The Farm Service Agency administers farm commodity and conservation programs for farmers and makes farm loans. FSA programs are directed primarily at agricultural producers or, in the case of loans, at those with farming experience.
Commodities
Nature of Program: The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act
of 1996 (the 1996 Act) replaced deficiency payments for wheat, feed grains,
cotton and rice with 7-year production flexibility contracts covering
the 1996 to 2002 crop years. Payments are fixed in advance and gradually
decline over the 7 years. Farmers can plant any mix of crops, except for
fruits and vegetables, or idle contract acres, and still receive annual
payments, but they must comply with conservation plans and wetland provisions
to be eligible for payments.
Eligibility Requirements. The 1996 Act required USDA to hold a one-time signup which was held from May through July 1996. Producers eligible to receive payments under production flexibility contracts are those enrolled in the 7-year program, except for producers with Conservation Reserve Program contracts expiring after the signup, who may enroll when the Conservation Reserve Program contract expires.
Spending Levels: To the extent practicable, total spending levels for each fiscal year are as follows:
Commodity
Loan Programs
The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) finances commodity loan programs
for wheat, rice, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, oilseeds, tobacco,
peanuts, upland and extra-long-staple cotton, and sugar. Loan rates are
designed to keep crops competitive in the marketplace. A producer must
have entered into a production flexibility contract to be eligible for
nonrecourse marketing assistance loans for wheat, feed grains, rice, and
upland cotton. Any production of a contract commodity from a farm enrolled
in a production flexibility contract is eligible to be pledged as collateral
for a loan.
Nonrecourse loans are also available for oilseeds, tobacco, peanuts, extra-long-staple cotton, regardless of whether the producer has entered into a production flexibility contract. Loans are also available to processors and refiners of sugar beets and sugar cane.
FSA Outreach
Programs
The FSA Outreach Program coordinates outreach efforts for all FSA programs.
This office reports directly to the FSA Administrator and includes a full-time
national Native American Liaison.
Several USDA agencies, including FSA, implement an extensive joint outreach effort with the Intertribal Agriculture Council (IAC) to heighten awareness of USDA services available to American Indian and Alaska Native communities. The IAC is a nonprofit corporation of 61 member Indian tribes devoted to improving agriculture as a source of economic development for Indian people. Under the outreach agreement, the IAC conducts USDA informational meetings with tribal governments and hires American Indian outreach workers to facilitate these meetings after receiving training from USDA. FSA also contracted with the IAC to conduct a public affairs campaign in the American Indian media to inform Indian tribes about FSA county committee elections.
FSA has entered into cooperative agreements with the Fond du Lac Community College in Minnesota and the Stone Child Community College in Montana to hire outreach workers who provide information and assistance regarding FSA's farm loan programs to American Indians in those States. These institutions are Land-Grant Tribal Colleges.
Washington Contact: Mike Hill, FSA National Native American Liaison, Suite 508, Portal Building, 1250 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20024; telephone:(202) 260-5918.
Emergency
Assistance
In the aftermath of a natural disaster, FSA makes available a variety
of emergency assistance programs to farmers in counties that have been
designated or declared disaster areas. The agency can offer cost-share
assistance to producers who do not have enough feed to maintain their
eligible livestock because of a loss of a substantial amount of their
normal feed production. Emergency loans are available to eligible farmers
who suffer qualifying losses as a result of a natural disaster. And, to
help rehabilitate farmland damaged by a natural disaster, FSA can often
share the cost of some emergency conservation practices.
Farm Loans
Nature of Programs: FSA's loan programs help family farmers who are temporarily
unable to obtain private, commercial credit. These could be beginning
farmers who have insufficient net worth to qualify for commercial credit
or farmers who have suffered financial setbacks from natural disasters,
or who have limited resources with which to establish and maintain profitable
farming operations.
Some farmers meet their credit needs through loan guarantees. With this loan, a local agricultural lender makes and services the loan, and FSA guarantees it against loss up to a maximum of 90 percent in most cases. In some circumstances, a 95-percent guarantee is available.
FSA also makes direct loans, which are serviced by an FSA official. FSA provides credit counseling and supervision to its direct borrowers by making a thorough assessment of the farming operation.
Eligibility
Requirements for All FSA Loans:
A loan applicant must:
Contact the county FSA office for more details on requirements for loan eligibility.
Farm Ownership
Loans
Eligible applicants may obtain a direct loan or loans up to $200,000,
or a guaranteed loan or loans up to $300,000. The maximum Farm Ownership
loan indebtedness is $300,000. The maximum repayment term is 40 years
for both direct and guaranteed farm ownership loans.
Purpose: In general, loan funds may be used to purchase farm real estate, to enlarge an existing farm, to construct new farm buildings or improve structures, and to improve the environmental soundness of the farm.
Farm Operating
Loans
Eligible applicants may obtain a direct loan for up to a maximum of $200,000,
or up to $400,000 for a guaranteed loan only or a combination of direct
and guaranteed loans. The repayment term may vary but typically will not
exceed 7 years for intermediate-term purposes. Annual operating loans
are generally repaid within 12 months or when the commodities produced
are sold.
Purpose of Loan: These loans are used for normal operating expenses, family living expenses, machinery and equipment, real estate repairs and improvements, and the refinancing of debt.
Loans for
Socially Disadvantaged Persons
Nature of Program: FSA can make and guarantee loans to socially disadvantaged
applicants to buy and operate family-size firms and ranches. Funds specifically
for these loans are reserved each year.
A socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher is one of a group whose members have been subjected to racial, ethnic, or gender prejudice because of their identity as members of the group without regard to their individual qualities.
Purposes of Program: The purposes of this program are to:
Loan Uses: Farm ownership loan funds for socially disadvantaged persons may be used to purchase or enlarge a farm or ranch, purchase easements or rights of way needed in the farm's operation, erect or improve buildings such as a dwelling or barn, promote soil and water conservation and development, and pay closing costs.
Farm operating loan funds may be used to purchase livestock, poultry, farm and home equipment, feed, seed, fuel, fertilizer, chemicals, hail and other crop insurance, food, clothing, medical care, and hired labor. Funds also may be used to install or improve water systems for home use, livestock or irrigation, and other improvements.
In addition to being members of a socially disadvantaged group, applicants under this program must meet all requirements for FSA's regular farm loan program assistance.
Indian Land
Acquisition Loans
Purpose of Program: Indian Land Acquisition Loans enable Indian tribes
to purchase privately held lands that lie within their reservations. Loan
funds may be used to pay expenses incidental to the purchase of the land,
but not for land development.
Eligibility Requirements: Any Indian tribe recognized by the Secretary of the Interior, or a tribal corporation established in accordance with the Indian Reorganization Act.
Loan Uses: Loan funds may be used to buy lands or acquire interest in lands within an Indian reservation or an Alaska Native community incorporated in conformity with the Indian Reorganization Act. Loan funds may not be used for buildings, land development, equipment, or operating expenses.
Beginning
Farmers and Ranchers Loans
Each year Congress targets a percentage of farm ownership and fam operating
loan funds to beginning farmers. Beginning farmers must have been in the
business less than 10 years and meet other requirements concerning land
ownership and management ability.
Farm Ownership Downpayment Loans: Eligible beginning farmer applicants may obtain a direct loan for up to 30 percent of the purchase price of a family-size farm, or the farm's appraised value, whichever is less. Applicants must provide at least a 10-percent downpayment on the purchase. The interest rate on the 30-percent portion is fixed at 4 percent, and it must be repaid in 10 years or less. The remaining balance, not to exceed 60 percent, may be guaranteed by FSA. The purchase price or appraised value of the farm, whichever is lower, cannot exceed $250,000.
Purpose of Loan: To assist beginning farmers and ranchers who are entering agriculture to purchase a farm or ranch. This program also provides a way for retiring farmers to transfer their land to a future generation of farmers and ranchers.
Emergency
Loss Loans
These loans are available only as direct loans from FSA. They assist farmers
who have suffered physical or production losses in areas declared by the
President or designated by the Secretary of Agriculture or the FSA Administrator.
