FSA Program for Beginning Farmers

FSA Program for Beginning Farmers. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture.

Tired of your 9 to 5? Feel a passion to get out and work the land or drive a herd? Many people are discovering that it is possible to get into farming and ranching without the long family histories that seem to drive the industry. Tommy Allen recently took advantage of a new program that helps beginning farmers and ranchers get started.

ALLEN: They have a program out there that is called the beginning farmer and rancher program that the FSA will give you a loan at 1% interest if you qualify. You have to of course present a business plan and present a lot of information to them as far as what you are going to do, where you are buying your cattle, where you are selling them, what's your business plan, what's your rent, your household income.

The loan program is designed to assist someone getting into the business.

ALLEN: They don't want someone to go out there and just try and live off this program. They want you to have a separate job and basically try and do this on the side. You can apply for this loan for a few year until you can get kind of established and get your feet on the ground.

Some people call it the young farmer program but actually age has nothing to do with it. Allen says working with AgriBeef has had some positive upsides.

ALLEN: AgriBeef referred me to Rod Anderson. He's a local cattle buyer in the area. Great reputation, great guy. They said in order for you to do this program with us we recommend that you buy your cattle through him and he's been nothing but a huge help on getting me started and helping me kind of learn the ropes. Once again, AgriBeef was very good at helping me out with that whole program with any questions I had.

Contact your local FSA office for details.

That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.