Farmland Leasing seminar in Nevada, one of several being held around Iowa.

"These programs are something that people need to take the time to understand and know what they are signing."

However, Johnson noted, the new farm program options don’t affect crop insurance coverage directly, which has become the major safety net for Iowa corn and soybean growers.

Sign-up for the most prominent programs of the new farm bill for Iowa farmers, Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC)...