The FSA-156EZ farm record is not a form you fill out. It’s a computer-generated summary that Farm Service Agency staff print from the agency’s system, showing your farm number, tract numbers, owners and operators, cropland acres, base acres by commodity, and PLC yields carried to four decimal places.1Farm Service Agency. Farm Records and Reconstitutions for Current Year2Farm Service Agency. Base Acres and Yields To get one, you either log in at farmers.gov or ask your county FSA office to print it. To correct one, you update the underlying farm record with that same office.
What the Printout Actually Shows
The FSA-156EZ pulls farm-level and tract-level data onto a single page. You’ll see the assigned farm number, each tract number inside that farm, the names of every owner and operator on file, total cropland acres, base acres by commodity, and PLC yields. Tract numbers are unique within each FSA county office and combine with state and county codes to identify a specific piece of land.3USDA Data Standards and Collaboration Space. Tract Number Profile
The reason to read it carefully is that this record feeds nearly everything else. Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage payments are calculated directly from the base acres and yields shown. Crop insurance coverage draws on the same data. FSA direct loan applications rely on it as collateral documentation. If a name, acreage, or yield is wrong on the FSA-156EZ, the error can flow through every program tied to that farm.
How to Get a Copy
If you already have a USDA account, you can view your farm records at farmers.gov after logging in. USDA is moving its login system from the legacy eAuthentication platform to Login.gov. New accounts go through Login.gov; existing eAuthentication users can keep their old credentials until USDA sets a mandatory switchover date, which has not been announced.4eAuthentication. Login.gov for USDA Customers Either path requires identity verification, either online through Login.gov’s identity proofing or in person at a Service Center with a government photo ID.5Farm Service Agency. Creating a USDA Customer Level 2 eAuth Account
For a paper copy, walk into your local USDA Service Center and ask staff to print it. Find the closest office through the Service Center Locator at farmers.gov.6Farmers.gov. Find Your Local USDA Service Center The FSA-156EZ can be printed at either the farm level or the tract level, so you can request a summary covering the whole operation or just one tract.1Farm Service Agency. Farm Records and Reconstitutions for Current Year
Setting Up a Farm Record for the First Time
If no record exists yet, the county office builds one before it can print anything. Start by creating a USDA customer record at farmers.gov/account: verify your identity through Login.gov, then complete the Customer Data Worksheet with your name, address, and contact information. The worksheet goes to your local Service Center, where staff create the customer record and link it to your Login.gov account. Initial setup runs seven to ten business days.7Farmers.gov. Do Business Online with USDA
You can also skip the online step and go in person. Either way, staff will establish your farm and tract numbers, map the boundaries using the agency’s geographic information system, and generate the FSA-156EZ once the record is built.
What to Bring
Every person listed on the record, whether owner, operator, or tenant, must appear under a name that matches the Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number the IRS has on file. A mismatch will stall payments and loan applications.
For ownership, FSA accepts a recorded deed, an unrecorded deed for programs that don’t require recording, a land purchase contract or similar document showing an ownership interest, or a direct check of county land records by FSA staff. If you inherited land without formal paperwork, you can self-certify with supporting evidence such as a real estate tax bill, a will, an affidavit of ownership, or proof of gift tax.8Farmers.gov. Guidance for Heirs’ Property Operators to Participate in Farm Service Agency Programs
For operator status, USDA defines the operator as the person in general control of the farming operations for the current year: the one making day-to-day decisions. That can be the owner, a hired manager, a cash tenant, a share tenant, or a partner. If you operate land you don’t own, bring a written lease. Operators on heirs’ property who lack a formal lease can establish control through a tenancy-in-common agreement signed by a majority of owners, five years of tax returns showing an undivided farming interest, canceled checks for rent or operating expenses, or an affidavit from an owner confirming your control.8Farmers.gov. Guidance for Heirs’ Property Operators to Participate in Farm Service Agency Programs
Keeping the Record Current
The FSA-156EZ shows whatever data sits in the system when it’s printed, so any change in your operation, whether new land, a different operator, or an expiring lease, needs to go through your county FSA office. Federal regulations require annual acreage reports from anyone participating in programs tied to base acres, marketing assistance loans, the Conservation Reserve Program, or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.9eCFR. 7 CFR 718.102 – Acreage Reports The operator, owner, or an authorized representative files that report by the deadline the Deputy Administrator sets for each crop. July 15 is the primary acreage reporting deadline for most crops, though dates vary by crop and county.10Farmers.gov. Important USDA Dates for Producers
Reported acreage has to line up with the physical boundaries in the agency’s mapping system. If FSA staff find a discrepancy between what you report and what their aerial imagery shows, they may ask for documentation or schedule a field visit. Overreporting can trigger reduced payments and repayment of amounts already disbursed, because payments are calculated per acre. Review your most recent printout before each reporting season and raise boundary questions with your county office early. When the record is updated after a change, the county office also notifies the Natural Resources Conservation Service so conservation records stay in sync.1Farm Service Agency. Farm Records and Reconstitutions for Current Year
When Land Changes Hands: Reconstitution
Selling part of your farm, adding a tract through a lease, or subdividing land triggers a reconstitution, the formal process of dividing or combining farms, allotments, and base acres in the FSA system. Reconstitution is required when a change means the farm no longer functions as a single farming unit, when an owner asks in writing that a tract be separated, or when the county committee determines the previous constitution was based on false information.11eCFR. 7 CFR Part 718, Subpart C – Reconstitution of Farms, Allotments, Quotas, and Base Acres
When a farm is divided, base acres are redistributed by one of four methods, applied in this order:
- Estate, following the terms of a will if the county committee finds the instructions clear enough to make the split.
