The Farm Service Agency
Summary
The Farm Service Agency, USDA's lender of last resort for farmers and ranchers, obligated $6.74 billion in farm loans in FY2025 on an enacted FY2025 operating budget of $1.21 billion and 8,135 FTE -- about $636.31 per U.S. farm. Nearly 60% of its FY2024 loans went to beginning farmers, who by definition lack the credit history commercial banks require: the Good Citizen series' entry on the agency Congress created in 1994 to keep credit-shut-out farms in business.
What is this organization?
What does it do?
delivers 's farm safety net through more than 2,100 county Service Centers, 50 state offices, and an office in Puerto Rico⧉. In fiscal year 2025 (ended September 30), it obligated $6.74 billion in direct and guaranteed farm loans across 27,792 loans -- up 25% in dollars and 13% in count from FY2024, per its own year-end Executive Summary. Beyond lending, runs commodity price-support programs, the Conservation Reserve Program, and disaster-relief programs such as the Emergency Conservation Program and the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program, paying farmers after floods, drought, and other crop losses.
What does it cost to run — money and people?
Congress enacted a $1,209,307,000 Salaries and Expenses appropriation for FSA in FY2025⧉ -- the account funding the agency's own operations, separate from what it lends or pays out to farmers -- staffed by 8,135 , per 's FY2026 congressional budget justification. Against the 1,900,487 farms the 2022 Census of Agriculture counted nationwide⧉, that's about $636.31 per farm.
View data as table
| FY2024 | 5.4 | |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | 6.7 | +25% vs FY2024 |
Why is it good for society?
's farm loan programs exist, in the agency's own words⧉, "for farmers and ranchers temporarily unable to obtain credit from commercial lenders" -- a lender of last resort where private banks decline the risk. The record backs that framing: of the 24,555 direct and guaranteed loans closed in FY2024, 14,703 -- 60% -- went to beginning farmers, operators in their first ten years who by definition lack the track record commercial lenders require. Without that credit, fewer new entrants clear the financing bar that keeps American farms passing to the next generation rather than consolidating away.
- 's own FY2026 budget justification puts its FY2025 operating budget at $1,209,307,000 (Salaries & Expenses, enacted) and its workforce at 8,135 -- about $636.31 per U.S. farm against the 2022 Census of Agriculture's 1,900,487 farms.
- That same appropriation funded a growing loan book: obligated $6.74 billion in farm loans in FY2025, up 25% from FY2024's $5.39 billion, even as its count fell from 8,632 (FY2024) to 8,135 (FY2025).
- 60% of 's FY2024 loans (14,703 of 24,555) went to beginning farmers -- operators without the credit history commercial lenders require -- the concrete mechanism behind 's own description of itself as farmers' lender of last resort.
Your handles.* Not sure which loan fits: 's Loan Assistance Tool walks farmers and ranchers through eligibility before they apply. To apply for a direct or guaranteed farm loan online, use 's Online Loan Application. To reach the office that actually processes applications, find your local FSA county office.
Sources(6) ▾
- U.S. Government Publishing Office (govinfo.gov), Public Law 103-354 — Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994, Sec. 226 (Consolidated Farm Service Agency) (1994-10-13) — The statutory authorization for (as the 'Consolidated Farm Service Agency'), Sec. 226, 7 U.S.C. 6932. Source for this entry's identity-paragraph statutory citation. govinfo.gov · original document
- U.S. Department of Agriculture / Farm Service Agency, 2026 USDA Explanatory Notes — Farm Service Agency (Congressional Justification) (2025-05-30) — Source for 's establishment date/statute (Purpose Statement), its Service Center/state office footprint, its FY2025 enacted Salaries & Expenses appropriation and count (Tables -3 and -11), and its FY2024 beginning-farmer loan share (Table -53). usda.gov · original document
- USDA Farm Service Agency, Agency History — Farm Service Agency (2025-11-07) — Source for the November 1995 rename from 'Consolidated Farm Service Agency' to 'Farm Service Agency', and for the agencies (ASCS, FCIC, the farm-credit portion of the Farmers Home Administration) absorbed. fsa.usda.gov · original document
- USDA Farm Service Agency, Structure and Organization — Farm Service Agency (2026-07-21) — Source for 's placement within 's FPAC mission area and its reporting line to the Secretary of Agriculture. fsa.usda.gov · original document
- USDA Farm Service Agency, Executive Summary, Farm Loan Programs, FY 2025 (as of September 30, 2025) (2026-04-01) — Source for FY2025 and FY2024 total farm-loan obligations (dollars and loan count), used in the 'what does it do' paragraph and the entry's chart. fsa.usda.gov · original document
- USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2022 Census of Agriculture, Volume 1: Geographic Area Series, Part 51 — United States Summary and State Data, Table 1 (Historical Highlights) (2024-02-01) — Source for the 1,900,487-farm 2022 count used as this entry's per-farm cost denominator (Table 1, 'Farms ... number' row). nass.usda.gov · original document
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The Farm Service Agency was established October 13, 1994, under the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994⧉ (Public Law 103-354), which authorized the Secretary to create a "Consolidated Farm Service Agency" -- renamed the Farm Service Agency in November 1995⧉, per the agency's own history. absorbed the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, oversight of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, and the farm-credit portion of the Farmers Home Administration, all New Deal-era programs. It sits inside USDA's Farm Production and Conservation mission area⧉, alongside the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Risk Management Agency, under the Secretary of Agriculture.