The agricultural mediation program helps agricultural producers and their creditors resolve disputes confidentially in a non-adversarial setting, thus avoiding the traditional process of litigation, appeals, bankruptcy, and foreclosure. This is crucial as America's family farmers continue to deal with a fluctuating economy, low commodity prices, and a seemingly endless rash of natural disasters.

Areas of disputes the Mediation Program specializes into include farm loans, price support payments, wetland determinations, conservation compliance, and Conservation Reserve Program payment eligibility/limitation.

A type of farm ownership loan made to eligible applicants to finance a portion of a real estate purchase. The statutory authority for beginning farmer down payment loans is section 310E of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Pub. L. 87- 128) (7 U.S.C. 1935).

Provides a voluntary program to agricultural producers to help them safeguard environmentally sensitive land. Producers enrolled in CRP plant long-term, resource-conserving covers to improve the quality of water, control soil erosion, and enhance wildlife habitat. In return, CCC provides participants rental payments and cost-share assistance. Contract duration is between 10 and 15 years. CRP was authorized by section 1231 of the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended (Pub. L. 99-198)(16 U.S.C. 3831, et seq.).

As the name implies, this program is an enhanced version of the very successful Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). CREP is a special conservation program that allows the CRP to be tailored to meet the needs of the State. CREP is a Federal-State conservation partnership program that targets significant environmental effects related to Agriculture.

The program is tailored in Washington State to meet the States goals of restoring and enhancing salmon habitat. Through CREP, agricultural landowners can receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource conserving vegetation on eligible land. The Washington Conservation Commission represents the State in the federal-state partnership.

The Direct and Counter-cyclical Payment Program (DCP) provides payments to eligible producers on farms enrolled for the 2008 through 2012 crop years. There are two types of DCP payments - direct payments and counter-cyclical payments. Both are computed using the base acres and payment yields established for the farm. DCP is authorized by the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill) and is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency (FSA).

A loan made to eligible applicants to purchase, enlarge, or make capital improvements to family farms, or to promote soil and water conservation and protection. Maximum loan amount is $300,000. A percentage of direct farm ownership loan funds is targeted for beginning farmers and socially disadvantaged applicants as mandated by sections 346 and 355 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Pub. L. 87-128) (CONACT) (7 U.S.C. 1994 and 7 U.S.C. 2003), respectively. The statutory authority for direct farm ownership loans is section 302 of the CONACT (7 U.S.C. 1922).

A loan made to an eligible applicant to assist with the financial costs of operating a farm. Maximum loan amount is $300,000. A percentage of direct operating loan funds is targeted for beginning farmers as mandated sections 346 and 355 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Pub. L. 87-128) (CONACT) (7 U.S.C. 1994 and 7 U.S.C. 2003), respectively. The statutory authority for direct operating loans is section 311 of the CONACT (7 U.S.C. 1911).

Provides emergency funding for farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by wind erosion, floods, hurricanes, or other natural disasters, and for carrying out emergency water conservation measures during periods of severe drought. The natural disaster must create new conservation problems, which, if not treated, would: impair or endanger the land; materially affect the productive capacity of the land; represent unusual damage which, except for wind erosion, is not the type likely to recur frequently in the same area; and be so costly to repair that Federal assistance is, or will be, required to return the land to productive agricultural use. Authorized by section 401 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (Pub. L. 95-334) (16 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.).

Loans are available to eligible applicants who have incurred substantial financial losses from a disaster. Maximum outstanding loan amount is $500,000. The statutory authority for emergency loans is section 321 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Pub. L. 87-128) (7 U.S.C. 1961).

USDA may make loans to producers to build or upgrade farm storage and handling facilities. Commodities covered under this storage program are rice, soybeans, dry peas, lentils, small chickpeas, peanuts, sunflower seeds, canola, rapeseed, safflower, flaxseed, mustard seed, and other oilseeds as CCC determines and announces. Corn, grain sorghum, oats, wheat, or barley harvested as whole grain or other than whole grain are also eligible. The program is authorized under the CCC Charter Act (15 U.S.C. 714 et seq.).

GRP is voluntary, and it offers landowners the opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance grasslands on their property. Section 2401 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171) added section 1238N to the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3838n) to authorize this program. USDA's NRCS, FSA, and Forest Service are coordinating GRP implementation. The program will conserve vulnerable grasslands from conversion to cropland or other uses and conserve valuable grasslands by helping maintain viable ranching operations.

