The regulations in this subpart are applicable to producers participating in the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program. Producers who participate in the FBA Program will receive payments from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to assist them in the production and marketing of agricultural commodities. Payments will be based on 2025 planted and timely reported acreage of eligible commodities and on payment rates determined by CCC.

(a) The regulations in this subpart will be administered under the general supervision and direction of the Executive Vice President, CCC. In the field, the regulations in this subpart will be administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) State and county committees (referred to as “State committee” and “county committee,” respectively).

(b) State executive directors, county executive directors, and State and county committees do not have authority to modify or waive any of the provisions of this subpart.

(c) The State committee may take any action authorized or required by this subpart to be taken by the county committee that has not been taken by the county committee. The State committee may also:

(1) Correct or require a county committee to correct any action taken by the county committee that is not in accordance with this subpart; or

(2) Require a county committee to withhold taking any action that is not in accordance with this subpart.

(d) No delegation in this subpart to a State or county committee precludes the Executive Vice President, CCC or a designee, from determining any question arising under this subpart or from reversing or modifying any determination made by a State or county committee.

The definitions in this section are applicable for all purposes of administering this subpart. The terms defined in 7 CFR parts 718 and 1400 are also applicable, except where those definitions conflict with the definitions specified in this section. Where there is a conflict or a difference in definitions specified in this subpart and parts 718 and 1400, the regulations in this subpart will apply.

CCC-555 means Form CCC-555, Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program Application.

Corn means only white, yellow, amylose, popcorn (excluding strawberry popcorn), waxy, and high amylase corn.

Cotton means extra-long staple cotton and upland cotton.

Crop year means the calendar year in which a commodity was intended for harvest.

Determined acres means that acreage established by an FSA representative by use of official acreage, digitizing areas on a photograph or other imagery, or computations from scaled dimensions or ground measurements.

Double cropping means, as determined by the Deputy Administrator on a regional basis, consecutive planting of two specific crops that have the capability to be planted and carried to maturity for the intended uses, as reported by the producer, on the same acreage as the initial crop is planted, within a 12-month period. To be considered double cropping, the planting of two specific crops must be in an area where the FSA State Committee has determined that producers are typically able to repeat the same cycle successfully in a subsequent 12-month period under normal growing conditions.

Dry peas mean Austrian, green, wrinkled seed, and yellow peas, excluding peas grown for the fresh, canning, or frozen market.

Eligible commodity means a 2025 crop of barley, canola, corn, crambe, extra-long staple cotton, flax, large chickpeas, lentils, mustard, oats, peanuts, dry peas, rapeseed, rice, safflower, sesame, small chickpeas, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower, upland cotton, and wheat.

Eligible producer means a producer of an eligible commodity who timely filed Form FSA-578 with FSA and who complies with all provisions of this subpart.

Extra-long staple cotton means cotton that follows the standard planting and harvesting practices of the area in which the cotton is grown, and meets all of the following conditions:

(1) American-Pima, Sea Island, Sealand, all other varieties of the Barbadense species of cotton and any hybrid thereof, and any other variety of cotton in which 1 or more of these varieties is predominant;

(2) The acreage is grown in a county designated as an extra-long staple cotton county by the Secretary; and

(3) The production from the acreage is ginned on a roller-type gin.

FSA-578 means Form FSA-578, Report of Crop Acreage.

Payment rate means the amount per acre for an eligible commodity that CCC has determined to use to provide assistance to eligible producers in accordance with this subpart.

Peanuts means all peanuts excluding perennial peanuts.

Rice means long grain rice and medium grain rice, including temperate japonica rice, short grain, and sweet rice.

Skip-row means a cultural practice in which rows of a crop are alternated with strips of idle land or another crop, as determined by the Secretary.

Sorghum means both grain sorghum and dual-purpose sorghum (including any cross that, at all stages of growth, having characteristics of a feed grain or dual-purpose variety). Sweet sorghum is not considered a grain sorghum.

Upland cotton means cotton that is produced in the United States from other than pure strain varieties of the Barbadense species, any hybrid thereof, or any other variety of cotton in which one or more of these varieties predominate. In other words, it means any cotton that is not extra-long staple cotton.

(a)(1) To be eligible for payment under this subpart, a producer must have timely filed an FSA-578 with FSA for their acreage of each eligible commodity for which a payment under this subpart is requested.

(2) Federal agencies are not eligible to participate in the FBA Program.

(b) An eligible producer is a:

(1) Citizen of the United States;

(2) Resident alien, which for purposes of the FBA Program, means “lawful alien” as defined in 7 CFR part 1400;

(3) Partnership organized under State law consisting solely of citizens of the United States or resident aliens;

(4) Corporation, limited liability company, or other organizational structure organized under State law consisting solely of citizens of the United States or resident aliens; or

(5) Indian Tribe or Tribal organization, as defined in section 4(b) of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).

(c)(1) A State, political subdivision, or agency thereof, is eligible for a payment under this subpart if:

(i) The land for which payments are received is owned by the State, political subdivision, or agency thereof; and

(ii) The payments are used solely for the support of public schools.

(2) The total of payments to the State, political subdivision, or agency thereof cannot exceed $500,000 annually, except for States with a population less than 1,500,000, as established by the most recent U.S. Census Bureau annual estimate of the State's resident population. This limitation is in addition to the limitation per person or legal entity described in § 1414.8. States with a population of less than 1,500,000 are subject to the regular per person or entity limit in § 1414.8.

