One hundred years after Congress first created the Farm Credit System (FCS), a national network of financial institutions owned by farmers and their cooperatives and focused on providing credit to farmers, FCS remains an important source of capital for young, beginning, and small farmers across the country. Last week, the Farm Credit Administration (the regulatory […]
Commodity, Crop Insurance & Credit Programs
New Rules for USDA Local Food Enterprise Loans
Access to capital is important for all small businesses, including the food and farm businesses that bring locally and regionally produced food into rural communities, schools, and markets. Fortunately, there is a federal loan guarantee program, the Business and Industry (B&I) Loan Guarantee Program, which specifically supports these types of local entrepreneurs. Qualified projects […]
Inter-Agency Blockages Threaten to Halt Further Progress on Organic Crop Insurance
Editor’s Note: For more information on the state of organic agriculture, see this article’s sister post: “Consumer Sentiment and Supply Scalability Will Determine Future of Organic Price Premiums“ In just one year’s time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) has more than doubled the number of organic crops that are able to […]
USDA Report Shows Organic Crop Insurance Losses Roughly Track Conventional
Organic producers, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Organic Program (NOP), are limited to farming according to a set of practices and standards that must demonstrate a commitment to protecting natural resources and conserving biodiversity. They also may only use NOP-approved substances (e.g., herbicides, fertilizers, etc.). Given organic agriculture’s adherence to a more […]
$8.7 Million Available for Risk Management Education and Targeted States Programs
The Federal Crop Insurance Program, managed by the Risk Management Agency (RMA), provides subsidized coverage through private insurance companies to over $100 billion worth of agricultural products across 298 million acres. Despite a seemingly high level of farmer participation overall, many underserved, organic, diversified, and specialty crop farmers lack information about and access to insurance […]
Farm Storage Loans Expanded to Help Farmers Reach Local Food Markets
Small and mid-scale family farms operating in burgeoning local and regional food markets received some welcome news from the USDA today… Read More →
The Contract Price Addendum: A Good Risk Management Tool for Certified Organic and Transitioning Producers?
The Risk Management Agency (RMA) has recently announced an important update to the Contract Price Addendum (CPA) — transitioning to organic acres will now be eligible. With this change have come a flurry of questions about CPA and how it works, including “What are CPAs?”, “Is my crop eligible for this?”, and “Should I use […]
Can USDA Support for Transitioning Organic Crops Spur the Market?
Interest in organic products has boomed over the last several years, between 2004 and 2016 sales of organic food more than tripled (from $11.1 billion to $39 billion), but farmers are finding it difficult to keep up with demand. Part of this difficulty stems from the time and expense of transitioning farmland from conventional to […]
Expanded USDA Microloans Program Increases Opportunity for Small and Beginning Farmers
Access to credit continues to be an urgent need for farmers across the country, especially for small and beginning farmers. Starting a new farm is not unlike starting any other small business–it can require significant upfront capital to get off the ground. USDA recently announced exciting changes to their Microloan Program, including launching a new […]
10 Ways USDA Can Address Climate Change in 2016
The new year presents a final window of opportunity for the Administration to act upon climate change … Read More →
Top 15 Wins for Sustainable Agriculture in 2015
All that we have to be grateful for in 2015, from promoting conservation to empowering beginning farmers… Read More →
Massive Year-End Funding Bill A Mixed Bag But Includes Significant Wins for Sustainable Agriculture
Final appropriations package for Fiscal Year 2016 will fund programs supporting sustainable agriculture… Read More →
Final Actively Engaged Rule Preserves Unlimited Subsidies for the Biggest Farms
USDA has released the final rule for implementation of the 2014 Farm Bill’s “actively engaged” provision that governs commodity program payment limitations. This final rule governs the ability of non-family partnerships and joint ventures to qualify for hundreds of thousands of dollar of extra federal subsidy payments. This is one of the last final rules […]
Congress Reverses Crop Insurance Reform; Agriculture Appropriations and Nutrition Decisions Loom
Last week, Congress voted to reverse several basic reforms to the federal crop insurance program – reforms that both the House and Senate agreed to as part of a two-year budget deal signed into law by the President back in late October. That budget deal required the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to renegotiate its […]
High Demand for Farm Loans in 2015 with Even Greater Demand on Horizon for 2016
Just like any small business, starting and running a farm is no small feat, and can be quite expensive. Everything from purchasing or leasing land to farm, seeds, equipment, and breeding stock, add up. Often, the timing of farm expenses required at the beginning of a growing season don’t line up perfectly with when revenue […]
Final Budget Deal Raises Spending Caps and Reforms Crop Insurance: Will Reforms Stand?
Shortly after 3am on Friday, October 30, the Senate passed a final budget deal for fiscal years (FY) 2016 and 2017, which the House passed on Wednesday…. Read More →
USDA Awards $7 Million for Risk Management Education
Last week, USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) announced awards totaling over $7 million for risk management education and training programs through the Risk Management Education Partnerships Program and the Targeted States Crop Insurance Education Program. Although farming is risky business, farmers can take a variety of actions to mitigate the inherent risk in farming. This year, […]
Congress and White House Reach Budget Deal: What it Means for Agriculture
As the clock struck 11pm on Monday, October 26, Congress and the White House announced that they had reached an agreement on raising the United States debt limit as well as discretionary spending caps for fiscal years (FY) 2016 and 2017. Debt Limit and Spending Caps The agreement suspends the U.S. borrowing cap (also known […]
NSAC Delivers 2016 Sustainable Agriculture Funding Requests
On Tuesday, October 6, NSAC delivered a letter to members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, urging them to support sustainable agriculture priorities in the final fiscal year 2016 appropriations legislation. Congress is currently debating funding levels for the remainder of 2016 fiscal year, which began on October 1. On the final day of […]
Organic Production Survey: A Deeper Dive
This blog explores several areas of the 2014 Organic Production Survey that have not been extensively covered already. The areas include: demographics and income, crop insurance use, USDA conservation program participation, and the source of the overall loss of organic acreage…. Read More →
Good News for Organic Farmers: RMA Announces More Organic Price Elections
The US Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) has announced 14 new Organic Price Elections to be added to the 28 that are already available, expanding crop insurance options for organic farmers. These new organic price elections will be available for the 2016 crop year. Organic price elections allow organic farmers to insure their […]
RMA Announces that Whole-Farm will be the First Universally Available Crop Insurance Policy
On August 27, USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) announced the expansion of the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) crop insurance policy to every state and every county, making WFRP the first crop insurance policy to be universally available nationwide. WFRP is a single crop insurance policy that insures all of a farmer’s crops and animals under […]
New Farm Storage Financing Options For Meat, Dairy, and Eggs
For most farmers, on-farm storage is essential to keeping food fresh and safe prior to marketing. Whether a grain bin, cold storage for fruits and vegetables, refrigerated milk tank, or even a Used Stainless Steel Three Door Commercial Freezer for meat and dairy products, all farmers need a temperature-stable environment like the ones offered by […]
Avian Flu: What About the Contract Poultry Grower?
There has been a lot of talk about the Avian Flu outbreak from the media, including many reports by outlets that don’t often don’t spend much time covering agriculture. They have covered the 34 million birds that have been euthanized and the skyrocketing cost of conventionally produced eggs. What they have not been covering is […]