A loan made by another lender and guaranteed by FSA to eligible applicants to purchase, enlarge, or make capital improvements to family farms, or to promote soil and water conservation and protection. Maximum loan amount is $1,094,000 (for FY 2009). A percentage of guaranteed farm ownership loan funds is targeted for beginning farmers as mandated by sections 346 and 355 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (CONACT) (Pub. L. 87-128) (7 U.S.C. 1994 and 7 U.S.C. 2003), respectively. The statutory authority for guaranteed farm ownership loans is section 302 of the CONACT (7 U.S.C. 1922).

A loan made by another lender and guaranteed by FSA to an eligible applicant to assist with the financial costs of operating a farm. Maximum loan amount is $1,094,000 (for FY 2009). A percentage of guaranteed operating loan funds is targeted for beginning farmers as mandated sections 346 and 355 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Pub. L. 87-128) (CONACT) (7 U.S.C. 1994 and 7 U.S.C. 2003), respectively. The statutory authority for guaranteed operating loans is Section 311 of the CONACT (7 U.S.C. 1941).

A loan available to Indian tribes for purchasing privately held lands within their respective reservations boundaries. The statutory authority for Indian Tribal Land Acquisition loans is Pub. L. 91-229 (25 U.S.C 490).

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill) reauthorizes the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) Program through September 30, 2012. The USDA Farm Service Agencys (FSA) MILC Program supports the dairy industry by providing direct counter-cyclical style payments to milk producers on a monthly basis when the Boston Federal Milk Marketing Order Class I price for fluid milk falls below the benchmark of $16.94 per hundredweight (cwt.). The 2008 Farm Bill changed the $16.94 per cwt of milk trigger for MILC payments to a variable trigger that may be adjusted monthly for variations in feed costs above $7.35 per cwt of a 16-percent protein feed ration. Monthly MILC payment rates will be determined and payments issued to eligible dairy operations when the Boston Class I price falls below the feed-cost-adjusted trigger. Certain per year per operation eligibility pound limits also apply.

USDA's Farm Service Agency's (FSA) Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) provides financial assistance to producers of noninsurable crops when low yields, loss of inventory or prevented planting occurs due to natural disasters.

Provide producers interim financing at harvest time to meet cash flow needs without having to sell their commodities when market prices are typically at harvest-time lows. Allowing producers to store production at harvest facilitates more orderly marketing of commodities throughout the year. Marketing assistance loans for covered commodities are nonrecourse because the commodities are pledged as loan collateral and producers have the option of delivering the pledged collateral to CCC as full payment for the loan at maturity. A producer who is eligible to obtain a loan, but who agrees to forgo the loan, may obtain an LDP. The LDP rate equals the amount by which the applicable loan rate where the commodity is stored exceeds the alternative loan repayment rate for the respective commodity.

Provides that CCC administer nonrecourse loans for the 2002 through 2007 crops. The Sugar Loan Program provides nonrecourse loans to processors of domestically grown sugarcane and sugar beets. This program helps to stabilize America's sugar industry and ensure the well being of agriculture in the United States. Authorized by Section 156 of the Federal Agriculture Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7272), as amended by section1401 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171).

Part VII of subtitle B of Title III of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 (7 U.S.C. 1359 et seq.), as amended by section 1403 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171), provides that, at the beginning of each fiscal year, CCC will establish marketing allotments for domestically produced sugar from sugar beets and domestically produced sugarcane. The Secretary will strive to establish an overall allotment quantity that results in no forfeitures of sugar to CCC under the sugar loan program. The Secretary shall make estimates of sugar consumption, stocks, production, and imports for a crop year as necessary, but not later than the beginning of each of the second through fourth quarters of the crop year. Prior to the beginning of the fiscal year, these estimates must be updated.

Provides loans to processors of domestically-produced sugarcane and sugar beets for the construction or upgrading of storage and handling facilities for raw sugars and refined sugars. Loans may be made only for the purchase and installation of eligible storage facilities, permanently affixed handling equipment, or the remodeling of existing facilities. Authorized under section 1402 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171) (7 U.S.C.7971).

Provides technical assistance and cash benefits to eligible producers of raw agricultural commodities such as concord grapes. A group must first petition the Secretary for assistance. If the Secretary determines that the national average price in the most recent marketing year for a commodity is less than 80 percent of the national average price in the preceding 5 marketing years and that increases in imports of that commodity contributed importantly to the decline in price, producers will be eligible for assistance. The statute authorizes an appropriation of not more than $90 million for each fiscal year from 2003 through 2007 to carry out the program. The Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2251, et seq.), as amended by Subtitle C of Title 1 of the Trade Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-210), established the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers.

Provides operating type loans to eligible rural youth applicants to finance a modest income-producing agricultural project. Maximum loan amount is $5,000. The statutory authority for youth loans is section 311 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Pub. L. 87-128).