Last month, USDA hosted an event honoring the White House’s Future of American Agriculture Champions of Change, including NYFC’s own Lindsey Lusher Shute. This event recognized the need for young farmers and highlighted USDA resources targeted at these farmers in particular.

In his opening remarks, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack cited some of the numbers on USDA’s efforts to serve beginning farmers:

• 7,300 microloans have been made by FSA in 43 states, out of 88,000 total FSA loans.
• 1,800 contracts have been made under the Conservation Reserve Program’s Transition Incentives Program (CRP-TIP), covering 300,000 acres.
• $200,000,000 has gone to beginning farmers and ranchers across all conservation programs.

This is a great start! However, there is a lot of room to bring these numbers up even higher. To get started taking advantage of these programs, contact your local FSA or NRCS office!