Farm Service Agency FSA

The Farm Service Agency traces its roots to the Agricultural Adjustment Act of May 12, 1933, which paid farmers to limit production in an effort to raise collapsing Depression-era prices, and to the network of farmer-elected county committees created to run those programs. A 1994 USDA reorganization combined the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, farm lending from the Farmers Home Administration, and other programs into the new agency.

FSA operates through more than two thousand county offices, where farmers enroll in commodity programs that pay out when prices or revenues fall below set levels, apply for direct and guaranteed farm loans, and seek disaster assistance. It administers the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays landowners to take environmentally sensitive land out of production, and it manages payments financed through the Commodity Credit Corporation. Program rules are set in farm bills, the multiyear laws Congress passes, often late, to reauthorize farm and nutrition programs.

With the 2018 farm bill repeatedly extended, much farm policy has moved through emergency spending. In 2025 FSA distributed billions in economic and disaster aid approved by Congress, the budget reconciliation law raised the price levels that trigger commodity payments, and the administration announced payments to offset losses from trade disputes. In December 2025 it announced 12 billion dollars in one-time Farm Bridge Assistance payments, mainly for row crop growers hurt by tariffs and paid through the Commodity Credit Corporation. Supporters say farmers need a stable safety net against volatile markets and weather, while critics argue that payments flow mostly to the largest operations and that ad hoc aid has become routine.