FSA Beginning Farmer Programs

It has been the dream of many farmers that their children, and possibly even their children’s children, will one day take over the family business. Too often though that dream cannot come to fruition due to financial constraints. Don Olmstead’s family has owned Olmstead Orchards in Grandview, Washington for over eighty years. Here he shares his family’s experience with the USDA’s Farm Service Agency Beginning Farmer Program, just one of many FSA loan programs designed to help family farmers obtain loans and loan guarantees, and conduct business planning.

OLMSTEAD: What I’m really pleased about’s my son got out of college about ten years ago. But he came back with the dream - all of us would love to have our sons go on with, (the family farm), and we attempted to get that done and it was becoming more and more difficult to get two livings out of the ranch, and I kinda had to cut him loose. And the survival thing out of it was the young farmers program. That’s just been awesome for us. It gave him a chance to get started.

The USDA also provides assistance to beginning farmers and ranchers under its Direct Farm Ownership Down Payment Loan Program, and provides retiring farmers the opportunity to transfer their land to future generations of farmers and ranchers. For more information about this and other FSA programs contact your local FSA office or visit the FSA website at www.fsa.usda.gov.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.