John A. Johnson is the Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs for USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA). As Deputy, Johnson is a key advisor to FSA's Administrator on farm programs and policies. He is responsible for implementing major portions of the 2002 Farm Bill including FSA's commodity price support activities (commodity loans and Loan Deficiency Payments) and the Direct and Counter-cyclical Payment program delivering $15 to $20-billion in income support annually to America's farmers and ranchers. He is also responsible for several other programs, including: the Conservation Reserve Program, the nation's largest private lands conservation program covering 37 million acres; Crop Disaster Assistance Programs; the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program; and the Tobacco Buyout Program. Additionally, Johnson oversees FSA's Aerial Photography Field Office in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Johnson has been involved in various aspects of agriculture for his entire career. His diverse agricultural experience earned him the position of State Executive Director (SED) for FSA in the State of Virginia in 2001. As SED, Johnson oversaw Agency programs in both the state office as well as 50 county offices throughout Virginia.
He has served as president of the Virginia Poultry Federation and as a lobbyist for the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation. In the 1980s, Johnson was a partner in his family's 800-acre farming operation which included production of soybeans, wheat, and alfalfa hay.
A native of Holmdel, New Jersey, Johnson is actively involved in the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He, his wife and two daughters, live in Broadway, Virginia.
