USDA recently awarded 29 grants for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. This new competitive grants program is designed to support collaborative networks and partnerships that provide beginning farmers and ranchers with education, training and mentoring. First-round recipients include organizations doing inspiring work with beginning farmers and ranchers.

For example, California FarmLink helps beginners gain access to land through their Beginning Farmer Individual Development Accounts. In this program, beginning farmers and ranchers save a percentage of their income over a two-year period, and California FarmLink matches it three-to-one.

At the end of the two-year period, the beginner can accumulate nearly $20,000 for purchasing land, equipment, or other eligible farm-related expenses. We are pleased to see California FarmLink among the grant recipients because it will help them provide education, training, and mentoring to farmers and ranchers who participate in their innovative program.

It was surprising, however, to see how many grant awards went to universities – 17 out of 29 projects. This is especially disappointing since the statute calls for projects led by or including non-governmental and community-based organizations to have priority.

We hope most of these universities are partnering with organizations and technical colleges where projects lead to real, on-the-ground results. We look forward to analyzing the awarded projects to see how well they serve beginning farmers and ranchers.

Contact: Traci Bruckner, tracib@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 x 1016 with comments.