Ag Policy Blog

Tuesday was a busy day for USDA's press office. Here's a brief rundown:

FSA OPENS ACREAGE REPORTING FOR SPECIALTY CROP AID

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) has opened an acreage reporting period for specialty crop producers for their share of $1 billion set aside for aid tied to 2025 crops.

USDA created the Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers (ASCF) to deal with financial losses tied to last year's crops. Orchard and produce farmers have until April 24 to report their 2025 acres to FSA.

USDA listed more than 50 fruits, vegetables, nuts and beans that are eligible for the program. USDA also noted commodities covered under the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) are excluded from ASCF. "Dry edible beans and peas covered by the Farmer Bridge Assistance program will not be eligible for ASCF."

ASCF payments are tied to planted acres. USDA will release specific payment rates tied to specialty crops after the April 24 reporting deadline.

USDA added, "Following completion of acreage reporting, producers are encouraged to prepare for the eventual announcement of the ASCF program application period by creating a Login.gov account. Doing so ensures that once FSA starts taking ASCF program applications, those producers who wish to apply online will experience an expedited application and payment process. Assistance will also be available through local FSA county offices."

Producers can go to www.fsa.usda.gov/fba to sign up for an account.

Crop insurance is also not required to receive an ASCF payment, but USDA encourages farmers to look at crop insurance risk management tools.

It should also be noted that lawmakers and groups are pressing for more aid for specialty crop growers.

Cathy Burns, CEO of the International Fresh Produce Association, told senators last month that $1 billion carved out for specialty crop growers is inadequate. Burns said fruit and vegetable farmers need closer to $5 billion in aid to cope with financial losses.

"We are (one)-third of the crop sales, but we are not getting (one)-third of the economic assistance," Burns said.

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NATIONAL PROVING GROUNDS

USDA announced the launch of the "National Proving Grounds Network for AgTech" (NPG-Ag), which was described as an initiative "to rigorously evaluate agricultural technologies under real-world U.S. farming and ranching conditions."

Led by the Agricultural Research Service, the initiative will examine "both existing and emerging tools" under production conditions to see how they perform. Grand Farm in North Dakota will serve as the national program manager, along with land-grant universities across the country.

"By establishing a coordinated national research network to objectively validate new and emerging technologies, especially digital and AI-driven technologies, we are helping ensure row crop, specialty crop, and livestock producers all have access to reliable performance data for their investment decisions with a goal to accelerate adoption of AgTech innovations," said Scott Hutchins, USDA's undersecretary for research, education and economics.

The initiative is aimed at giving farmers clearer data on return on investment, reducing risk, and accelerating the adoption of new technologies.

The Grand Farm will issue a request for products and invite companies to enroll products for testing. For more information, see https://www.usda.gov/….

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NEW GUIDANCE PORTAL

If you enjoy reading government policy guidelines, then USDA has a new website for you.

USDA on Tuesday also announced the creation of a new Guidance Portal. The portal is an interactive tool that will have a searchable index of guidance and policies issued by the department and agencies.

The portal, on Tuesday, showed a database of 4,653 documents across 14 USDA agencies that can be searched by year or agency. The postings for 2026 range from details about new Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) restrictions in certain states to which foreign trade shows are eligible for reimbursement.

For details, go to www.usda.gov/guidance.

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USDA FINALIZES NEPA REFORMS

USDA has published a final rule in the Federal Register listing various changes to how the department manages and implements the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in response to an executive order from President Donald Trump last February, "Unleashing American Energy."

The rule also follows the repeal of multiple regulations by the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) last spring.

In a news release, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden described the effort to consolidate seven agency-specific regulations down to "a single, department-wide framework, reducing the overall volume of regulations by 66%."

USDA issued an interim final rule last July that generated more than 6,000 comments, though roughly 5,000 comments were generated from a campaign form. Still, there were more than 1,000 individual comments, as well, tied to the revocation of NEPA guidelines.

"With the CEQ NEPA implementing regulations having been rescinded, USDA identified opportunities to reduce redundant and duplicative regulation revision efforts for agency-specific NEPA regulations and instead establish necessary direction at the department-level. This allows the department to establish consistency across the subcomponents, where desired, in how NEPA is implemented."

The final rule, published on April 4, takes up 61 pages in the Federal Register.

The new rule highlights that USDA will likely produce fewer environmental impact statements on its actions, as well as speed up environmental reviews.

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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