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The Agriculture Mediation Program is program initially authorized by the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 (P.L. 100-233, Title V, and recently amended by P.L. 106-472, Sec. 306; 7 U.S.C. 5101), to facilitate the use of mediation to settle disputes arising in conjunction with United States Department of Agriculture actions. If agreement is not reached through mediation, all parties remain free to pursue other available administrative appeals or legal actions. Typical areas of dispute include farm loans, farm and conservation programs, wetland determinations, rural water loan programs, grazing on national forest lands, and pesticides. This program is administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA).
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and production, works to assure food safety, protects natural resources, fosters rural communities and works to end hunger in the United States and internationally. It is headed by the secretary of agriculture, who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the president's Cabinet. The current secretary is Tom Vilsack, who has served since February 24, 2021.
The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is the United States Department of Agriculture agency that was formed by merging the farm loan portfolio and staff of the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) and the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS). The Farm Service Agency implements agricultural policy, administers credit and loan programs, and manages conservation, commodity, disaster, and farm marketing programs through a national network of offices. The Administrator of FSA reports to the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation. The current administrator is Zach Ducheneaux. The FSA of each state is led by a politically appointed State Executive Director (SED).
The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) is a wholly owned United States government corporation that was created in 1933 to "stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices". The CCC is authorized to buy, sell, lend, make payments, and engage in other activities for the purpose of increasing production, stabilizing prices, assuring adequate supplies, and facilitating the efficient marketing of agricultural commodities.
The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, known informally as the Freedom to Farm Act, the FAIR Act, or the 1996 U.S. Farm Bill, was the omnibus 1996 farm bill that, among other provisions, revises and simplifies direct payment programs for crops and eliminates milk price supports through direct government purchases.
USDA Rural Development (RD) is a mission area within the United States Department of Agriculture which runs programs intended to improve the economy and quality of life in rural parts of the United States.
Pigford v. Glickman (1999) was a class action lawsuit against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), alleging that it had racially discriminated against African-American farmers in its allocation of farm loans and assistance from 1981 to 1996. The lawsuit was settled on April 14, 1999, by Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. To date, almost $1 billion US dollars have been paid or credited to fewer than 20,000 farmers under the settlement's consent decree, under what is reportedly the largest civil rights settlement until that point. Due to delaying tactics by U.S. government officials, more than 70,000 farmers were treated as filing late and thus did not have their claims heard. The 2008 Farm Bill provided for additional claims to be heard. In December 2010, Congress appropriated $1.2 billion for what is called "Pigford II," settlement for the second part of the case.
In United States federal agriculture legislation, the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 was enacted in response to the severe financial crisis of the early- to mid-1980s, which affected both farmers and their lending institutions.
The Bankhead–Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937 was passed on July 22, 1937, and authorized acquisition by the federal government of damaged lands to rehabilitate and use them for various purposes. Most importantly, however, the law authorized a modest credit program to assist tenant farmers to purchase land, and it was the culmination of a long effort to secure legislation for their benefit.
The Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act of 1972 or Con Act authorized a major expansion of USDA lending activities, which at the time were administered by Farmers Home Administration (FmHA). The legislation was originally enacted as the Consolidated Farmers Home Administration Act of 1961. In 1972, this title was changed to the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, and is often referred to as the Con Act.
The Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act of 1961 authorized a major expansion of USDA lending activities, which at the time were administered by Farmers Home Administration (FmHA), but now through the Farm Service Agency. The legislation was originally enacted as the Consolidated Farmers Home Administration Act of 1961.
The Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade (FACT) Act of 1990 — P.L. 101-624 was a 5-year omnibus farm bill that passed Congress and was signed into law.
The Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant and Loan Program (DLT) is a program authorized by the 1990 farm bill to provide grants to rural schools and health care providers to help them invest in telecommunications facilities and equipment to bring educational and medical resources to rural areas where the services otherwise might be unavailable. The 1996 farm bill reauthorized and streamlined the program.
The Food Security Act of 1985, a five-year omnibus farm bill, allowed lower commodity price, income supports, and established a dairy herd buyout program. This 1985 farm bill made changes in a variety of other USDA programs. Several enduring conservation programs were created, including sodbuster, swampbuster, and the Conservation Reserve Program.
The U.S. Sugar program is the federal commodity support program that maintains a minimum price for sugar, authorized by the 2002 farm bill to cover the 2002-2007 crops of sugar beets and sugarcane.
In United States agriculture policy, loan deficiency payments (LDP) are a farm income support program first authorized by the Food Security Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-198) that makes direct payments, equivalent to marketing loan gains, to producers who agree not to obtain nonrecourse loans, even though they are eligible. Loan deficiency payments are available under the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171, Sec. 1205) for wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, rice, soybeans, other oilseeds, wool, mohair, honey, dry peas, lentils, and small chickpeas.
A poundage quota, also called a marketing quota, is a quantitative limit on the amount of a commodity that can be marketed under the provisions of a permanent law. Once a common feature of price support programs, this supply control mechanism ended with the quota buyouts for peanuts in 2002 and tobacco in 2004.
In United States agricultural policy, a marketing loan repayment provision is a loan settlement provision, first authorized by the Food Security Act of 1985, that allowed producers to repay nonrecourse loans at less than the announced loan rates whenever the world price or loan repayment rate for the commodity were less than the loan rate. Marketing loan provisions became mandatory for soybeans and other oilseeds, upland cotton, and rice and were permitted for wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, and honey under amendments made by the 1990 farm bill. The 1996 farm bill retained the marketing loan provisions for wheat, feed grains, rice, upland cotton, and oilseeds. The 2002 farm bill continued marketing assistance loans and expanded their application to wool, mohair, dry peas, lentils, and small chickpeas.
Marketing assistance loans are nonrecourse loans made available to producers of loan commodities under the 2002 farm bill. The new law largely continued the commodity loan programs as they were under previous law. Loan rate caps are specified in the law. Marketing loan repayment provisions apply when market prices drop below the loan rates. For farmers who forgo the use of marketing assistance loans, loan deficiency payment (LDP) rules apply.
The honey program is a price support program provided by the United States Department of Agriculture to American honey producers. Federal subsidies to the honey industry began in 1950, when demand for honey decreased following the end of World War II. The program was eliminated in 1993, and re-instated in 2002.
The Farm Storage Facility Loan Program is a loan program for the construction and remodeling of storage facilities on farms producing grains, oilseeds, and pulses. The loan limit for each borrower is $100,000 for up to seven years. The interest rate is equivalent to the rate on comparable term Treasury securities. The program is administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). The 2002 farm bill newly mandated storage facility loans for raw and refined sugar.