Helps agricultural producers, their lenders, and other persons directly affected by the actions of USDA resolve disputes. Through mediation, a trained, impartial person (mediator) helps participants review their conflicts, identify options, and agree on solutions. Mediation is a valuable tool for settling disputes in many different USDA program areas. These include farm loans, farm and conservation programs, wetland determinations, rural water loan programs, grazing on national forest system lands, and pesticides usage. The program is authorized through 2005 by the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 (Pub. L. 100-233)(7 U.S.C. 5101 ?5104), as amended by the Grain Standards and Warehouse Improvement Act of 2000 (Pub. L. 106-372). For more information click here.
A type of Farm Ownership loan made to eligible applicants to finance a portion of a real estate purchase. The statutory authority for beginning farmer downpayment loans is section 310E of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Pub. L. 87- 128) (7 U.S.C. 1935).
Provides a voluntary program to agricultural producers to help them safeguard environmentally sensitive land. Producers enrolled in CRP plant long-term, resource-conserving covers to improve the quality of water, control soil erosion, and enhance wildlife habitat. In return, CCC provides participants rental payments and cost-share assistance. Contract duration is between 10 and 15 years. CRP was authorized by section 1231 of the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended (Pub. L. 99-198)(16 U.S.C. 3831, et seq.).
Makes payments to dairy producers when a public regulatory agency directs them to remove their raw milk from the commercial market because it has been contaminated by pesticides, nuclear radiation or fallout, or toxic substances and chemical residues other than pesticides. Payments are made to manufacturers of dairy products only for products removed from the market because of pesticide contamination. The program is authorized by section 3 of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, as amended (Pub. L. 90-484) (7 U.S.C. 4501). Section 1503(b) of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171) continued the program through 2007.
Provides payments to eligible producers on farms enrolled for the 2002 through 2007 crop years. There are two types of DCP payments ? direct payments and counter-cyclical payments. Both are computed using the base acres and payment yields established for the farm. Base acres and payment yields are established for the following commodities: barley; corn; grain sorghum, including dual-purpose varieties that can be harvested as grain; oats; canola, crambe, flax, mustard, rapeseed, safflower, sesame and sunflower, including oil and non-oil varieties; peanuts, beginning in DCP; rice, excluding wild rice; soybeans; upland cotton; and wheat. DCP was authorized by sections 1101?1108 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171) (7 U.S.C. 7911 et seq.). For more information and the Fact sheet click here.
A loan made to eligible applicants to purchase, enlarge, or make capital improvements to family farms, or to promote soil and water conservation and protection. Maximum direct loan amount is $200,000. A percentage of direct Farm Ownership loan funds is targeted for beginning farmers and socially disadvantaged applicants as mandated by sections 346 and 355 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Pub. L. 87-128) (CONACT) (7 U.S.C. 1994 and 7 U.S.C. 2003), respectively. The statutory authority for direct farm ownership loans is section 302 of the CONACT (7 U.S.C. 1922).
A loan made to an eligible applicant to assist with the financial costs of operating a farm. Maximum direct loan amount is $200,000. A percentage of direct Operating Loan funds is targeted for beginning farmers as mandated sections 346 and 355 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Pub. L. 87-128) (CONACT) (7 U.S.C. 1994 and 7 U.S.C. 2003), respectively. The statutory authority for direct Operating Loans is section 311 of the CONACT (7 U.S.C. 1911).
Provided loans to farmers and ranchers who were unable to obtain credit from their normal agricultural lender(s) due to national or area-wide economic stresses such as general tightening of agricultural credit or an unfavorable relationship between production costs and prices received for agricultural commodities. The statutory authority for the Economic Emergency loan program was the Emergency Agricultural Credit Adjustment Act of 1978.
Provides emergency funding for farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by wind erosion, floods, hurricanes, or other natural disasters, and for carrying out emergency water conservation measures during periods of severe drought. The natural disaster must create new conservation problems, which, if not treated, would: impair or endanger the land; materially affect the productive capacity of the land; represent unusual damage which, except for wind erosion, is not the type likely to recur frequently in the same area; and be so costly to repair that Federal assistance is, or will be, required to return the land to productive agricultural use. Authorized by section 401 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (Pub. L. 95-334) (16 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.).
Loans are available to eligible applicants who have incurred qualifying production or phyicial losses from a disaster. Maximum outstanding loan amount is $500,000. The statutory authority for Emergency Loans is section 321 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Pub. L. 87-128) (7 U.S.C. 1961).
 Producers may receive marketing assistance loans on all ELS cotton production. For ELS cotton to be eligible for a marketing assistance loan, producers must comply with applicable conservation and wetland requirements, report their ELS cotton planted acreage, comply with crop insurance requirements, and have beneficial interest in the cotton at the time the loan is requested and throughout the loan period. Further, cotton must be ginned on a roller-type gin, carry an approved USDA Agricultural Marketing Service class, and be placed in a CCC-approved warehouse. Cotton placed under a marketing assistance loan may be forfeited to CCC when the loan expires in full satisfaction of the loan. Section 1208 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171) (7 U.S.C. 7938) continued the competitiveness program through July 31, 2008.
USDA may make loans to producers to build or upgrade farm storage and handling facilities. Commodities covered under this storage program are rice, soybeans, dry peas, lentils, small chickpeas, peanuts, sunflower seeds, canola, rapeseed, safflower, flaxseed, mustard seed, and other oilseeds as CCC determines and announces. Corn, grain sorghum, oats, wheat, or barley harvested as whole grain or other than whole grain are also eligible. The program is authorized under the CCC Charter Act (15 U.S.C. 714 et seq.). For more information click here.
GRP is voluntary, and it offers landowners the opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance grasslands on their property. Section 2401 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171) added section 1238N to the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3838n) to authorize this program. USDA's NRCS, FSA, and Forest Service are coordinating GRP implementation. The program will conserve vulnerable grasslands from conversion to cropland or other uses and conserve valuable grasslands by helping maintain viable ranching operations.
A loan made by another lender and guaranteed by FSA to eligible applicants to purchase, enlarge, or make capital improvements to family farms, or to promote soil and water conservation and protection. Maximum loan amount is $782,000 (for FY 2004). A percentage of guaranteed Farm Ownership loan funds is targeted for beginning farmers as mandated by sections 346 and 355 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (CONACT) (Pub. L. 87-128) (7 U.S.C. 1994 and 7 U.S.C. 2003), respectively. The statutory authority for guaranteed Farm Ownership loans is section 302 of the CONACT (7 U.S.C. 1922).
A loan made by another lender and guaranteed by FSA to an eligible applicant to assist with the financial costs of operating a farm. Maximum loan amount is $782,000 (for FY 2004). A percentage of guaranteed Operating Loan funds is targeted for beginning farmers as mandated sections 346 and 355 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Pub. L. 87-128) (CONACT) (7 U.S.C. 1994 and 7 U.S.C. 2003), respectively. The statutory authority for guaranteed Operating Loans is Section 311 of the CONACT (7 U.S.C. 1941).
A loan available to Indian tribes for purchasing privately held lands within their respective reservations? boundaries. The statutory authority for Indian Tribal Land Acquisition loans is Pub. L. 91-229 (25 U.S.C 490).
Provides financial assistance to eligible producers affected by drought, flood, hurricane, or other natural disasters. This federally funded program covers noninsurable crop losses and planting prevented by disasters. Producers who are landowners, tenants, or sharecroppers who share in the risk of producing an eligible crop are eligible. Eligible crops include commercial crops and other agricultural commodities produced for food (including livestock feed) or fiber for which the catastrophic level of crop insurance is unavailable. Also eligible for NAP coverage are controlled-environment crops (mushrooms and floriculture), specialty crops (honey and maple sap), and value loss crops (aquaculture, Christmas trees, ginseng, ornamental nursery, and turfgrass sod). Authorized by section 196 of the Agricultural Market Transition Act (Pub. L. 104-127) (7 U.S.C. 7333), as amended. For NAP Brochure click here.
Provide producers interim financing at harvest time to meet cash flow needs without having to sell their commodities when market prices are typically at harvest-time lows. Allowing producers to store production at harvest facilitates more orderly marketing of commodities throughout the year. Marketing assistance loans for covered commodities are nonrecourse because the commodities are pledged as loan collateral and producers have the option of delivering the pledged collateral to CCC as full payment for the loan at maturity.
A producer who is eligible to obtain a loan, but who agrees to forgo the loan, may obtain an LDP. The LDP rate equals the amount by which the applicable loan rate where the commodity is stored exceeds the alternative loan repayment rate for the respective commodity.
Sections 1201-1209 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171) (7 U.S.C. 7231 et seq.) (2002 Act) continue n onrecourse marketing assistance loan and LDP provisions of previous legislation. The 2002 Act provides for nonrecourse marketing assistance loans and LDP's for the 2002-2007 crops of wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, soybeans, other oilseeds (including sunflowers, canola, safflower, flaxseed, rapeseed, mustard seed, crambe and sesame), rice, upland cotton, peanuts, honey, wool, mohair, dry peas, lentils, and small chickpeas.
Provides that CCC administer nonrecourse loans for the 2002 through 2007 crops. The Sugar Loan Program provides nonrecourse loans to processors of domestically grown sugarcane and sugar beets. This program helps to stabilize America?s sugar industry and ensure the well being of agriculture in the United States. Authorized by Section 156 of the Federal Agriculture Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7272), as amended by section1401 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171). Part VII of subtitle B of Title III of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 (7 U.S.C. 1359 et seq.), as amended by section 1403 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171), provides that, at the beginning of each fiscal year, CCC will establish marketing allotments for domestically produced sugar from sugar beets and domestically produced sugarcane. The Secretary will strive to establish an overall allotment quantity that results in no forfeitures of sugar to CCC under the sugar loan program. The Secretary shall make estimates of sugar consumption, stocks, production, and imports for a crop year as necessary, but not later than the beginning of each of the second through fourth quarters of the crop year. Prior to the beginning of the fiscal year, these estimates must be updated.
Provides loans to processors of domestically-produced sugarcane and sugar beets for the construction or upgrading of storage and handling facilities for raw sugars and refined sugars. Loans may be made only for the purchase and installation of eligible storage facilities, permanently affixed handling equipment, or the remodeling of existing facilities. Authorized under section 1402 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171) (7 U.S.C.7971). For more information click here.
Provides technical assistance and cash benefits to eligible producers of raw agricultural commodities such as fish or blueberries. A group must first petition the Secretary for assistance. If the Secretary determines that the national average price in the most recent marketing year for a commodity is less than 80 percent of the national average price in the preceding 5 marketing years and that increases in imports of that commodity contributed importantly to the decline in price, producers will be eligible for assistance. The statute authorizes an appropriation of not more than $90 million for each fiscal year from 2003 through 2007 to carry out the program. The Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2251, et seq.), as amended by Subtitle C of Title 1 of the Trade Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-210), established the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers. For more information click here.
Provides operating type loans to eligible rural youth applicants to finance a modest income-producing agricultural project. Maximum loan amount is $5,000. The statutory authority for Youth Loans is section 311 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Pub. L. 87-128).
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