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Tree Assistance Program
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Program level:
National
Provider:
USDA Farm Service Agency
Benefits provided:
Financial
Land use:
Agriculture, Forest
Water-focused program:
No
The Tree Assistance Program (TAP) provides financial assistance to eligible orchardists and nursery tree growers to replant or rehabilitate eligible trees, bushes, and vines lost by natural disasters.
Overview
Description:
Eligible trees, bushes, and vines are those from which an annual crop is produced for commercial purposes. Nursery trees include ornamental, fruit, nut and Christmas trees produced for commercial sale. Trees used for pulp or timber are ineligible for TAP assistance.
Acreage Limitation:
The cumulative total quantity of acres planted to trees, bushes, or vines for which an eligible orchardist or nursery tree grower can receive TAP payments cannot exceed 1,000 acres annually.
Payment Limitation and Average Adjusted Gross Income (AGI):
For losses that occurred on or after January 1, 2017, there is no payment limitation for TAP.
In applying the limitation on average adjusted gross income (AGI), a person or legal entity is ineligible for payment under TAP if the AGI of the person or legal entity for the relevant tax years exceeds $900,000. Direct attribution applies to TAP and is used for AGI purposes as well. Under direct attribution, any payment to a legal entity will be considered (for payment limitation purposes) to be a payment to persons or legal entities with an interest in the legal entity or in a sub-entity.
Eligibility:
Eligible trees, bushes, and vines are those from which an annual crop is produced for commercial purposes. Nursery trees include ornamental, fruit, nut and Christmas trees produced for commercial sale. Trees used for pulp or timber are not eligible for TAP assistance.
To be considered an eligible loss:
• A requisite death loss must first be sustained; a stand of eligible trees, bushes, or vines must have suffered more than a 15 percent mortality loss (after normal mortality) due to a natural disaster;
• Mortality loss on a stand of eligible trees, bushes, or vines is based on:
- Each eligible disaster event, except for losses due to plant disease; and
- For plant disease, the time period as determined by the FSA for which the stand is infected.
• The loss must not have been preventable through reasonable and available measures;
• The loss must be visible and obvious to the FSA representative; if the loss is no longer visible, FSA may accept other loss evidence and determine whether that other evidence substantiates that an eligible loss due to natural disaster occurred; and
• FSA may require information from a qualified expert to determine extent of loss in
To qualify for TAP, eligible orchardists and nursery tree growers must:
• Have suffered a qualifying tree, bush or vine loss in excess of 15 percent mortality for the stand (adjusted
for normal mortality) due to an eligible natural disaster;
• Have owned the eligible trees, bushes and vines when the natural disaster occurred, but eligible
growers are not required to own the land on which owned eligible trees, bushes and vines are planted;
and
• Replace eligible trees, bushes and vines within 12 months from the date the TAP application is approved.
Financial benefit:
The lesser of the following:
- 65 percent of the actual cost of replanting, in excess of 15 percent mortality (adjusted for normal mortality), and, where applicable, 50 percent of the actual cost of rehabilitation, in excess of 15 percent damage or mortality (adjusted for normal tree damage and mortality); or
- The maximum eligible amount established for the practice by FSA.
The 2018 Farm Bill increased the reimbursement amount for applicants who meet the definition of a beginning or veteran farmer or rancher. The payment calculation is the lesser of the following:
• 75 percent of the actual cost of replanting, in excess of 15 percent mortality (adjusted for normal mortality), and, where applicable, 75 percent of the actual cost of rehabilitation, in excess of 15 percent damage or mortality (adjusted for normal tree damage and mortality); or
• The maximum eligible amount established for the practice by FSA.
Contact information
Information last updated on July 15, 2025.
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