In 2008, the Center continued to lead the fight for increased investment in rural development, beginning farmer and conservation programs, and stronger limits on farm payments going to the largest farms.

Ultimately, as we reported in our newsletter last June, we lost our battle over payment limitation reform, but we won new investment in rural development, beginning farmer and conservation programs.

For starters, we won funding for the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program, a competitive grants program that supports technical assistance, business planning and loans for rural entrepreneurs. Efforts are underway to increase funding for the program from its current $4 million annually.

We also won $18 million in annual funding for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, a competitive grants program that supports training, mentoring, marketing and other educational opportunities as well as linking retiring and beginning farmers.

Since the farm bill passed, we have continued to work with our allies to ensure the programs we did win are implemented properly. USDA is writing rules and regulations for these programs, and we are providing them with ideas on how to implement the programs in a way that works for rural America.

We presented our thoughts to USDA when they held listening sessions on the new programs. We believe the rural microentrepreneur program needs to direct some funding towards capacity building projects, particularly in rural areas and states that are currently underserved by existing rural small business development organizations. We also believe it is critical to launch this program quickly considering the state of the economy and the increased demand for rural small business services.

With the beginning farmer and rancher program, we are advocating that the funds are invested in projects that focus on strategies we know are working for beginning farmers such as high-value, niche markets where they can start small with limited debt and earn more per acre or animal.

We are also leading the charge to ensure the Value Added Producer Grants Program places a priority on projects from small and mid-size family farmers and ranchers. Their proposed rule fell short on this front, so we are working to turn that around.

Even payment limitation reform is back on the table with a new administration. In the coming months, USDA will define what constitutes an active farmer who is eligible for payments, which is currently too loosely defined (see the article Farm Payment Limitations inside USDA above.). The solution is simple. USDA must write a rule that requires a person to either work half time on the farm or else provide half the labor or half the management on the farm to qualify as a farmer.

We are also encouraging the new administration to use the Cooperative Conservation Partnerships Initiative to fund projects that bring conservation and rural community development objectives together as compatible goals.

We look forward to you sticking with us and helping us to ensure that these and other policy issues truly support family farming, rural communities and our natural environment.

For more information, contact Traci Bruckner, tracib@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 x 1016.