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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Wednesday, December 25, 2024
The Southern Farmers Financial Association is being established by the Biden administration to help small farmers in high-poverty areas of the South get access to capital.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new round of climate-smart commodities projects, funding smaller initiatives that target niche markets and often have a greater role for minority farmers and institutions.
The Agriculture Department has launched an online tool that will streamline the farm loan application with an eye toward ensuring more equitable treatment of producers.
The commission studying discrimination in Agriculture Department programs says USDA should look closely at eliminating the county committee system that has historically played a large role in the Farm Service Agency’s management of farm programs.
Some farmers could face foreclosure on USDA loans as soon as this fall, so the department may begin providing some newly authorized debt relief through a phased-in approach in order to address the immediate need for help, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says.
The Democratic-controlled Senate on Sunday passed an historic package of financial incentives for cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, including a dramatic increase in farm bill conservation programs aimed at spurring farmers to adopt climate-related farming practices.
A revised climate funding package Democrats are pushing through the Senate this weekend scraps a debt relief program for minority farmers that was blocked by the courts and replaces it with new programs earmarked for “distressed” USDA borrowers as well as farmers the department has discriminated against.
The next farm bill must help minority and beginning farmers get access to land and modify federal nutrition programs to create markets for the food they produce, say groups advocating for those farmers.
USDA is taking additional steps to provide relief to historically underserved farmers and other producers holding direct loans from the Farm Service Agency.
Debt relief payments to minority farmers from the Agriculture Department are on hold after a federal judge granted a restraining order in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the program.
