The FSA Microloan Expansion is Coming November 7th!
Yesterday, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced a major expansion to the microloan program. Starting on November 7th, the cap on microloans will be raised from $35,000 to $50,000. We are thrilled to see FSA expand this program that is critical to young farmers! Microloans provide operating loans to small and beginning farmers. They have […]
NYFC February Newsletter: Beyond the Farm Bill, Western Water, Draft Power and more
As we reported last week, the new five-year farm bill has passed – so where do we go from here? We keep organizing! In this newsletter we’ll fill you in on what’s next in policy; introduce two new western initiatives (and our new staff members making it happen); and get you linked up with our […]
Farm Bill 2014 – What it Means for Beginning Farmers for the Next 5 Years
This post is the second of three in-depth analysis pieces on the bill and how it will affect you. Last week, after we shared the news that the new farm bill passed, we delved into a three-part series breaking the bill down and what its impact will be over the next five years. (The bill […]
Farm Bill Breakdown: What's Not So Great
Yes, we have a farm bill. Let me repeat that, for those who’ve been hearing us talk about this this so much over the past two years: we now have a new five-year farm bill. This marks the conclusion of a monumental effort over the past two and a half years to pass a bill; […]
2014 Farm Bill Passes Final Hurdle, Signed into Law
It’s official – we now have a farm bill. On Friday, President Obama officially signed it into law, marking the end of two years of campaigning. As we previously reported, the bill is a mixed bag of good and bad. Funding for many beginning farmer programs, including the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, are […]
You did it! Farmer training + land access win in Farm Bill
Our coalition was founded in 2010 in large part to help ensure that our needs as new, young and sustainable farmers are represented in public policy. And today, although we’re not happy with all aspects of the new farm bill, we are proud to say that many of the challenges that we face in starting […]