USDA Out With New Initiative To Help Small Farms

Building upon the inaugural farmers First Round table at USDA headquarters in May and subsequent meetings with Ag producers around the country throughout the month, Ag Secretary Brook Rollins announced the "Small Farmer Family Farmer First initiative.”

The announcement came during a recent farmers round table session in Nebraska.  The intent of the additive improving both viability and longevity of smaller scale family farms. 

“To ensure that those farms can start and stay in business and pass along to the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th generation,” Rollins said during her announcement. 

Small family farm operations make up almost 86% of all U.S. farmers. 10 components comprise the small Family Farm initiative:

“#1 ensuring simple and streamlined and transparent tools that we have through USDA and across the government and application.”

Next, a series of goals to ensure greater access to resources for small family farmers and their operations. 

“#2 ensuring reliable access to credit, so opening up the capital market, especially for new and entering farmers, but also for multi generational farmers.  #3 ensuring working farmland is used to farm.  #4 ensuring that small farms can be passed on to the next generation and for many generations to come. 

Programs Should Focus On Farmers, The Realities They Face

“#5 hyper focusing USDA programs on our farmers.  #6 is labor reform. If our farmers can't have the workforce that they need, which many cannot, don't have access to, we've got to fix that.  #7 enhancing access to risk management and business planning tools. 

“#8 ensuring the definitions of farm size reflect modern day realities, that's more for grant making and grant applications. #9 enhancing farmer access to educational resources.  #10 expanding the rest of the small farm toolkit.” 

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