10.098: Reimbursement Transportation Cost Payment Program for Geographically Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers

10.098

Active

Farm Service Agency (FSA) [USDA]

Aug. 30, 2022

Aug. 30, 2022

The intended goal of the program is to provide direct reimbursement payments to a geographically disadvantaged farmer or rancher who transports an agricultural commodity, or inputs used to produce an agricultural commodity during a fiscal year. Input transportation cost are transportation costs of inputs used to produce an agricultural commodity including, but not limited to, air, ocean, and land freight of chemicals, feed, fertilizer, fuel, seeds, plants, supplies, equipment parts, and other inputs. The Farm Service Agency (FSA), Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs (DAFP) administers RTCP. The program will be carried out in the field by FSA State and county committee and FSA employees. State and local governments and their political subdivisions and related agencies are not eligible for RTCP payments.

D - Direct Payments with Unrestricted Use

To be eligible to receive program benefits, a geographically disadvantaged farmer or rancher must: (1) Be a producer of an eligible agricultural commodity in substantial commercial quantities (2) Incur transportation costs for the transportation of the agricultural commodity or input used to produce the agriculture commodity (3) Submit an application for payment during the specified period applicable for each fiscal year. (4) Be in compliance with conservation and wetland protection requirements on all their land (5) Be a citizen of or legal resident alien of the U.S. Eligible commodities include any agricultural commodity (including horticulture, aquaculture, and floriculture) food, feed, fiber, livestock (including elk, reindeer, bison, horses, and deer), insects or products thereof.

The U.S. farmers and ranchers outside the continental U.S. (the 48 contiguous U.S.) receive the ultimate benefit from the program because they operate at a competitive disadvantage relative to farmers and ranchers in the continental U.S. This disadvantage is due to the high cost of transporting agricultural commodities from those areas to markets in the continental U.S. and in other countries, and the high cost of transporting agricultural inputs to those areas. Geographically disadvantage farmers and ranchers located in Hawaii, Alaska, or an insular area such as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, and the Virgin Islands of the U.S. are the primary beneficiaries.

https://sam.gov/fal/38f7ee5bb9384dd6b3800e6bab4d6a0f/view