1. Using the NAP Decision Tool
R. Brent Young, Ph.D.
Agriculture and Business Management Specialist
Colorado State University Extension

2. National Coalition for Producer Education (NCPE)
Today we will start by taking a look at the NCPE tool. The URL needed to access this tool is listed on this slide.

3. APAS Online Tool
Once you’ve clicked on that link this screen will appear. Just click on the link highlighted by the blue arrow to go to the “Payment Yield Update Quick Calculator”.

4. Select Location
Once the Payment Yield Update Calculator appears you can enter your State, County, and crop. Once this information is entered the tool will automatically provide the minimum or “plug” yield for your county. Then just enter the yield from 2008 through Finally, click the calculate button.

5. Select Crop
Please note in this example the county minimum or “plug” yield was inserted for 2010 where the actual yield was 95 bushels. In this example the producer could update the corn yield to 148 bushels/acre. If this updated yield is higher than the CC yield reported on the “Reported Commodity Crop History Summary” the producer would report this updated yield to their county FSA office.

6. If you select a crop covered by insurance
The next step involves retaining or reallocating base acres. Again you'll find a fact sheet and 4 short videos to help you with this decision. Once your ready just click on the “Visit APAS tool online” link to get started.

7. Select “Not listed”
Once you click on the Base Acre Reallocation Tool you will be able to input your existing base acres from the “Reported Commodity Crop History Summary and the planted acres for each of your Title 1 crops for the years 2009 through Clicking on the “Calculate Reallocated Base” button will tell you how your existing base could be reallocated.

8. Enter crop information
Step 4 provides an opportunity to compare the ARC –County and PLC Programs. As with the previous steps several videos are available to provide guidance for this step. Once you’ve learned more about this decision its time to go back to the APAS tool.

9. Premium Calculation
For this step we will be utilizing the APAS Sample Farm function that is accessed by clicking on the button highlighted by the blue arrow in this slide.

10. Estimated Results
The sample farm function allows you to look at an average farm in your county. This sample farm is comprised of the top 4 program crops grown in the county having a minimum of 2500 acres based on NASS data. This tool uses 2013 commodity prices to produce an acreage and commodity mix to approximate an annual revenue of $500,000. As you can see our sample farm in Logan County Colorado consists of 657 acres of corn, 24 acres of grain sorghum, and 992 acres of wheat.

11. Calculate Total Premium
By selecting the “Expected Program Payments” button the tool displays a graph that compares the expected program payments for each of the Title 1 programs for the sample farm. The tallest bar to the left for each program represents the expected payment for 2014 whereas the shorter bar represents the average yearly expected payment for the years Please note in this view we are comparing the Title 1 programs for all crops on our sample farm. The two bars to the far right represent the combination of programs that would provide the highest payment for the sample farm. As you can see by the colors of the bar to the far right some combination of ARC-CO and PLC with SCO would result in the highest payment. At this point we could eliminate the ARC-IC program but we must look at this graph on a crop by crop basis to determine witch combination of ARC-CO and PLC would be best.

12. Questions

13. Thank you!!!
R. Brent Young, Ph.D. Agriculture & Business Management Specialist Ph