National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture

Beginning Farmer and Rancher Programs

Program Description

Beginning farmer and rancher programs address three important areas:

Development: A competitive grant program to support a wide range of programs at the state and local level that target beginning farmers and ranchers.

Credit: A set of reforms to existing beginning farmer loan programs plus one new pilot program offering federal guarantees on private contract land sales of farms or ranches to beginning farmers.

Conservation: Increased cost-share payments to beginning farmers and ranchers (specifically, up to 90% cost share under CSP and EQIP, rather than the traditional 75%), plus general authority to provide special conservation program incentives for beginning farmers and ranchers.

Using the Program

Development: Development: Organizations can apply by submitting grant proposals.

Credit: Beginning farmers apply for loans through local FSA offices (or loan guarantees through commercial banks) on a rolling basis. If the targeted beginning farmer funds are not spent by a certain time (6 months for guaranteed loans and 11 months for direct loans) they get put into the general local pool.

Conservation (cost share assistance): Producers apply to participate in conservation programs through their local NRCS office (or, in the case of the Conservation Reserve Program, through the FSA).

Criteria for Eligibility

The statutory definition for beginning farmer and rancher is: an individual who has not operated for more than 10 years; who materially and substantially participates in the farm or ranch; who provides substantial day-to-day labor and management on the farm or ranch; who demonstrates need for assistance; and, for the purpose of farm real estate loans, who does not own land which in aggregate exceeds 30% of county average farm size. This definition applies to all credit programs and is to be used as the template for developing beginning farmer rules for conservation programs.

Who to Contact

Ferd Hoefner, Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Current information on this program is available at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=fmlp&topic=bfl