Title 7, AgricultureRelease 119-110
§1502 Purpose; Definitions; Protection of Information; Relation to Other Laws
Title 7 › CHAPTER 36 — CROP INSURANCE › SUBCHAPTER I — FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE › § 1502
Summary
Creates a federal crop insurance program to help keep farming stable and to fund research and experience that improve crop insurance. It lists key words used in the program and what they mean in simple terms, including: additional coverage (insurance above catastrophic level); approved insurance provider (a private insurer approved by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation); beginning farmer or rancher (someone who has not run a farm with a real insurable interest for more than 10 crop years); Board (the Corporation’s Board of Directors); Corporation (the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation); cover crop termination (a practice that ends a cover crop’s growth); Department (the U.S. Department of Agriculture); farm financial benchmarking (comparing a farm’s performance to similar farms using reliable data); hemp and organic crop (defined in other laws); loss ratio (indemnities divided by the part of premium set aside for losses and reserves); Secretary (the Secretary of Agriculture); transitional yield (a maximum assigned production when required documentation is missing); and veteran farmer or rancher (a veteran who has not farmed, has farmed 5 years or less, or became a veteran within the past 5 years). Producer information given under the program must be kept private and cannot be released to the public, except as anonymous statistics or when the producer gives permission. A producer’s benefits cannot depend on giving permission. Illegal releases are subject to penalties. The Farm Service Agency must give authorized agents or approved insurers information or maps that help with insurance, and those parties must keep the information private, though an agent and the approved insurer may share it with each other. Insurance policies reinsured by the Corporation are not treated as securities or as futures/options under the Commodity Exchange Act for regulatory purposes, but the Commodity Futures Trading Commission still has authority over any market trades an approved insurer makes to offset its risk.
Full Legal Text
Title 7, §1502
Agriculture, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Purpose
It is the purpose of this subchapter to promote the national welfare by improving the economic stability of agriculture through a sound system of crop insurance and providing the means for the research and experience helpful in devising and establishing such insurance.
(b)Definitions
As used in this subchapter:
(1)Additional coverage
The term “additional coverage” means a plan of crop insurance coverage providing a level of coverage greater than the level available under catastrophic risk protection.
(2)Approved insurance provider
The term “approved insurance provider” means a private insurance provider that has been approved by the Corporation to provide insurance coverage to producers participating in the Federal crop insurance program established under this subchapter.
(3)Beginning farmer or rancher
The term “beginning farmer or rancher” means a farmer or rancher who has not actively operated and managed a farm or ranch with a bona fide insurable interest in a crop or livestock as an owner-operator, landlord, tenant, or sharecropper for more than 10 crop years, as determined by the Secretary.
(4)Board
The term “Board” means the Board of Directors of the Corporation established under section 1505(a) of this title.
(5)Corporation
The term “Corporation” means the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation established under section 1503 of this title.
(6)Cover crop termination
The term “cover crop termination” means a practice that historically and under reasonable circumstances results in the termination of the growth of a cover crop.
(7)Department
The term “Department” means the United States Department of Agriculture.
(8)Farm financial benchmarking
The term “farm financial benchmarking” means—
(A)the process of comparing the performance of an agricultural enterprise against the performance of other similar enterprises, through the use of comparable and reliable data, in order to identify business management strengths, weaknesses, and steps necessary to improve management performance and business profitability; and
(B)benchmarking of the type conducted by farm management and producer associations consistent with the activities described in or funded pursuant to section 5925f of this title.
(9)Hemp
The term “hemp” has the meaning given the term in section 1639o of this title.
(10)Loss ratio
The term “loss ratio” means the ratio of all sums paid by the Corporation as indemnities under any eligible crop insurance policy to that portion of the premium designated for anticipated losses and a reasonable reserve, other than that portion of the premium designated for operating and administrative expenses.
(11)Organic crop
The term “organic crop” means an agricultural commodity that is organically produced consistent with section 6502 of this title.
(12)Secretary
The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of Agriculture.
(13)Transitional yield
The term “transitional yield” means the maximum average production per acre or equivalent measure that is assigned to acreage for a crop year by the Corporation in accordance with the regulations of the Corporation whenever the producer fails—
(A)to certify that acceptable documentation of production and acreage for the crop year is in the possession of the producer; or
(B)to present the acceptable documentation on the demand of the Corporation or an insurance company reinsured by the Corporation.
(14)Veteran farmer or rancher
The term “veteran farmer or rancher” means a farmer or rancher who—
(A)has served in the Armed Forces (as defined in section 101 of title 38); and
(B)(i)has not operated a farm or ranch;
(ii)has operated a farm or ranch for not more than 5 years; or
(iii)is a veteran (as defined in section 101 of that title) who has first obtained status as a veteran (as so defined) during the most recent 5-year period.
(c)Protection of confidential information
(1)General prohibition against disclosure
Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Secretary, any other officer or employee of the Department or an agency thereof, an approved insurance provider and its employees and contractors, and any other person may not disclose to the public information furnished by a producer under this subchapter.
(2)Authorized disclosure
(A)Disclosure in statistical or aggregate form
Information described in paragraph (1) may be disclosed to the public if the information has been transformed into a statistical or aggregate form that does not allow the identification of the person who supplied particular information.
(B)Consent of producer
A producer may consent to the disclosure of information described in paragraph (1). The participation of the producer in, and the receipt of any benefit by the producer under, this subchapter or any other program administered by the Secretary may not be conditioned on the producer providing consent under this paragraph.
