The FSA-211 power of attorney is the USDA form an agricultural producer uses to appoint someone to conduct business with the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Commodity Credit Corporation, Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, and Risk Management Agency on their behalf. To use it, you identify yourself and your representative at the top, select the programs and transactions you want to authorize in Sections A, B, and C, sign with either an FSA employee or a Notary Public verifying your signature, and deliver the original to the USDA Service Center that holds your farm records. Once accepted, it stays in effect until you revoke it in writing, die, or become incapacitated.
Where to Get the Form
Download a blank FSA-211 from the USDA electronic forms site at forms.sc.egov.usda.gov, or pick up a printed copy at any USDA Service Center. The Service Center locator at farmers.gov/working-with-us/service-center-locator will tell you which office handles your farm records.
One limit to know before you begin: the FSA-211 is not valid for FSA Farm Loan Program purposes. If your representative needs to handle Farm Loan business, this is not the form for it.
Identifying the Grantor and the Attorney-in-Fact
The top of the form captures who is granting authority (the grantor) and who is receiving it (the attorney-in-fact). Enter the attorney-in-fact’s full legal name, mailing address, county, and state. Enter the grantor’s name exactly as it appears in the agency’s records. Individual grantors enter a Social Security Number when they sign in Item 6. Entity grantors enter the entity’s tax identification number in Item 7 instead.
Match the agency’s records precisely. If names or ID numbers do not line up with what FSA already has on file, the form can be rejected at intake.
Section A: Choosing Which Programs to Authorize
Section A controls which USDA programs your representative can act on. You have two paths. Checking Item A2 grants authority across all current and future FSA, NRCS, and CCC programs, which covers anything those agencies administer now or add later. If you want a narrower grant, check only the individual programs listed at Items A1 through A17. If a program you need is not printed on the form, write it into the “Other” field at Item A13.
Section B: Choosing Which Transactions to Authorize
Section B controls what your attorney-in-fact can actually do inside those programs. Checking Item B1 authorizes them for all FSA, NRCS, and CCC transactions. To limit them, check only the specific actions you want to allow at Items B2 through B6. Authorized actions can include signing applications for payment, executing contracts, and receiving government-issued checks.
Sections A and B have to work together. Selecting a program in Section A without checking the matching transaction in Section B leaves the representative unable to act in that program, and the reverse is equally true. This is where most mistakes happen: producers check every program but forget to authorize the transactions needed to actually do anything.
Adding Restrictions in the “Other” Field
Item B7, the “Other” field in Section B, is where you write in restrictions the checkboxes do not cover. Use it to limit the representative to specific transactions, specific farms, or specific counties. A producer who farms across several counties but wants the attorney-in-fact acting in only one would note that here. You can also use B7 to authorize a transaction that is not among the standard checkboxes.
Section C: Crop Insurance Coverage
Section C handles Federal Crop Insurance Corporation crops separately. Enter the specific crop, state, and county the attorney-in-fact will cover. To extend authority to every FCIC crop, write “ALL” in Item C1.
Signing as an Individual
Individual grantors sign at Item 6A, date the form at Item 6B, and enter a Social Security Number at Item 6C. Your signature must be either witnessed by an FSA employee or acknowledged by a Notary Public. Signatures without one of those two forms of verification will not be accepted.
FSA only accepts the original hard-copy form. Faxed copies are explicitly rejected, and photocopies will not work either. If you cannot visit a Service Center to have an FSA employee witness the signature, use a Notary Public and then mail or hand-deliver the original.
Signing as a Business Entity
Corporations, partnerships, LLCs, trusts, and joint ventures sign at Item 7 rather than Item 6. Who signs depends on the entity’s governing documents.
- If the entity’s organizational documents already designate someone with authority to act on its behalf, that person signs at Item 7A and enters their title or relationship at Item 7B.
- If no single person holds that authority, which is common in general partnerships and joint ventures, all members of the entity must sign.
- If a corporation’s documents do not provide for redelegating authority, all officers or members must sign.
When more than two people need to sign, check the box at Item 6C and attach Form FSA-211A, the Power of Attorney Signature Continuation Sheet. Every signature on the continuation sheet must also be witnessed by an FSA employee or notarized.
Submitting the Form
Return the completed original to the USDA Service Center where your farm records are maintained. The power of attorney is not effective until it has been properly executed and delivered to a Service Center. One properly submitted original is valid in all counties in the United States unless you wrote a county restriction into Section B, so producers with operations spread across multiple counties do not need to file the form at each office.
No specific processing timeframe is published. If your representative needs to act on a time-sensitive matter such as a program signup deadline, submit the form well in advance rather than assuming same-day activation.
What the FSA-211 Does Not Cover
The form is narrowly scoped. It is valid only for programs and actions offered by CCC, FSA, NRCS, FCIC, and RMA. It gives your attorney-in-fact no authority over real estate transfers, personal financial matters, medical decisions, or FSA Farm Loan Program business. Any of those needs a separate legal document.
Each FSA-211 also appoints one attorney-in-fact. The instructions address a single person being granted authority, and the form has no provision for naming more than one. To authorize two different people, file a separate FSA-211 for each.
Revoking or Ending the Authority
The FSA-211 has no built-in expiration date. It remains in force until one of three things happens:
- You deliver written notice of revocation to FSA, NRCS, or CCC, whichever is appropriate.
- The grantor dies, which terminates the power of attorney automatically.
- The grantor becomes legally incompetent or incapacitated.
If you authorized the attorney-in-fact for crop insurance, revoking the FSA-211 at the Service Center is not enough on its own. Send separate written notice of revocation to your crop insurance agent. Skipping that step can leave the representative with lingering authority over your crop insurance accounts even after FSA has recorded the revocation.