Support for small producers

Support for small producers

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett

There is new insurance designed for small farmers who produce for local markets.

Risk Management Agency Acting Administrator Richard Flournoy tells the USDA news service this new program is being offered through the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection program.

Flournoy: ” We’re going to allow producers that have allowable revenue of $100-thousand or less or if your a carry-over insured that has an average allowable revenue of $125-thousand or less to get this micro-farm policy. It’s going to simplify record-keeping requirements, cover post-production costs as well as value-added products. And really how we got there was as a result of a 2018 Farm Bill study that asked RMA to look at how we could cover local food producers. The study said whole-farm revenue protection is the best vehicle to quickly get out a new policy for these types of producers. It also said that 85% of local food producers made less than $75-thousand in gross sales. At RMA we looked at these recommendations and thought if we set it at $100-thousand or less that’s going to hit most of this group.”

The 2017 U.S. Census of Agriculture shows Georgia farms up to 9 acres in size, grew in number from 3,003 in 2012 to 4,520 in 2017. That’s an increase of 1,490 farms in this category.

According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture, more than 2000 Florida farms record gross market value of under $100-thousand.

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