As authorized by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill), 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.

Only farms with covered commodity or peanut base acres may participate in the ACRE Program. Farms that are already enrolled in the Direct and Counter-Cyclical Payment Program (DCP) for a crop year may elect to switch to ACRE before the end of signup. As provided by the 2008 Farm Bill, farms with 10 or less base acres are not eligible for DCP or ACRE Program payments, except for farms whose owners are socially disadvantaged or are limited resource farmers or ranchers.

The Beginning Farm and Rancher Loan is 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).

CRP 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). CREP is a special conservation program that allows extra incentives and payments for eligible producers. CREP is a Federal-State conservation partnership program that targets significant environmental effects related to Agriculture. CREP priority areas include the drainages of the Cheat River, Kanawha River, Little Kanawha River, Monongahela River, Potomac River, and Ohio River.

The Direct and Counter-cyclical Payment Program (DCP) 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. DCP is authorized by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill).

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).

ECP 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 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 provides low-interest financing for producers to build or upgrade farm storage and handling facilities. Commodities covered under this storage program are corn, grain sorghum, rice, soybeans, oats, peanuts, wheat, or minor oilseeds harvested as grain. Also eligible are corn, grain sorghum, oats, wheat, or barley harvested as other-than-whole grain. CCC’s loan is limited to 85 percent of the net cost of the eligible storage facility and permanent drying and handling equipment (subject to the applicant’s storage needs test). Loan term is 7 years. Loan will not be disbursed until the facility has been erected and inspected. The program is authorized under the CCC Charter Act (15 U.S.C. 714 et seq.).

GRP is voluntary, and it offers landowners the opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance grasslands on their property. USDA's FSA and NRCS 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 farming operations. GRP includes rental contracts and/or easements.

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 $1,094,000 (for FY 2009). 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 $1,094,000 (for FY 2009). 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).

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill) reauthorizes the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) Program through September 20, 2012. The FSA MILC Program supports the dairy industry by providing direct counter-cyclical style payments to milk producers on a monthly basis when the Boston Federal Milk Marketing Order Class I price for fluid milk falls below the benchmark of $16.94 per hundredweight (cwt). FSA determines the per hundredweight payment rate for the applicable month by subtracting the Boston Class I price for that month from the $16.94 MILC payment trigger price as adjusted for feed costs, and multiplying the difference by 45 percent. The MILC payment trigger price of $16.94 is adjusted upward when the National Average Dairy Feed Ration Cost for a month is greater than $7.35 per cwt.

USDA's Farm Service Agency's (FSA) Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) provides financial assistance to producers of noninsurable crops when low yields, loss of inventory or prevented planting occur due to natural disasters.

An eligible producer is a landowner, tenant or sharecropper who shares in the risk of producing an eligible crop. As authorized by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Act) effective May 22, 2008, the average nonfarm adjusted gross income (AGI) limitation of the eligible producer cannot exceed $500,000 to be eligible for NAP.

To be eligible for NAP, crops must be noninsurable and commercially-produced agricultural commodity crops for which the catastrophic risk protection level of crop insurance is not available, and must be crops grown for food; crops planted and grown for livestock consumption, including, but not limited to grain and forage crops, including native forage; crops grown for fiber, such as cotton and flax (except for trees); crops grown in a controlled environment, such as mushrooms and floriculture; specialty crops, such as honey and maple sap; value loss crops, such as aquaculture, Christmas trees, ginseng, ornamental nursery, and turfgrass sod; sea oats and sea grass; and seed crops where the propagation stock is produced for sale as seed stock for other eligible NAP crop production.

Please contact a crop insurance agent if you have questions regarding insurability of a crop in your county. For further information on whether a crop is eligible for NAP coverage, please contact your local FSA office.

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 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).