FSA

USDA’s commitment to conservation was shown recently when Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the first general sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in more than four years. Secretary Vilsack has told Farm Service Agency Administrator Jonathan Coppess that he expects the agency to keep...

North Dakota farmers and ranchers have received more than $1.7 million in Recovery Act funding through direct operating loans offered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA). The funding, made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act), improved FSA’s ability to make...

Photos by: Steve Ritter, Idaho Farm Bureau Federation Tanner King spends Mondays at the Caldwell Livestock Auction in Idaho, decked out in a dark blue hoody sweatshirt and black cowboy hat, blending in with the other bidders. The young rancher might look as though he’s new to shaving but at buying...

A bad year forced Klickitat County farmer Kelly Kreps to choose between fertilizing his fields or paying taxes and insurance. Even though his operation suffered freeze-related losses, Kreps’s ranch didn’t qualify for the Farm Service Agency (FSA) disaster payments program. That was until last year’s...

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) made many significant investments in small private enterprises in rural America. Shooting Star is a farm in Northern California where that investment is paying dividends. Funds from ARRA, better known as the Recovery Act, made it possible for...

By Dick Tremain, NRCS Iowa There’s a little less hunger in St. Louis this summer, thanks to convention-going soil conservationists and scientists. When members of the Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) preparing for their annual international conference heard about the national Feds, Farmers...

The Department of Agriculture is a big institution, with a $149 billion budget and 114,000 employees. When Secretary Vilsack asked me to spearhead the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative, my first impulse wasn’t to create new programs and authorities, but rather to figure out how better to...

President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative came to Nebraska on July 12, when 200 attendees gathered in Grand Island for a listening session. They were joined by Dave White, Chief of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and senior representatives of the U.S. Departments...

Interns from both the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Risk Management Agency (RMA) met with several senior employees from various agencies last week during the Student and Intern Information Seminar hosted by USDA. The seminar was designed to help interns better understand their agency and meet fellow...

USDA Rural Development (RD), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Service Agency (FSA) staff planted the first public “Peoples Garden” in New York State last week.