Center for Rural Affairs

The US Department of Agriculture has established a microloan program targeted at helping small farm operators. Microloans of up to $35,000 will be available. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the program is “designed to help bolster family-run farms and help disadvantaged farmers and military veterans seeking to start a farm,” according to the Associated Press.

This program is an exciting development. Value-added farmers producing niche, specialty, or organic crops are a quickly expanding segment of agriculture. Vilsack told the AP that direct-to-consumer sales are growing, with a 60 percent uptick in farmers markets over the last three years.

Capital from these loans can be used for a wide variety of expenses, from seed to delivery vehicles. Vilsack said farmers would have up to seven years to pay off the loan, and the interest would be roughly 4.9 percent.