The following is a list of terms you may encounter when engaging with FSA and its programs.
Acreage Report — documents the crops grown on your
farm or ranch and their intended uses. You must file timely
acreage reports to be eligible for many USDA programs.
Advance Payment — a payment that may be made
available in advance of the installation of the conservation
practice.
Assignment of Payment — this form known as the CCC-
36 allows the participant to directly assign part or all of a
payment received for Farm Bill program participation to
another individual, group of individuals or entities.
Farm Bill — a package of legislation passed roughly
once every 5 years that impacts farming livelihoods,
how food is grown, what kinds of foods are grown. It
covers commodities, conservation, nutrition, loans, rural
development, research, extension services, forestry,
energy, horticulture, crop insurance, labor safety,
workforce development, and much more.
Conservation Concern — an expected degradation of the
soil, water, air, plant, animal, or energy resource base to
an extent that the sustainability or intended use of the
resource is impaired. This may also be called a Resource
Concern.
Conservation Loan — an FSA Direct or Guaranteed
Loan that can be used to fund the implementation of
approved conservation practices in accordance with
an NRCS Conservation Plan of Forest Service Steward
Management Plan.
Conservation Plan — a free tool designed to help you
better manage the natural resources on your farm or
ranch. An NRCS conservationist will meet with you to
evaluate the soil, water, air, plant, and animal resources
on your property and offer several alternatives to address
the resource conditions. The alternatives you decide
to use are recorded in your conservation plan, which
includes a schedule for installation.
Conservation Planning Activities — activities for
which producers can receive NRCS funding to engage
Technical Service Providers (TSPs) to help identify and
assess the resource concerns against planning criteria
in a conservation plan and determine the practices to
implement.
Conservation Practice Standard — NRCS guidance that
contains information on why and where a practice is
applied and sets forth the minimum quality criteria that
must be met during the application of a practice in order
for it to achieve its intended purpose.
Conservationist — an individual who provides technical
expertise and conservation planning for farmers,
ranchers, and forest landowners wanting to make
conservation improvements to their land.
Cooperative Extension Service — assists the public in
the areas of agriculture, lawn and garden, community
development, 4H and youth development, family, and
consumer education.
Design Implementation Activities — activities for
which producers can receive NRCS funding to engage
Technical Service Providers (TSPs) to help identify how
to implement systems, practices, and activities. These
may include the development of specific practice designs,
management prescriptions, or other instructions to
implement a producer’s selected conservation system.
FSA County Committee — a committee elected by the
agricultural producers in the county or area to help
deliver farm program at the local level and work to ensure
programs serve the needs of local producers.
Direct Loan — Direct Loans offer up to 100 percent
financing and are a valuable resource to help farmers
and ranchers purchase or enlarge family farms, improve
and expand current operations, increase agricultural
productivity, purchase livestock or equipment, recover
from natural disasters and assist with land tenure to save
farmland for future generations. With a maximum loan
amount of $600,000 for Direct Farm Ownership ($300,150 for
Beginning Farmer Down Payment) and $400,000 for Direct Farm
Operating Loans, all FSA Direct Loans are financed and
serviced by the Agency through local Farm Loan staff. The
funding comes from Congressional appropriations as part
of the USDA budget.
Emergency Loan — an FSA Direct Loan that can be used to
help qualified operators recover from a declared natural
disaster. This loan can help with paying costs of repairing
or replacing damaged property, replacing lost crop income
and provide funds for operating costs. Producers can borrow up to 100% of actual production and physical losses to a maximum
amount of $500,000.
Easement — an interest in land defined and delineated in a
deed whereby the landowner conveys rights, title, and/or
interests in a property to the grantee, but the landowner
retains fee-title ownership.
Farm and Tract Number — Farm Number is a unique
identifier assigned by FSA to a farm. Tract Number is a
unique identifier assigned to a land unit that is part of a
farm.
Farm Ownership Loan — an FSA Direct or Guaranteed
Loan that can be used to purchase or expand a farm
or ranch. This loan can help with paying closing costs,
constructing or improving buildings on the farm, or to
help conserve and protect soil and water resources. The
maximum loan amount for a Direct Farm Ownership Loan
is $600,000, and for a Guaranteed Farm Ownership Loan
is $2,236,000 (these amounts are adjusted annually for inflation).
Financial Assistance — funds paid to an eligible program
participant under an agreement entered into with NRCS.
Guaranteed Loan — FSA’s Guaranteed Farm Loan
Programs help family farmers and ranchers to obtain
loans from USDA-approved commercial lenders at
reasonable terms to buy farmland or finance agricultural
production. FSA will guarantee farm loans through
a commercial lender up to $2,236,000. Financial
institutions receive additional loan business as well
as benefit from the safety net the FSA provides by
guaranteeing farm loans up to 95 percent against possible
financial loss of principal and interest.
Heirs Property — a legal term that refers to family
land inherited without a will or legal documentation of
ownership.
Highly Erodible Land (HEL) — cropland, hayland, or
pasture that can erode at excessive rates. It would contain
soils that have an erodibility index of eight or more. If a
producer has a field identified as highly erodible land, that
producer is required to maintain a conservation system
of practices that keeps erosion rates at a substantial
reduction of soil loss.
Microloan — an FSA Direct Loan, either Farm Ownership
or Operating Loan, designed to meet the needs of
small and beginning farmers, or for non-traditional and
specialty operations by easing some of the requirements
and offering less paperwork. The maximum loan amount
for a Microloan is $50,000.
Operating Loans — an FSA Direct or Guaranteed
Loan that can be used to purchase livestock, seed, and
equipment. This loan can also cover farm operating
costs and family living expenses while a farm gets up
and running. The maximum loan amount for a Direct
Operating Loan is $400,000, and for a Guaranteed
Operating Loan is $2,236,000 (these amounts are adjusted annually
for inflation).
Practice Implementation — the action taken by a
producer or contractor to install or carry out a planned
conservation practice to address a natural resource
concern, meet the technical requirements of the design
standard, and achieve an environmental benefit.
Ranking Pools — customized to incorporate locally led
input and are established to allow program applications
with similar land uses/production types, resource
concerns, and in similar geographic areas to compete for
funding with similar operations.
Risk Management — the forecasting and evaluation
of financial risks together with the identification of
procedures to avoid or minimize their impact.
Schedule of Operations — this document identifies the
conservation practices to be implemented, timing of the
implementation, practice location, and payment rates.
Service Center — location where you can connect with
FSA, NRCS, or Rural Development employees for your
business needs. Find your local Service Center and agency
offices using the USDA Service Center Locator at farmers.
gov/service_locator.
Technical Assistance — guidance provided to farmers,
ranchers and forestland owners with the knowledge and
tools they need to conserve, maintain, and restore the
natural resources on their lands and improve the health of
their operations for the future.
Technical Service Provider (TSP) — an individual or
business with technical expertise in conservation planning
and design that serve as consultants to provide services
on behalf of NRCS.
Youth Loan — a type of Operating Loan for young people
between 10–20 years old who need assistance with an
educational agricultural project. Typically, these youth are
participating in 4-H clubs, FFA, or a similar organization. The
maximum loan amount for Youth Loans is $5,000.
Wetland — Wetlands are defined differently by different
people and different government agencies. But there
are three factors of commonality in these various
definitions; wetlands can be defined by having wetland
vegetation (hydrophytes) or supporting such vegetation
under normal circumstances, having a predominance of
hydric soils, and having wetland hydrology (inundated or
saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and
duration sufficient to support a prevalence of vegetation
typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions).