FARMERS’

G U I D E T O 

FARM BILL

PROGRAMS

United States

Department of

Agriculture

FARM PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION 

FARM SERVICE AGENCY | NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE | RISK MANAGEMENT AGENCY

Learn more at: 

farmers.gov

Find your local USDA Service Center at:

farmers.gov/service-locator 

Contact a crop insurance agent at:

rma.usda.gov/agent

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

Program Aid No. 2244 

July 2019
This guide describes assistance for 

farmers, ranchers, and forest managers 

available through the 2018 Farm Bill. 

To learn more, visit your local USDA 

Service Center or farmers.gov.

FARMERS’ GUIDE TO 2018 USDA 

FARM BILL PROGRAMS

FUND — Opportunities to access capital to fund your operation.

Biomass Crop Assistance 

Program (BCAP)

Provides incentives that help farmers grow bioenergy feedstocks (crops well suited for 

conversion to energy) and connect with qualified biomass conversion facilities.

Down Payment Loans

Provide a low-interest Government loan, made in conjunction with a loan from a 

commercial lender and borrower down payment, to help beginning, minority, veteran, 

and women farmers purchase a farm or ranch.

Farm Operating Loans 

Help producers pay for normal operating expenses, including machinery and 

equipment, seed, livestock feed, and more. Direct (up to $400,000) and guaranteed 

(up to $1.75 million) operating loans are available.

Farm Ownership Loans

Help producers become owner-operators of family farms as well as improve and 

expand current operations. Direct (up to $600,000) and guaranteed (up to $1.75 

million) ownership loans are available. 

Farm Storage Facility Loans Provide low-interest loans to build, purchase, or upgrade facilities and equipment used 

to store, handle, or transport eligible commodities.

Marketing Assistance Loans Provide interim financing at harvest time for producers to meet cash flow needs without 

having to sell their commodities when market prices typically are at harvest-time lows.

Microloans

Provide farm loans for annual operating expenses, equipment, livestock, and real estate 

tailored to small, beginning, underserved, and veteran farmers and diversified farming 

operations serving local markets. Farm Operating and Farm Ownership Loans of up to 

$50,000 each are available. 

Organic Certification Cost 

Share Assistance

Provides up to 75 percent of organic certification costs for producers, not to exceed 

$750 per certification scope. 

Youth Loans

Provide operating loans of up to $5,000 to youth ages 10 to 20 to finance income-producing, 

agricultural projects that are developed and carried out through Future Farmers of America, 

Tribal youth organizations, or similar agricultural-affiliated groups.

MANAGE — Opportunities to mitigate risk on your operation.

Agriculture Risk Coverage 

(ARC) and Price Loss 

Coverage (PLC) programs

Protect farm revenue from changes in market conditions. Provides a safety net to 

farmers and ranchers when there is a substantial drop in revenue or prices for covered 

commodities.

Conservation Stewardship 

Program Grassland 

Conservation Initiative

Provides financial assistance to conserve grasslands through a single opportunity to enroll 

in a 5-year contract. Eligible lands are limited to cropland for which base acres have been 

maintained under FSA’s ARC/PLC and were planted to grass or pasture, including idle or 

fallow, during a specific period. Enrolled acreage must be managed consistently with a 

grassland conservation plan.

Dairy Margin Coverage 

Program (DMC)

Replaces the Margin Protection Program for Dairy. Offers protection to dairy producers 

when the difference between the all-milk price and the average feed cost (the margin) 

falls below a certain dollar amount selected by the producer. 

Federal Crop Insurance

Offers hundreds of different insurance products. Product offerings include coverage for 

production loss, revenue loss, and price decline. Insurance covers row crops, livestock, 

specialty crops, organics, dairy, grazing land, and more. 

Noninsured Crop Disaster 

Assistance Program (NAP)

Provides financial assistance to producers of certain eligible crops for which 

catastrophic risk protection plan of insurance is not available when low yields, loss of 

inventory, or prevented planting occur due to an eligible cause of loss. 

CONSERVE — Opportunities to implement conservation on your operation.

Agricultural Conservation 

Easement Program (ACEP)

Helps landowners, land trusts, and other entities protect, restore, and enhance 

wetlands, grasslands, and working farms and ranches through conservation easements.

Agricultural Management 

Assistance Program (AMA)

Helps agricultural producers manage financial risk through diversification, marketing, or 

natural resource conservation practices. NRCS administers the conservation provisions 

while USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and RMA implement the production 

diversification and marketing provisions. 

Conservation Innovation 

Grants (CIG) 

Awards competitive grants that drive innovation and develop the tools, technologies, and 

strategies for next-generation conservation efforts on working lands. Grantees leverage 

the Federal investment through matching requirements. Through CIG’s new On-Farm 

Trials, partners provide incentive payments to producers to offset the risk of implementing 

innovative approaches.

Conservation Reserve 

Program (CRP)

Protects soil, water quality, and habitat by removing highly erodible or environmentally 

sensitive land from agricultural production through long-term rental agreements. 

CRP - Transition Incentives 

Program

Encourages landowners to sell or lease long term to beginning, socially disadvantaged, 

and veteran farmers and ranchers willing to implement sustainable practices or 

transition to organic production by providing 2 years of additional payments for 

expiring CRP-enrolled land.

Conservation Stewardship 

Program (CSP)

Helps agricultural producers maintain and improve their existing conservation systems 

and adopt additional conservation activities to address priority natural resource 

concerns. Participants earn CSP payments for conservation performance—the higher 

the performance, the higher the payment. 

Environmental Quality 

Incentives Program (EQIP)

Provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers to address natural 

resource concerns and deliver environmental benefits, such as improved water and air 

quality, conserved ground and surface water, reduced soil erosion and sedimentation, 

and improved or created wildlife habitat.

Healthy Forest Reserve 

Program (HFRP)

Helps landowners restore, enhance, and protect forestland resources on private lands 

through easements and financial assistance. Through HFRP, landowners promote the 

recovery of endangered or threatened species, improve plant and animal biodiversity, 

and enhance carbon sequestration.

Regional Conservation 

Partnership Program (RCPP)

Promotes coordination between NRCS and its partners to deliver conservation 

assistance to producers and landowners. Under partnership agreements, NRCS and 

its partners leverage and target their respective resources to deliver conservation 

assistance to producers and landowners to address priority natural resource concerns. 

Voluntary Public Access and 

Habitat Incentive Program 

(VPA-HIP)

Provides State and Tribal governments with funding or incentives to expand or improve 

habitat in existing public access programs.

RECOVER — Opportunities to help your operation recover from a natural disaster.

Emergency Assistance for 

Livestock, Honeybees, and 

Farm-raised Fish program (ELAP)

Provides assistance to eligible owners of livestock, and producers of honeybees and 

farm-raised fish for losses due to disease (including cattle tick fever), adverse weather, 

or other conditions, such as blizzards and wildfires, not covered by LFP and LIP. 

Emergency Conservation 

Program (ECP)

Provides funding and technical assistance for farmers and ranchers to restore farmland damaged 

by natural disasters and for emergency water conservation measures in severe droughts.

Emergency Forest 

Restoration Program (EFRP)

Provides funding to restore privately owned forests damaged by natural disasters.

Emergency Loans Provide loans to help producers recover from production and physical losses due to 

drought, flooding, other natural disasters, or quarantine.

Livestock Forage Disaster 

Program (LFP)

Provides compensation to eligible livestock producers that have suffered grazing losses 

due to drought or fire on land that is native or improved pastureland with permanent 

vegetative cover or that is planted specifically for grazing.

Livestock Indemnity 

Program (LIP)

Provides benefits to livestock owners for livestock deaths or injuries in excess of normal 

mortality caused by adverse weather or by attacks by animals reintroduced into the wild by 

the Federal Government or protected by Federal law. Benefits also are available for reduced 

sale prices for owned livestock due to injury caused by eligible loss conditions.

Tree Assistance Program 

(TAP)

Provides financial cost-share assistance to qualifying orchardists and nursery tree 

growers to replant or rehabilitate eligible trees, bushes, and vines damaged by or lost 

due to a natural disaster. 

Farm Service Agency (FSA)

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) 

Risk Management Agency (RMA)