As authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill (Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008), producers on eligible farms may elect to participate in the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) Program.

Under the ACRE Program, producers may receive revenue-based payments as an alternative to receiving price-based counter-cyclical (CC) payments.

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 down payment loans is section 310E of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Pub. L. 87- 128) (7 U.S.C. 1935).

Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) provides financial assistance to producers or entities that deliver eligible biomass material to designated biomass conversion facilities for use as heat, power, biobased products or biofuels. Initial assistance will be for the Collection, Harvest, Storage and Transportation (CHST) costs associated with the delivery of eligible materials.

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.).

As the name implies, this program is an enhanced version of the very successful Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The Michigan CREP enhancements are dedicated staff and financial incentives provided by the State of Michigan. CREP is a special conservation program that allows the CRP to be tailored to meet the needs of the State. CREP is a Federal-State conservation partnership program that targets significant environmental effects related to Agriculture. CREP priority areas include the Lake Macatawa, River Raisin, and Saginaw Bay Watersheds.

On March 22, 2007, FSA announced a new CRP initiative, State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE). SAFE allows producers to install practices that benefit high priority State wildlife conservation objectives through the use of targeted restoration of vital habitat. The program, which was the result of an agreement between USDA Farm Service Agency, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, wildlife management agencies, conservation and commodity groups -- such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nature Conservancy, Pheasants Forever, the Michigan Department of Agriculture, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association -- was announced in January 2008.

Sign-up to enroll land in the new Conservation Reserve Program practice, called State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (CRP-SAFE), began in Michigan on July 1. The goal of SAFE is to create 7,500 acres of diverse grasslands in 18 southern Michigan counties (Barry, Branch, Calhoun, Clinton, Eaton, Genesee, Hillsdale, Ingham, Ionia, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston, Monroe, Shiawassee, St. Joseph and Washtenaw) and 2,500 acres of pollinator habitat in 22 counties in the western Lower Peninsula (Allegan, Antrim, Barry, Benzie, Berrien, Cass, Charlevoix, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Kalamazoo, Kalkaska, Kent, Lake, Leelanau, Manistee, Mason, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Ottawa, Van Buren, and Wexford).

Landowners who choose to participate in the new practice may receive 90 percent of the cost of converting cropland into wildlife habitat, and in some cases 100 percent. In addition, they will receive rental payments for a minimum of 10 years and have the option for enrolling for up to 15 years. Participants will also receive a signing incentive payment equal to $100.00 per acre, up to 10 years, upon enrollment into the program.

Provides payments to eligible producers on farms enrolled for the 2008 through 2012 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. For 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 loan amount is $300,000. 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 loan amount is $300,000. 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).

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 substantial financial 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).

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 $1,112,000. 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 $1,112,000. 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).

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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.

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 nonrecourse 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 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).