For production loss loans, applicants must demonstrate a 30-percent loss
in a single farming or ranching enterprise and may receive loans up to
a maximum of 80 percent of total production losses.
Purpose of Loan: Emergency Loan funds may be used to restore or replace essential property, or to pay all or part of production costs associated with the disaster year. Emergency Loss loans are used for both operating and real estate, and repayment terms depend upon the loan purpose and type of collateral securing the loan. The loan limit is up to 80 percent of actual loss, with a maximum total indebtedness per borrower of $500,000.
Livestock
Programs
Nature of Program: Emergency Haying and Grazing Assistance may be made
available in areas in which national disaster has substantially reduced
the yield of pasture and forage crops. Requests for assistance may be
initiated by a FSA County Committee, or by a State Governor. The State
Committee then makes a recommendation to the agency. Determinations are
made on a county-by-county basis. If approved, harvesting of hay and/or
livestock grazing is allowed on cropland that has been removed from production
of annual program crops, such as wheat and feed grains.
Other FSA
Disaster Assistance Programs
FSA administers other disaster assistance programs that are not available
at this time. The following programs are suspended under current statutes:
Emergency Feed
Program. (Feed Cost-Sharing Program)
This program allowed the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to share the
costs, with eligible livestock owners at an established rate, of purchases
of livestock feed normally produced on the farm.
Emergency Feed
Assistance Program.
This provided for the sale by CCC of CCC-owned grain, at reduced rates,
to livestock producers who suffered a substantial loss of livestock feed
normally grown on the farm.
Crash Feed Grain
Donation Program.
This program made feed available to livestock that were commingled, stranded,
and unidentified as to owners, or owned by producers temporarily unable
to arrange for feed or pasture.
Emergency
Conservation Program
Nature and Purpose: Funds are available to rehabilitate farmland and rangeland
damage caused by natural disasters such as erosion, floods, hurricanes,
and for carrying out emergency water conservation measures in periods
of severe drought.
Type of Assistance: Emergency funds for cost-sharing with farmers.
Eligibility Requirements: Designation of county or region as eligible under drought or other natural disaster is made at the Washington, DC, level.
Restrictions: Depending on the nature of the damage, USDA may or may not be needed to help with the solution.
How To Apply: Application for assistance should be made to the NRCS office or sub-office serving the reservation. Eligibility is determined by the county committee based on the type and extent of damage.
Local Contacts: Local USDA Service Center, Tribal Conservation District, or local conservation district office.
Conservation
Reserve Program
Nature of Program: The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) protects our
most fragile farmland by encouraging farmers to stop growing crops on
highly erodible and other environmentally sensitive acreage. In return
for planting a protective cover of grass or trees on vulnerable property,
the participant receives a rental payment each year of a multiyear contract.
Cost-share payments are also available to help establish permanent areas
of grass, legumes, trees, windbreaks, or plants that improve water quality
and give shelter and food to wildlife.
Eligibility Requirements: To be eligible to be placed in CRP, land must be:
In addition to basic eligibility requirements, the cropland must also meet at least one of the following conditions. Land must be:
How To Apply: Producers submit bids stating an annual rental payment they would accept to convert eligible cropland to permanent vegetative cover. This bid is submitted to the county FSA office during an announced sign up period. USDA notifies persons whose bids are accepted after the close of the signup period. The participant, in return for annual payments, agrees to implement a conservation plan approved by the local conservation district for converting this land to a less intensive use.
FSA works with NRCS and other agencies to deliver other conservation programs, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which helps farmers and ranchers improve their property to protect the environment and conserve soil and water resources.
Flood Risk
Reduction Program
Nature of Program: This provision of the 1996 Act authorizes voluntary
contracts that provide one lump sum payment to producers who farm land
with high flood potential.
Available Assistance: The payment will equal 95 percent of the 7-year Production Flexibility Program payments, and other payments to offset estimated Federal outlays on frequently flooded land. In return, the producer agrees to comply with applicable wetlands and highly erodible land requirements and to forego commodity loans, crop insurance, conservation program payments, and disaster payments.