(3)Violations; penalties
section 2276(c) of this title shall apply with respect to the release of information collected in any manner or for any purpose prohibited by this subsection.
(4)Information
(A)Request
Subject to subparagraph (B), the Farm Service Agency shall, in a timely manner, provide to an agent or an approved insurance provider authorized by the producer any information (including Farm Service Agency Form 578s (or any successor form)) or maps (or any corrections to those forms or maps) that may assist the agent or approved insurance provider in insuring the producer under a policy or plan of insurance under this subchapter.
(B)Privacy
Except as provided in subparagraph (C), an agent or approved insurance provider that receives the information of a producer pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall treat the information in accordance with paragraph (1).
(C)Sharing
Nothing in this section prohibits the sharing of the information of a producer pursuant to subparagraph (A) between the agent and the approved insurance provider of the producer.
(d)Relation to other laws
(1)Terms and conditions of policies and plans
The terms and conditions of any policy or plan of insurance offered under this subchapter that is reinsured by the Corporation shall not—
(A)be subject to the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission or the Securities and Exchange Commission; or
(B)be considered to be accounts, agreements (including any transaction that is of the character of, or is commonly known to the trade as, an “option”, “privilege”, “indemnity”, “bid”, “offer”, “put”, “call”, “advance guaranty”, or “decline guaranty”), or transactions involving contracts of sale of a commodity for future delivery, traded or executed on a contract market for the purposes of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1 et seq.).
(2)Effect on CFTC and Commodity Exchange Act
Nothing in this subchapter affects the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission or the applicability of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) to any transaction conducted on a contract market under that Act by an approved insurance provider to offset the approved insurance provider’s risk under a plan or policy of insurance under this subchapter.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
The Commodity Exchange Act, referred to in subsec. (d)(1)(B), (2), is act Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 369, 42 Stat. 998, which is classified generally to chapter 1 (§ 1 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 1 of this title and Tables. Codification Pub. L. 110–234 and Pub. L. 110–246 made identical
Amendments
to this section. The
Amendments
by Pub. L. 110–234 were repealed by section 4(a) of Pub. L. 110–246.
Amendments
2025—Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 119–21 substituted “10” for “5”. 2018—Subsec. (b)(6) to (13). Pub. L. 115–334, § 11101, added pars. (6) and (9) and redesignated former pars. (6) to (11) as (7), (8), and (10) to (13), respectively. Subsec. (b)(14). Pub. L. 115–334, § 12306(b)(1), added par. (14). 2014—Subsec. (b)(3) to (6). Pub. L. 113–79, § 11016(a), added par. (3) and redesignated former pars. (3) to (5) as (4) to (6), respectively. Former par. (6) redesignated (7). Subsec. (b)(7) to (10). Pub. L. 113–79, § 11027(a), added par. (7) and redesignated former pars. (7) to (9) as (8) to (10), respectively. Former par. (10) redesignated (11). Pub. L. 113–79, § 11016(a)(1), redesignated pars. (6) to (9) as (7) to (10), respectively. Subsec. (b)(11). Pub. L. 113–79, § 11027(a)(1), redesignated par. (10) as (11). Subsec. (c)(4). Pub. L. 113–79, § 11001, added par. (4). 2008—Pub. L. 110–246, § 12033(c)(2)(B), substituted “this subchapter” for “this chapter” wherever appearing. Subsec. (b)(7) to (9). Pub. L. 110–246, § 12001, added par. (7) and redesignated former pars. (7) and (8) as (8) and (9), respectively. 2000—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 106–224, § 122, added subsec. (c). Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 106–224, § 141, added subsec. (d). 1994—Pub. L. 103–354 substituted “Purpose and definitions” for “Declaration of purpose” in section catchline, designated existing text as subsec. (a) and added heading, and added subsec. (b). 1947—Act Aug. 1, 1947, amended section generally, restating purpose of chapter to improve all agriculture by crop insurance instead of being limited only to wheat. 1941—Act June 21, 1941, substituted “crop” for “wheat-crop” and “agricultural commodities” for “wheat”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 2008 AmendmentAmendment of this section and repeal of Pub. L. 110–234 by Pub. L. 110–246 effective May 22, 2008, the date of enactment of Pub. L. 110–234, see section 4 of Pub. L. 110–246, set out as an
Effective Date
note under section 8701 of this title.
Effective Date
of 1994 Amendment Pub. L. 103–354, title I, § 120, Oct. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 3208, provided that: “Except as otherwise provided in this title, this title [enacting section 1433f, 1515, 1521, and 2008f of this title, amending this section and section 1441–2, 1444–2, 1444f, 1445b–3a, 1503 to 1509, 1511, 1513, 1516, and 1518 to 1520 of this title, section 901 and 902 of Title 2, The Congress, and section 1014 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, repealing section 1446i and 1508a of this title, enacting provisions set out as notes under section 1501, 1506, and 1508 of this title and section 901 and 902 of Title 2, and repealing provisions set out as a note under section 1421 of this title] and the
Amendments
made by this title shall become effective on the date of enactment of this Act [Oct. 13, 1994] and shall apply to the provision of crop insurance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) beginning with the 1995 crop year. With respect to the 1994 crop year, the Federal Crop Insurance Act (as in effect on the day before the date of enactment of this Act) shall continue to apply.”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
7 U.S.C. § 1502
Title 7, Agriculture
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110