MO Beginning Farmer Program

As 2012 comes to a close, we at the University of Missouri thought you might like to know this.

The Missouri Beginning Farmer Program was funded from 2009-2012 by a grant from USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. This national program was funded as part of the 2008 Farm Bill and its funding and operation depend upon Congressional Action.  We are not asking you to support or not support funding for this program at the national level, but believe that some of you may be interested in understanding more about the policies that impact programs like this.  You can get more information about the program from the following places:

* National Young Farmers Coalition at http://www.youngfarmers.org/ is “by and for young and beginning farmers in the United State”

* Start 2 Farm http://www.start2farm.gov

* National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s policy website http://sustainableagriculture.net/our-work/beginning-farmer-bill/

The USDA maintains an application website and abstracts of funded projects at http://www.nifa.usda.gov/fo/beginningfarmerandrancher.cfm