Farm Service Agency loans are usually administered by local farmers, elected by their peers.

FORBES: Pigford II: Politically Correct Wealth Redistribution Infects Obama's USDA

Stroup works for the USDA's Farm Service Agency.

NPR: Crop Cops Take to the Sky

The map displays data about many USDA grants, loans and programs that support local and regional food systems during 2009-2011, including Farm Service Agency, Farmers Market Nutrition Program, and Seasonal High Tunnel initiative data.

FORBES: Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Data

During the past three years, USDA's conservation agencies, the U.S. Forest Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Farm Service Agency, have worked with more than half a million farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to enroll record acres in conservation programs, have targeted conservation dollars to locally-driven conservation initiatives and have worked to increase conservation and restoration activities on the 193 million acre National Forest system.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House