Local Contacts: The USDA Service Center serving the reservation or the appropriate NRCS State Conservationist.
Washington Contact: American Indian Liaison, Community Assistance and Rural Development Division, NRCS, USDA, Washington, DC 20250; telephone: (202) 720-8576.
The Noninsured
Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP)
The Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program provides assistance to
producers for crops that cannot be insured. It provides a "safety net"
for farmers who grow such crops, limiting their losses from natural disasters
and helping to manage their overall business risk. NAP protection is free
of charge.
Eligible Crops: Eligible crops include agricultural commodities that are:
Eligibility Requirements: Interested producers must make certain required crop information available to FSA by the NAP program deadlines. Certain farm records must be maintained throughout the year. To ensure that producers will be able to take advantage of NAP assistance, should it become available, operators must meet all program requirements.
Availability: NAP assistance becomes available when natural disaster causes production losses:
PSA may define an eligible area as:
The FSA county committee monitors local weather and crop conditions to determine when to request crop assistance. The committee assesses crop losses and makes recommendations to the FSA State Executive Director, who determines whether to offer assistance.
Producers' reports of crop acreage, crop damage, and actual production are used by the committee in deciding whether to recommend NAP assistance to farmers in the area.
Compensation Limits: NAP compensates for eligible crop losses exceeding 50 percent of the expected yield, based on the average market price of the commodity. Payments are made at a rate comparable to the compensation offered by the catastrophic level of crop insurance, usually 60 percent.
NAP payments to any single producer cannot exceed $100,000 for any given crop year. The payment rate is reduced for any crop that is unharvested or prevented from being planted, to reflect the difference in costs incurred.
Where To Go
for More Information:
FSA publishes commodity fact sheets that summarize the terms of the present
year's program for various commodities. Other fact sheets are available
on loan programs and conservation. These publications are free, and can
be obtained by contacting the county FSA office, listed in telephone directories
under "U.S. Department of Agriculture," or by writing the Farm Service
Agency, Public Affairs Staff, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington,
DC 20250-0506 or by calling (202) 720-5237.
Since FSA's farm programs are administered through local offices, contact your local FSA office or Service Center for program applications and loan requirements, and to apply for FSA programs.
Information on FSA can also be found on the FSA home page at www.fsa.usda.gov
The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is a USDA agency that represents the diverse interests of U.S. farmers and the food and agricultural sector abroad. It also collects, analyzes, and disseminates information about global supply and demand, trade trends, and emerging market opportunities. FAS seeks improved market access for U.S. products and implements programs designed to build new markets and to maintain the competitive position of U.S. products in the global marketplace. FAS also carries out food aid and market-oriented technical assistance programs and operates a variety of congressionally mandated import and export programs. FAS helps USDA and other Federal agencies, U.S. universities, and others enhance the global competitiveness of U.S. agriculture and helps increase income and food availability in developing nations by mobilizing expertise for agriculturally led economic growth.
American Indian
Trade Development Council
Since 1992, FAS has worked with the American Indian Trade Development
Council (AITDC) to market American Indian products in the international
marketplace, primarily in Asia. With FAS support, AITDC participated in
the 1996 China Fisheries and Seafood Expo in Qingdao, China, exhibiting
reservation-produced salmon and seafood. FAS is cosponsoring the Intertribal
Agriculture Council's outreach efforts to American Indians and Alaska
Natives in coordination with other USDA agencies.
Trade Leads
and Buyer Alert
FAS has a number of ongoing programs that can benefit American Indian
and Alaska Native tribes or individuals. Through its Trade Leads service,
U.S. exporters learn about foreign inquiries to purchase U.S. food, farm,
seafood, and forest products. Last year, FAS published over 5,000 trade
leads. Using the Buyer Alert service, U.S. exporters can announce their
products to interested foreign buyers. The Buyer Alert is distributed
to over 14,000 buyers.
