Farm Service Agency
Although the Farm Service Agency (FSA) has provided support to farmers and ag producers since the 1930s, it wasn’t until 1994 that it became one agency, as a result of a reorganization of The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The restructure incorporated programs such as Agricultureal Stabilization and Conservation Service and the Risk Management Agency.
Originally, the Farm Service Agency was a collection of administrations that eventually came together to form the FSA. This agency oversees the local operation of commodity programs, credit and other FSA-related programs. The salaries for FSA officials are paid through federal funds.
Today, FSA focuses on five areas of agriculture: farm programs, loans, commodity operations, management and state operations. Disaster assistance, for example, is provided through FSA farm programs, and so are commodity and price support, not to mention credit and loan programs for agricultural producers.
There are special interest programs that provide loans to start-up, minority-owned, and women-owned farms and ranches. FSA manages roughly 50 federal farm programs across the nation at any given time. The FSA also is responsible for the natural disaster assistance and emergency loans for agricultural producers. For more information, visit FSA.USDA.gov.