(d) To be eligible for assistance under this subpart, a producer must be in compliance with the provisions of 7 CFR part 12 and the provisions of 7 CFR 718.6, which address ineligibility for benefits for offenses involving controlled substances.

(e) To be eligible for assistance under this subpart, a producer must be actively engaged in farming. FSA will administer this requirement according to the provisions of 7 CFR part 1400, subparts C and G.

(f) A receiver or trustee of an insolvent or bankrupt debtor's estate, an executor or an administrator of a deceased person's estate, a guardian of an estate of a ward or an incompetent person, and trustees of a trust are considered to represent the insolvent or bankrupt debtor, the deceased person, the ward or incompetent, and the beneficiaries of a trust, respectively. The production of the receiver, executor, administrator, guardian, or trustee is considered to be the production of the person or estate represented by the receiver, executor, administrator, guardian, or trustee.

(a) Eligible acres under this subpart include 2025 crop year acres planted in the United States to an eligible commodity, excluding acreage reported as a cover crop, and acreage with an intended use of grazing, experimental, green manure, left standing, or volunteer. Producers must have reported the acres to FSA on FSA-578 by December 19, 2025, to be eligible for payment under this subpart.

(b) FBA Program payments will be based on timely reported acres. If reported acres have determined acres present, determined acres will be used.

(c) Planted acreage includes any land devoted to planted acres for accepted skip-row planting patterns, as determined by the Secretary. FSA will calculate FBA Program payments for skip-row acreage based on the total acres devoted to the eligible commodity without making reductions specified in 7 CFR 718.108 that are applicable to other FSA programs.

(d) In situations where a producer planted both an initial crop and a subsequent crop on the same acreage for the 2025 crop year, both the initial crop and the subsequent crop will be eligible for the FBA Program if they were eligible commodities.

(a) Producers must contact an FSA county office to obtain their pre-filled CCC-555 and submit this form to any FSA county office by April 17, 2026. Applicants will submit one application that includes all eligible acreage in all counties nationwide.

(b) The date to apply for payments under this program may, at the sole discretion of FSA, be extended. If FSA makes that decision, the extended date will be set forth at https://www.fsa.usda.gov/fba. Producers may also obtain that information from any FSA county office.

(c) Producers must also submit the following eligibility forms to FSA by April 19, 2027, if not already on file with FSA for the 2025 program year:

(1) CCC-901, Member Information for Legal Entities, if applicable;

(2) CCC-902E, Farm Operating Plan for an Entity; if applicable;

(3) CCC-902I, Farm Operating Plan for an Individual, if applicable;

(4) CCC-941, Average Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) Certification and Consent to Disclosure of Tax Information, for individuals, legal entities, and members of legal entities, excluding joint ventures and general partnerships; and

(5) AD-1026 Highly Erodible Land Conservation (HELC) and Wetland Conservation (WC) Certification, for the producer and affiliated persons, as specified in 7 CFR 12.8.

(a) Payments will be determined by multiplying the eligible acres of an eligible commodity by the payment rate for such commodity. Payment rates are specified in paragraph (b) of this section.

(b) The FBA Program payment rates are specified in the following table.

(a) A person, legal entity, or member of a joint venture or general partnership, as determined in 7 CFR part 1400 in effect on February 23, 2026, cannot receive, directly or indirectly, more than $155,000 under this subpart. The regulations set forth in part 1400 will be used to administer this limitation.

(b) A person or legal entity with an average adjusted gross income that exceeds $900,000, as determined according to 7 CFR part 1400, subpart F, will not be eligible to receive benefits, directly or indirectly, under this subpart.

(a) All information provided to FSA for program eligibility and payment calculation purposes is subject to spot check. Participants are required to retain documentation in support of their application for 3 years after the date of approval, including verifiable evidence of planted acres of eligible commodities. Participants receiving FBA Program payments or any other person who furnishes such information to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) must permit authorized representatives of USDA or the Government Accountability Office, during regular business hours, to enter the operation and to inspect, examine, and allow representatives to make copies of books, records, or other items for the purpose of confirming the accuracy of the information provided by the participant.

(b) If an FBA Program payment resulted from erroneous information provided by a participant, or any person acting on their behalf, the payment will be recalculated and the participant must refund any excess payment to FSA with interest calculated from the date of the disbursement of the payment. If FSA determines that the applicant intentionally misrepresented information included on their application, the application will be disapproved and the applicant must refund the full payment to FSA with interest from the date of disbursement.

(c) Any payment under this subpart will be made without regard to questions of title under State law and without regard to any claim or lien. The regulations governing offsets in 7 CFR part 3 apply to FBA Program payments.

(d) In either applying for or participating in the FBA Program, or both, the applicant is subject to laws against perjury (including, but not limited to, 18 U.S.C. 1621). If the applicant willfully makes and represents as true any verbal or written declaration, certification, statement, or verification that the applicant knows or believes not to be true, in the course of either applying for or participating in the FBA Program, or both, then the applicant may be found to be guilty of perjury. Except as otherwise provided by law, if guilty of perjury the applicant may be fined, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both, regardless of whether the applicant makes such verbal or written declaration, certification, statement, or verification within or outside the United States.

(e) For the purposes of the effect of a lien on eligibility for Federal programs (28 U.S.C. 3201(e)), USDA waives the restriction on receipt of funds under this subpart but only as to beneficiaries who, as a condition of the waiver, agree to apply the FBA Program payments to reduce the amount of the judgment lien.

(f) In addition to any other Federal laws that apply to the FBA Program, the following laws apply: 18 U.S.C. 286,287,371,and.