- Industry: Government
- Number of terms: 41534
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A program, created in the Food Security Act of 1985, to retire from production up to 45 million acres of highly erodible and environmentally sensitive farmland. Landowners who sign contracts agree to keep retired lands in approved conserving uses for 10-15 years. In exchange, the landowner receives an annual rental payment, cost-share payments to establish permanent vegetative cover and technical assistance. The CRP reportedly has reduced erosion by up to 700 million tons per year. The FAIR Act of 1996 extends authorization to enroll land through 2002 and caps maximum CRP acreage at 36.4 million acres, its 1995 level. The Act also makes the program spending mandatory and finances it through the Commodity Credit Corporation.
Industry:Agriculture
CTA has been the central activity of the Natural Resources Conservation Service since it was established in 1936. NRCS field staff help landowners and farm operators plan and implement soil and water conservation and water quality practices. The most common use of this program in recent years has been preparing and updating conservation compliance plans. In FY1993, CTA assisted 1.2 million farmers and serviced 62 million acres.
Industry:Agriculture
Any tillage and planting system that leaves at least 30% of the soil surface covered by residue after planting. Conservation tillage maintains a ground cover with less soil disturbance than traditional cultivation, thereby reducing soil loss and energy use while maintaining crop yields and quality. Conservation tillage techniques include minimum tillage, mulch tillage, ridge tillage, and no-till.
Industry:Agriculture
Farmland diverted from crop production to an approved cultural practice that prevents erosion or other degradation. Though crops are not produced, conserving use is considered an agricultural use of the land.
Industry:Agriculture
Refers to a provision of the Agricultural Act of 1949 that was used to implement the base acreage and yield system for the 1991-95 crops, a provision that was suspended by the FAIR Act of 1996. Under previous law, crop acreage bases were, in general, calculated as a 5-year average of planted and considered planted acreage. Acreage considered planted includes acreage idled under production adjustment programs or for weather-related reasons or natural disasters; acreage devoted to conservation purposes or planted to certain other allowed commodities; and acreage USDA determines is necessary for fair and equitable treatment.
Industry:Agriculture
P.L. 87-128 (August 8, 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. In 1972, this title was changed to the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, and is often referred to as the Con Act. The Con Act, as amended, currently serves as the authorizing statute for USDA’s agricultural and rural development lending programs. Titles in the Act include current authority for the following three major FSA farm loan program - farm ownership, farm operating and emergency disaster loans. Major amendments to the Con Act enacted in recent years that affect current USDA farm lending programs include the following: Title VI of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 (P.L. 100-233, January 6, 1988) assists borrowers by requiring FSA to restructure or write down a delinquent loan if the government cost of restructuring is less than the cost of foreclosure. Title VI details the restructuring process and gives delinquent borrowers specific rights throughout the process. Title XVIII, Subtitle A of the FACT Act of 1990 contained provisions designed to curb the perceived abuses of the borrower rights provisions of the 1987 Act. The 1990 farm bill allows FSA to consider the equity in non-essential assets in determining what portion of the loan can be written down and also gives FSA the authority to deny a borrower restructuring if these non-essential assets can be liquidated to make the borrower current on the delinquent loan. The Agricultural Credit Improvement Act of 1992 (P.L. 102-554, October 28, 1992) established new USDA loan programs to assist beginning farmers and ranchers. The law established direct and guaranteed loan programs for beginning farmers and ranchers, and a program to provide 10-year loans for beginning farmers and ranchers to purchase their own farm or ranch in return for a down payment equivalent to 10% of the purchase price of the land. The law also limited the total number of years any borrower may participate in the agency’s farm ownership and operating loan programs. Title VI of the FAIR Act of 1996 directly affects eligibility for FSA loans and the servicing of its delinquent loans. It tightens the borrower rights provisions of the 1987 Act by, e.g., prohibiting any borrower who has had debt forgiven on a delinquent loan from receiving a new loan, and expedites the sale of farmland acquired by USDA through foreclosure or other forms of debt settlement.
Industry:Agriculture
In agriculture and other economic sectors, consolidation usually is a reference to the trend from numerous smaller-sized operations toward fewer and larger ones. Consolidation can lead to higher concentration. See industrialization.
Industry:Agriculture
An informal association of 57 public and private sector members that supports a network of 16 international agricultural research centers. Its mission is to promote sustainable agriculture for food security in developing countries through research.
Industry:Agriculture
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ general measure of retail prices (for goods and services) paid by urban wage earners and clerical workers. Includes prices of about 400 items, including food, clothing, housing, medical care, and transportation. The CPI-U is commonly used to deflate time series data and is the most widely accepted measure of inflation.
Industry:Agriculture
A measure of the value of monetary transfers to consumers resulting from agricultural policies in a given year. If negative, it measures the implicit tax imposed on consumers by agricultural policies. The main component of the CSE is market transfers due to market price support to producers. The CSE can be measured in money terms, in money terms per unit of production, or in percentage terms. See producer subsidy equivalent (PSE).
Industry:Agriculture
