By Richard Fordyce
Every Day, and especially on National Ag Day, we recognize the farmers, ranchers, and landowners who keep this country running. They put in long hours, take on real risk, and produce the food, fiber, and fuel that Americans rely on. As we look ahead to our nation’s 250th anniversary, it’s a good time to reflect on the strength of American agriculture and the people behind it.
At USDA, and across the Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) mission area, our focus is on supporting those producers in practical ways – helping them start, grow, protect, and sustain their operations. Whether it’s managing risk, accessing credit, our job is to make sure the tools are there and that they work on the ground.
Expansion, Protection and Recovery
USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) helps farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners expand and improve their operations with financing options and get back on their feet in times of economic volatility or following natural disaster events.
Ann Deering of Allamakee County, Iowa, works with her family to run their diversified operation, Distant View Farms. Originally a dairy, the farm has evolved over the past 50 years to also operate a feedlot, manage a beef herd, and raise all their own feed – including corn, soybeans, and alfalfa.
The farm participates in FSA’s Dairy Margin Coverage Program to protect against declines in milk prices and increases in feed costs. To add an additional safety net, the farm also enrolls in the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs, which provide income support to farmers impacted by substantial drops in crop prices or revenues.
Source : farmers.gov