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Supporting beginning farmers and ranchers

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced new policies that will provide beginning farmers and ranchers additional financial security.

Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Krysta Harden tells Brownfield the new policies are part of the new Farm Bill.

“One of them is our Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program called NAP,” the Deputy Secretary said. “Actually waiving some of the fees, the service fees for new farmers which we think will help many of them getting started.”

Also available will be the elimination of payment reductions under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and increasing payment rates to beginning farmers and ranchers under Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP).

In addition to the new policies, USDA has launched a new website that will help beginning farmers and ranchers navigate USDA programs.

Deputy Secretary Harden describes the new website as a one-stop shop.

“And for folks who are entering agriculture for the first time and may not be familiar, as familiar with USDA and the many tools that we have, it can be a sea of acronyms,” Harden said. “So this really breaks things down into practical questions so you can really look at the whole of USDA and how the many things that we do have that can help folks get started in agriculture.”

The website can be found here.

Audio: U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary, Krysta Harden (5:35 mp3)

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