Microloans & Money For Hay

USDA will begin offering farm ownership microloans, creating a new financing avenue for farmers to buy and improve property. These microloans will be especially helpful to beginning or underserved farmers, U.S. veterans looking for a career in farming, and those who have small and mid-sized farming operations. Farm Service Agency Administrator Val Dolcini explains.

DOLCINI:Well beginning in 2013 I think an easy way to think of it is that we just had a standard microloan that really could be used for almost any agricultural purpose and so those loans were used to expand a farming operation. The direct farm ownership microloan allows you to do those things and in addition now you can purchase land with this farm ownership microloan, you can make improvement to land you already own. It's similar in many respects but it adds the element of farm ownership into the equation and we think that for lots of farmers in the country this direct farm ownership loan is going to be just what you need to make your business succeed and grow.

This past summer's wildfires did a number on the state's hay supply. Washington States will be helping out with that. The Department of Ecology will be providing ranchers in Okanagan County with $500-thousand dollars to buy extra hay. Even with the money, ranchers says it's still not enough to meet their needs and many ranchers have taken to selling off livestock due to the limited grazing in the county.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.