Foreign Buyers
List and U.S. Supplier List
FAS also can provide exporters with a Foreign Buyers List that contains
the names of 20,000 buyers of U.S. food products. The list is made available
to U.S. exporters by country or commodity. The U.S. Supplier List includes
suppliers of U.S. food products. The list is made available to FAS overseas
offices that distribute them to foreign buyers seeking U.S. food products.
Food and Agricultural
Trade Shows
FAS sponsors and endorses a variety of food and agricultural trade shows
that provide good avenues to enter the best potential markets for U.S.
products. These shows include about 25 food shows in mature and emerging
market. FAS works with show organizers to secure a high level of services,
and provides a range of marketing and public relations services, and guidance
for new-to-market and new-to-exporting companies. Participation in all
shows is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Market Access
Program
The Market Access Program (MAP) uses funds from USDA's Commodity Credit
Corporation (CCC) to help U.S. producers, exporters, private companies,
and other trade organizations finance promotional activities for U.S.
agricultural products. The MAP encourages development, maintenance, and
expansion of commercial export markets for agricultural commodities, and
includes consumer promotions, market research, technical assistance, and
trade servicing activities.
Trade Assistance
and Promotion Office
The Trade Assistance and Promotion Office (TAPO) serves as the first point
of contact for persons needing assistance in exporting U.S. consumer-ready
foods and agricultural products. Staff members provide basic export counseling
and direct callers to the appropriate USDA office to answer specific technical
questions regarding exports. Additionally, the staff can provide assistance
in obtaining market research reports for various overseas markets. For
assistance, contact
Trade Assistance and
Promotion
Office U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service
AG Box 1052
Washington, DC 20250
Phone:(202)720-7420
Fax: (202) 690-4374
Hearing impaired (TDD): (202) 690-4837
The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (the 1996 Act) created the Risk Management Agency (RMA). The 1996 Act also revised a requirement that producers obtain at least the catastrophic level of crop insurance to be eligible for most USDA farm programs, to allow producers to maintain their eligibility for these farm programs as long as they waived their right to any other emergency crop loss assistance.
RMA improves the economic stability of agriculture by providing producers a sound system of crop insurance. Federal crop insurance covers losses due to unavoidable causes such as drought, excessive moisture, hail, wind, frost, insects, and disease. Currently 62 major crops are insurable. Crop insurance is available exclusively from crop insurance agents. Insurance protection must be purchased prior to sales closing dates that vary by crop and region.
In addition to administering the crop insurance program for the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, RMA is responsible for coordinating an educational outreach program to help producers manage the financial risks inherent in the production and marketing of agricultural commodities. This cooperative effort involves the resources of the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extenston Service (CSREES), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and numerous private sector organizations.
RMA also participates with other USDA agencies in an outreach program with the Intertribal Agriculture Council to increase awareness of USDA services available to American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Trusts Administered
by the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Indian land is frequently held in trust by the Department of the Interior's
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) or a tribal governing body and leased to
operators. Indian land held in trust is processed in the same manner as
land held in an irrevocable trust. The name of the trust is the named
insured. Often BIA trusts are referred to as allotments, identied by an
allotment number (e.g., BIA Allotment Number 0006, which is the name of
the trust and consequently the named insured). A separate policy is required
for each allotment with different individual owners. Linkage for certain
USDA farm program benefits for individual American Indians and Alaska
Natives who own parcels of an allotment are established by that trust.
If the trust agreement provides that operators of leased land purchase crop insurance, a power of attorney will be executed by the BIA granting the operator the authority to purchase crop insurace on behalf of the trust.
If the BIA trust does not have an Employer's Identification Number (EIN), a nine-digit number may be established as follows: the first two digits identify the State, the next three the county, and the last four the allotment number.
How To Apply: An agreernent should be prepared for the American Indian or Alaska Native lessor by the inurance representative, signed by the lessee, and attached to the lessee's application. This agreement may be executed in connection with an existing contract or application and must be filed at the service office when an acreage report is filed.
For More Information: Administrator, Risk Management Agency, USDA, Washington, DC 20250. Telephone: (202) 690-2803.