Tree Assistance Program (TAP) 2026: Replanting and Rehabilitation Help for Orchards and Vineyards

This is a free guide, not financial or legal advice. FSA decides eligibility and payment amounts. Always verify with your local FSA office. Report an error

What Changed for 2026

FSA applies these changes to losses in the 2026 program year, including losses before the July 9, 2026 rule was published.

Who and What Qualifies

• Eligible plants produce an annual crop for commercial use (orchard trees, blueberry bushes, grapevines, maple trees for syrup, and similar) or are nursery or Christmas trees grown for sale. Trees for pulp or timber are not eligible, and neither are plants grown as annuals, such as strawberries or tomatoes.
• You must have planted the stand (or bought it with existing stock planted for commercial purposes) or have a commercial production history on it, and you must have owned it continuously from the disaster until you apply.
• The loss must come from a natural disaster that is extreme, abnormal, and damaging, such as plant disease, insect infestation, drought, fire, freeze, flood, earthquake, or lightning.
• Not eligible: losses you could have prevented with reasonable measures, and trees that would have needed replanting or rehabilitation within 12 months anyway. Damaged trees that can recover with rehabilitation don’t count toward the mortality threshold, though their rehabilitation costs may be paid once the stand qualifies.
• A new owner can receive approved but unpaid TAP payments if the previous owner agrees in writing and the new owner finishes the practices.

Costs TAP Can and Can’t Pay

You can replant a different variety if it has the same general end use and the county committee approves it, or replant on a different spot on the same farm. You can also replant only part of the stand; the payment is figured on what you actually replant.

How to Apply

1. Submit form CCC-899 to the FSA office that keeps your farm records within 90 calendar days of the disaster or of when the loss became apparent.
2. Include your acreage report, a written estimate of the number of trees, bushes, or vines lost or damaged and the acres involved (certified by you or a qualified expert), and evidence of the loss.
3. FSA inspects the stand and approves or denies the application. For disease or insect losses, the county committee may ask for a qualified expert’s assessment.
4. Complete the practices within 24 months of approval and turn in receipts for labor, equipment rental, seedlings, and other costs.

What most people get wrong

• Missing the 90-day window. Freeze and disease damage can take weeks to show. The clock runs from when the loss is apparent, so apply as soon as you can see it.
• Clearing dead trees before FSA sees them without photos or other records. If the damage is no longer visible, the county committee may accept other evidence, but it is harder.
• Mixing replanting and rehabilitation costs on one receipt. Keep them separate, or FSA may prorate based on its inspection.

Worked Example

This example is the one FSA used in the July 2026 rule. A grower has a stand of 1,000 citrus trees, normal mortality for the stand is 3%, and a freeze kills 200 trees.

• Does it qualify? Normal mortality is 1,000 × 3% = 30 trees. The stand qualifies because 200 is more than 30. Under the old rule, the grower would have needed to lose more than 180 trees (15% plus 3%).
• Trees counted for payment: 200 − (200 × 3%) = 200 − 6 = 194 trees. Under the old rule it was 164.

Now suppose (hypothetically) replanting costs $40 per tree for seedlings and labor, and removing the dead trees and preparing the ground costs $3,000:

For a beginning or veteran producer the replanting line would be $7,760 × 75% = $5,820. Each line is capped at FSA’s practice-rate amount if that is lower than 65% (or 75%) of actual cost.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the 15% loss threshold for TAP go away?

Yes, starting with 2026 losses. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act removed the requirement to lose more than 15% of a stand. You now may qualify if your mortality loss exceeds the normal mortality FSA sets for that type of tree, bush, or vine, and payments are calculated on losses above normal mortality.

How much does TAP pay?

TAP can pay the lesser of 65% of your actual cost or the amount from FSA’s practice rates, both for replanting and for pruning, removal, salvage, and site preparation. Beginning and veteran farmers and ranchers may receive 75%. Payments are limited to 1,000 acres of trees, bushes, or vines per program year.

What is the TAP deadline?

Submit the application within 90 calendar days of the disaster or of when the loss became apparent to you. Producers who became eligible only because of the 2026 change had until the later of October 7, 2026 or 90 days from the loss.

How long do I have to replant under TAP?

Under the 2026 rule you have 24 months after FSA approves the application to complete the practices. FSA can extend that, up to 36 months, when the delay is beyond your control, such as backordered trees.

Related Programs

• NAP and crop insurance: coverage for the crop the trees produce. TAP covers the trees, bushes, and vines themselves.
• All disaster programs.
• Farm Disaster Triage: what to file first after a disaster.

Sources

• Definitions (eligible orchardist, nursery tree grower, natural disaster, tree, bush, vine): 7 CFR 1416.402
• Eligible losses and the mortality threshold: 7 CFR 1416.403; eligible producers: 7 CFR 1416.404; 90-day application: 7 CFR 1416.405
• 65% and 75% payment rates, eligible and ineligible costs, 1,000-acre limit: 7 CFR 1416.406; 24-month completion: 7 CFR 1416.407
• Removal of the 15% threshold, 50% to 65% change, citrus example, and 2026 effective year: Federal Register final rule, July 9, 2026 (91 FR 42313)
• October 7, 2026 date for newly eligible 2026 losses: FSA TAP program page; application form: CCC-899
• Payment limits: 7 CFR 1400.1; AGI waiver: 7 CFR 1400.504

Regulation links go to the eCFR, current as of October 16, 2026. Checked October 21, 2026.