Training for the Next Generation of Farmers and More…

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The latest news from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, featuring information on training for the next generation of farmers and more…

USDA Invests Millions Into Training for the Next Generation of Farmers – As the average age of our nation’s farmers and ranchers continues to rise, training the next generation has become an increasingly urgent priority. Young and beginning farmers and ranchers face unique challenges to success, obstacles which the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) helps them to overcome through its Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP).

SARE Roundup: News on Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education – Editor’s Note: This is the latest in a series of periodic blog posts on the happenings in each of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) regions, focusing on project solicitations and grant award announcements.

The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program funds farmer-driven research and education through a competitive grants program. SARE is the only competitive research grant program offered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that focuses solely on sustainable agriculture, and has been supporting research in this field for nearly 30 years.

Farm Bill Income Cap for Program Payment Eligibility Affects Few Farms – Editors Note: This is a republishing of a recent article by Ron Durst and Robert Williams, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS) Amber Waves magazine.

The use of means tests in federal entitlement programs, using income levels to determine eligibility for funds, is a common –if not controversial– practice. For decades, federal farm commodity subsidy programs have stood out as one of very few federal entitlement programs that employed no means tests or income caps to determine eligibility. Over the course of the last three farm bills, however, that distinction has been erased. The 2014 Farm Bill (our current farm bill), for instance, limits eligibility to persons with less than $900,000 a year in Adjusted Gross Income (AGI); double that amount for married couples filing tax returns separately, in most cases.