DSA COVID Relief Program

The Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency (FSA) administers the DSA COVID Relief Program (CFDA 10.974), which provides direct payments to distressed farm loan borrowers to pay off balances on Disaster Set-Asides (DSAs) that were issued on FSA direct farm loans during the COVID-19 pandemic between March 13, 2020 and September 30, 2022.

Eligibility is limited to existing FSA direct loan customers who held an outstanding balance on a DSA installment as of September 30, 2022. The program requires no application; FSA identifies eligible borrowers from its existing loan customer base and notifies them of payment eligibility status, providing appeal rights before assistance is applied to accounts by FSA staff. This is a direct-benefit program rather than a competitive grants program—the Secretary determines eligibility based on loan account records already on file.

Assistance takes the form of a direct payment applied to recipient loan accounts to retire DSA balances. The program is not structured around traditional grant solicitations or project-based competitions. No recent grant opportunities are posted; eligible borrowers are contacted directly by FSA as part of administrative processing of known accounts.

This program was implemented as pandemic relief and operates outside the standard federal grants lifecycle. It is subject to Single Audit requirements under 2 CFR 200, Subpart F for U.S. states, local governments, Federally recognized Indian tribal governments, and non-profit organizations expending $750,000 or more in federal award funds in a fiscal year.

The source material does not provide recent award data, portfolio statistics, funding concentration, or typical award magnitudes. Pursuit of this program is not applicable for organizations seeking competitive grant funding; eligibility depends on being an existing FSA direct farm loan borrower with a DSA balance outstanding as of September 30, 2022.