The Tree Assistance Program (TAP) is an American disaster assistance program, administered by the

Farm Service Agency The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is the United States Department of Agriculture agency that was formed by merging the farm loan portfolio and staff of the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) and the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service ...

, that makes payments for lost

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

trees and

vines A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or wikt:scandent, scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; ...

that produce annual crops. The program has been funded on an ad hoc basis, usually by emergency supplemental appropriations. Most recently, the program was funded for losses incurred between October 1, 1997, and September 30, 1998. The

Agricultural Act of 2014 The Agricultural Act of 2014 (also known as the 2014 U.S. Farm Bill, formerly the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013) is an act of Congress that authorizes nutrition and agriculture programs in the United States for the y ...

(also known as the 2014 Farm Bill) authorized the Tree Assistance Program (TAP) to provide financial assistance to qualifying orchardists and nursery tree growers to replant or rehabilitate eligible trees, bushes and vines damaged by natural disasters. It also made TAP a permanent disaster program and provides retroactive authority to cover eligible losses back to Oct. 1, 2011. The

Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 is a federal statute concerning spending and the budget in the United States, that was signed into law by President Donald Trump on February 9, 2018. Delays in the passage of the bill caused a nine-hour fundi ...

also updated TAP, removing the per person and legal entity program year payment limitation ceiling of $125,000. It increased the acreage cap, and growers are eligible to be partly reimbursed for losses on up to 1,000 acres per program year, double the previous acreage.

References

*{{CRS, article = Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition, url = http://ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/05jun/97-905.pdf, author= Jasper Womach United States Department of Agriculture