After nearly 100 days of traveling the nation and visiting directly with hundreds of farmers across America, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins today released the first set of policy proposals under her newly launched Make Agriculture Great Again Initiative. These initial proposals are a comprehensive set of policy solutions aimed at improving the viability and longevity of smaller-scale family farms for generations to come. About 86 percent of all farms in the United States are small family farms. To ensure small family farmers can start and stay in business, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has outlined a toolkit of actions, including the streamlining of application processes, improving reliable access to credit, farmland, and markets, and appropriate business planning tools.
The Small Family Farms Policy Agenda provides actionable solutions to a variety of challenges faced by small family farmers:
Ensure Simple Streamlined and Transparent Tools and Applications
USDA says it will be cutting red tape and streamlining delivery, as evidenced by the rollout of the recent Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP), ECAP utilized pre-filled applications, was released ahead of schedule, paying farmers for economic losses within an average of three days of applications being filed.
USDA is also launching an internal audit to identify every farmer-facing paper-based application that can be digitized and
streamlined. Simplifying these processes for producers will reduce the barriers to entry for many programs while saving time and enhancing accuracy. Paper applications will remain available upon request for farmers who choose that option.
Ensure Reliable Access to Credit
Small farmers have a number of credit options available in the private sector, ranging from commercial banks to the Farm Credit System’s Young, Beginning, and Small (YBS) farmer resources. For those producers who are unable to obtain loans at commercial institutions, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Rural Development (RD) at USDA have various options that are designed to provide financing, ranging from operating loans to loan guarantees.
These USDA resources are only effective if they are usable and accessible. USDA is evaluating new shared services platforms for the FSA loan program and RD programs to streamline delivery and increase program efficiencies.
Ensure Working Farmland is Used to Farm
To address rising land costs, USDA is reforming the FSA and RD loan programs to streamline delivery and increase program efficiencies, ensuring small producers can have reliable access to credit and farmland.
USDA will also disincentivize the use of federal funding at USDA for solar panels to be installed on productive farmland through prioritization points and regulatory action. Farmland should be for agricultural production, not solar production.
Finally, to enhance flexibilities and ensure working lands stay working, the U.S. Forest Service is reforming the National Environmental Policy Act and pursuing additional flexibilities for permittees and leases, especially for farmers, ranchers, and adjacent landowners.
Ensure Small Farms Can Be Passed On to the Next Generation for Generations to Come
USDA calls on Congress to ensure that the vast majority of farms and ranches are protected from an increase in the death tax. The department urgers Congress to also expand Section 179, which allows eligible small businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying farm and business equipment upfront. It should be expanded to further benefit U.S. farmers and ranchers, including family farms.
Further, USDA says Congress should restore 100% bonus depreciation expensing. If phased out in 2025, family farms, among others, will be unable to immediately deduct their business investments.
In addition, the House Agriculture Committee’s proposed enhancements to improve the implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill’s Commission on Farm Transitions—Needs for 2050, if enacted, would help identify additional ways that USDA and the U.S. Treasury Department could support farm transitions while ensuring that operations remain in production. USDA will also be
engaging with agricultural tax and legal professionals across the country to identify ways the department can assist in developing tools that help to facilitate the orderly transition of agricultural operations from one generation to the next and will continue to enhance education for our customers on this topic.
Hyperfocus USDA Programs for Farmers on Farmers
USDA has reformed and overhauled the Biden-era Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities initiative into the Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP) initiative, ensuring that a minimum of 65% of federal funds must go to producers instead of special interests. Under President Trump, USDA will ensure that all funded programs dedicated to farmers are actually
received by farmers.
USDA will work to improve and strengthen the state and federal food inspection agreements to expand access to processing capacity. By strengthening these state-federal partnerships, USDA will bolster the U.S. food system’s resilience and security.
Labor Reform
USDA will leverage the Agricultural Labor Affairs Coordinator in actively working with other federal agencies such as the
Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security to address the critical issue of labor access for agricultural producers. USDA is aggressively exploring coordinated solutions with agencies and Congress to ensure a stable, reliable, and legal workforce for agriculture. Small farmers can’t diversify or grow their business without access to labor, and we must take action to relieve this persistent issue, including H-2A and H-2B nonimmigrant visa classification reform.
Enhance Access to Risk Management and Business Planning Tools
Smaller farmers may not always be aware of the federal risk management and disaster assistance programs available to help them sustain weather and market volatility. As a result, USDA is working to make programs simple and transparent, such as the recently announced disaster portal for all upcoming disaster programs, as a resource producers can access far in advance of their scheduled release.
Ensure Definitions of Farm Size Reflect Modern Day Realities
According to USDA’s definition, a small farm is a family farm with less than $350,000 in annual gross cash farm income. USDA is currently reviewing farm size definitions to ensure they adequately reflect modern-day realities while also helping to ensure that the extensive resources that USDA makes available are appropriately tailored to the needs (and size) of farms.
Enhance Farmer Access to Educational Resources
High energy costs devastate various American sectors, including farming. As such, President Trump upon taking office signed various Executive Orders aimed at unleashing American energy dominance to ensure U.S. fuel is more abundant and affordable, including for farmers and ranchers.
The Environmental Protection Agency is working with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to deliver on the President’s promise to review the definition of “Waters of the United States.” The agencies are moving quickly to ensure that a revised definition follows the law, cuts overall permitting costs, and lowers the cost of doing business at farms across the country.
Other Small Farm Resources Available
In addition to the small and mid-sized farmer resource landing page, USDA houses a set of comprehensive resources on farmers.gov which are meant to be a one stop shop for all farmer needs which includes, self-service features that allow you to view loan information, history, and payments, get help requesting financial assistance, download and e-sign conservation
documents and view and export detailed farm records farm/tract maps.
View the Farmers First: Small Family Farms Policy Agenda (PDF, 7.2 MB)
This policy rollout builds on the Farmers First Roundtable event recently held at the USDA Headquarters in Washington D.C., where the Secretary met with and heard from more than 20 farmers and ranchers from 11 states who run smaller-scale, family-owned operations, as well as Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen and the Board of Directors of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) about challenges facing smaller-scale family farms across America.
“America’s family farms help feed, fuel, and clothe the world, but they also face some of the greatest challenges in getting their farms started and keeping them running. Putting Farmers First means addressing the issues farmers face head-on and fostering an economic environment that doesn’t put up roadblocks on business creation but removes them,” said Secretary Rollins. “Today’s policy agenda is tailored specifically to support small-scale farms to thrive for generations to come. President Trump knows America’s economic prosperity depends on the success of our farmers and ranchers. That is why we are working to ensure those who want to start and keep their own farms for generations to come are able to.”
###
USDA