- Landowner designation, where the selling owner and buyer sign a written memorandum before the transfer specifying how base acres should be allocated between the parent farm and the transferred tract.
- Cropland, splitting base acres proportionally by the cropland each resulting tract contains relative to the original.
- Default, used when none of the above apply.
The landowner designation method matters because it gives sellers and buyers the most control over where base acres land. Without a signed memorandum filed before closing, the county office defaults to the cropland ratio, which may not reflect what you negotiated. PLC yields stay attached to the tract regardless of who owns it. They follow the land, not the producer.2Farm Service Agency. Base Acres and Yields For the 2026 program year, the deadline to request a reconstitution or farm transfer is August 3, 2026.12USDA Farmers.gov. May 2026 USDA Montana Newsletter Build the request into your closing timeline, and file the landowner designation memorandum before the deed transfers.
If the Operation Is an Entity, or Someone Signs on Your Behalf
An LLC, partnership, corporation, or trust listed on the farm record has to file Form CCC-902E (Farm Operating Plan for an Entity), disclosing every member, shareholder, beneficiary, or partner along with tax identification numbers, percentage shares, and family relationships. If any member is itself another entity, each layer needs its own CCC-902E and a CCC-901 (Member’s Information). FSA may request articles of incorporation, partnership agreements, or trust documents. Irrevocable trusts must provide the trust documents without exception.13U.S. Department of Agriculture. Farm Operating Plan for an Entity – CCC-902E
To let someone other than the listed owner or operator sign program applications or reports, file Form FSA-211 (Power of Attorney) at your Service Center. The FSA-211 authorizes a specific person to handle business with FSA, NRCS, and the Commodity Credit Corporation, from signing ARC/PLC contracts to conducting marketing assistance loan transactions. It must be notarized unless a USDA employee witnesses the signing or the grantor’s corporate seal is affixed, and it stays in effect until you submit a written revocation or become incapacitated.14U.S. Department of Agriculture. Power of Attorney – FSA-211 One boundary worth knowing: the FSA-211 does not cover FSA farm loans, which require separate authorization.
Common Problems That Delay Payments
The same mistakes come up year after year. Mismatched names, where the record says “Smith Farms LLC” but your tax return says “Smith Family Farms LLC,” can delay payments for weeks. Before you leave the county office after any update, ask staff to read back the exact name and tax ID on file and compare against your IRS records.
Overreporting acreage is the other frequent issue. If reported cropland exceeds what the agency’s aerial imagery supports, the discrepancy triggers a review, and a confirmed overage can lead to reduced payments and repayment demands. Reviewing the printout before each reporting season catches most of these before they become problems.
Missing the reconstitution deadline trips up producers who buy or sell land midyear. Close on a land purchase without requesting reconstitution before the program-year deadline, and the base acres and payment history stay with the old farm configuration until the next cycle.
One adjacent item to handle when you set up or update the record: producers in most FSA and NRCS programs must certify on Form AD-1026 that they will not produce crops on highly erodible land without a conservation system, plant on converted wetlands, or convert wetlands for crop production.15Farm Service Agency. Conservation Compliance Failing to file AD-1026 or violating its terms can cost you loan eligibility, disaster assistance, conservation benefits, and federal crop insurance premium support.16USDA Risk Management Agency. Conservation Compliance – Highly Erodible Land and Wetlands Ask the county office to file AD-1026 during the same visit and save yourself a return trip.