Based on the new Basic Plan, a new farm income support payment was launched for rice farmers as a single year pilot programme in 2010. The payments are designed to bridge the gap between the actual average producer price and a reference level of nation-wide production cost. In this counter-cyclical scheme the reference producer price is set as the national average producer price of the past three years. This pilot programme is expected to continue in 2011, extending this new income support payments for upland crops such as wheat, barley and soybean.