What It Means For Me

The government shutdown. It's what everyone is talking about these days. On one hand, I'm enjoying the fact that the price of wheat has gone up every day for the past week and a half. On the other hand, that's only cool for so long, because it's a short term solution to a long-term problem.

The shutdown is affecting everyone. If you haven't felt it yet, you eventually will. Being a farmer, it directly affects us as well

My blogger friend Jenn at Almost Gypsy Soul works for the USDA-Farm Service Agency. She wrote a great blog about it yesterday, so I thought I'd take bits and pieces from hers, and add in our beginning farmer experience to the mix. She told about the 15 different parts of the Farm Bill, which some of you may or may not have heard about.

1. Commodity - provides income support to growers of select commodities
2. Conservation - provides funding for farm environmental stewardship thought programs that improve management practices, retire less productive land and protect natural resources
3. Agricultural Trade & Food Aid - funds US agriculture export and international food assistance programs and various WTO obligations
4. Nutrition - covers domestic food, nutrition and commodity distribution programs such as food stamps and supplemental nutrition assistance as well as purchases of fresh fruit and vegetables in schools and expanded programs for farmers markets and urban gardens.
5. Farm Credit - offers direct and guaranteed loan program to farmers via 2 government related farm lenders the USDA Farm Service Agency and the Farm Credit System.
6. Rural Development - funds rural development loan and grant programs, the expansion of rural broadband, water infrastructure and promotes locally produced ag food products
7. Research - supports agricultural research and extension programs, including bio security and response, biotechnology and organic production
8. Forestry - fund USDA Forest Service programs that protects forests from threats, restore forests damaged by natural disasters and enhance public benefits from private forests.
9. Energy - supports the development of bio fuels refineries and research; helps farmers, ranchers and rural small businesses purchase renewable energy systems
10. Horticulture & Organic Agriculture - encourages the production and consumption of organic agriculture commodities
11. Livestock - addresses livestock disease prevention and food safety concerns and enhances electronic mandatory livestock reporting
12. Crop Insurance & Disaster Assistance - protects farmers from risks associated with adverse weather, weather related plant disease and insect infestation
13. Commodity Futures - covers re-authorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, an independent agency that regulates commodity futures trading in the US
14. Miscellaneous - expands programs to assist limited resource and socially disadvantaged farmers and addresses rural development, agricultural labor supply and animal welfare.
15. Trade & Taxes - introduces numerous tax provisions affection conservation and commodity program payments, timber investment, bio fuel production and agricultural income.

Officially called 2008 Food, Conservation and Energy Act and dubbed the Farm Bill, although a very small percentage of the total bill actually goes to farmers and ranchers. See the graph shows that a majority, nearly 80% of the $ goes to food/nutrition for the food stamp program. There are several of these representations floating around, all varying slightly in specific numbers, however the disproportionate amounts are generally the same.

 

 

The items above I listed in bold are the ones that I have the knowledge to speak of that have directly affected us. I know some of the others have as well, but I'll stick to the ones I know for sure. 

 

#2: We deal directly with Conservation Reserve Project lands, which is where we get some of the hay that we feed our cows. The point is for these lands to sit and rest for awhile, so not all land is used for farming. It helps cut down on erosion, and keeps more nutrients in the soil. They also help supplement farmers with some money if they want to plant trees, shrubs or plants that help prevent soil erosion by building wind breaks.

 

#5: This is the most important one I'll talk about. Bottom line: If Patrick and I did not have the Farm Service Agency, we would not be farmers. FSA and the government is used as a last resort when it comes to funding. When we started out 3 years ago, we had to go to several banks with our farming business proposal, only to be rejected. FSA would not even touch us until we had been rejected by other financial institutions. You know how embarrassing that is? Going in and asking for an astronomical amount of money for a business, when you have no business history? And KNOWING that they're going to reject you? I mean, there are worse things, but it definitely wasn't my favorite thing to do.

So after we got the loan from FSA-and mind you, they don't GIVE us anything. What they do give is a very low-interest rate on our loan to help cut costs. Our first year we got bad weather and due to a glitch with our insurance that eliminated us from being covered under our plan, couldn't repay the loan, so they termed it out over several years. Anything we sell, the check comes back with our names and FSA's name on it. So basically we don't make any money until all of the money is paid back every year-which is how it should be.

 

They also have a limit of 7 years that we can borrow from them. We're in our 3rd year and have started working with a local bank, but FSA still had to basically co-sign our bank loan with us. The reason they try to help out with beginning farmers so much, is because our farmers are aging. There are a lot of old farmers and fewer young farmers. The world needs more food, and with less farmers that's going to be hard. They are trying to do what they can to help people get into farming. And if you think for one second it's easy...please, I invite you to come visit :)

 

#6: This will be brief: Last year the farm got a grant that helped pay for the installation of water lines and tanks in our pastures. Trenches were dug, line was laid, and now our cows get water all the time without us having to haul water to them every day, to multiple fields. This cuts down on gas, vehicle maintenance, electricity, and less dust in the air when driving down the county roads and fields.

#12: Remember when I told you our insurance had a glitch our first year of farming and we couldn't repay our loan? Because the USDA offers the NAP program, we had signed up for it and 2 years later were able to get a bunch of money from the NAP insurance that helped pay back our FSA loan. This was all weather-related and we had no control over it. Our crop insurance (that we are required to carry) had a clause for first year farmers that our insurance agent messed up, therefore we were not covered. So when the insurance companies deny us because we missed one deadline we didn't even know about, the government stepped in and was able to help us repay the loan. And for the record, we are still repaying our first year's loan.

 

And because we're such good farmers we like to listen to Rural Radio on SiriusXM...yes, there is such a thing. If you think the expiring Farm Bill won't affect you, think again. The laws will go back to what they were in the 1940's. We'll be getting paid about $14 per bushel of wheat (which is twice as much as it is now), you'll be paying $8 for a loaf of plain bread, and about $10 for a gallon of milk. And that's just the beginning of it.

 

Farming just doesn't happen.  Do we have nice things? Yes, but remember, I work a full time job, and so does Patrick, outside of our farm income. And both of these incomes make it so our farm can be successful.

 

And my final thought I'll leave you with is a question Jenn asked...

 

And my final question to you...Would you rather your tax dollar go to subsidize a hardworking farmer or rancher, working to provide a safe, affordable food supply who has fallen on hard times through weather related disaster or would you rather your tax dollar go to a growing food stamp program?