Stimulus funds mean more loans for Washington farmers

Washington Ag March 13, 2009 The Farm Service Agency in Washington is getting additional funding for its Farm Operating Loan program from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the stimulus package. Chris Bieker with the state FSA office tells us how much Washington is getting and how many more farmers and ranchers will be helped. Bieker: "Three-point-nine million dollars for Direct Operating Loans and that will fund 36 additional loans in our state." Bieker says FSA is also expecting a sweetening of the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payment program, SURE, but they don't have details yet. Nationally the Farm Service Agency is getting 50-million dollars to upgrade its computer infrastructure and Bieker says Washington producers may benefit from that given the computer problems the agency has. Bieker: "We really have had computer problems. As recently as last week computers would go down periodically and producers are sitting in offices trying to sign up for the Direct and Counter-cyclical Program and they are having to wait. So we are hopeful that the 50-million dollars we receive for computer upgrades will really help reduce sign up times and also help us process payments more quickly." FSA had requested 250-million dollars in the stimulus package for computer upgrading. I'm Bob Hoff and that's Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.