I just got off the phone with the USDA rep. Nice fellow. He took the time to explain things and ask me some questions.
My opinion. The beginning farmers/ranchers program in the State of Kansas is not worth it. Hands down waste of your energy . Unless. . .
You own 40 acres min.
22 heads of cattle min.
And have three recorded years of farm experience ( you can earn that on leased land) and no more than 10 years
You can not own or have a percentage in more than 30% of the counties medium farm land size.
Then maybe they will help you out. They are more than happy to give loans for livestock and equipment. Property however is tricky.
(With the above requirements, I wouldn't be seeking their help.)
See every year over the next thirty years you will be reevaluated and your loan modified. If you do not see an increase in profits yearly, they can terminate your loan agreement and you lose the land. Even if you are paying back the loan, as it gets modified yearly.
He informed me that the homestead is a hobby, no offense. And that I should lease pasture, put my cows out on it then get a livestock loan from the bank. After three years I can call him back.
On top of that he had never heard of a Long Legged Kerry.
As many of you know I loathe the concept of indentured servitude. You never really earn enough credit for your freedom. You are required to get into debt, to get into debt, to get into debt to have something nice that can be taken away at someone else's whim. I am a cash and carry gal. Only debt, besides medical now, is our mortgage, and no way will I allow us more debt.
This spiral they put farmers under is ludicrous. I know fully understand factory farming. They have little give. Too much debt.
But don't think this is over. I expect the prize patrol on my doorstep on my birthday.
We will come back to this after some more research, new land, not this program that is.
12 comments:
Ok, some may hate me for my opinion about this, but asking for "help" from any government agency usually entails signing your life and/or land over to them and letting them do what THEY deem "right". At one point we looked into designating some land we have as a wildlife preserve and we'd get a tax "break" (which only came to like a hundred bucks a year), but they'd have final say what we did with it and even rights to come on our land unannounced. No thank you.
Besides the fact that all that "free" money they dole out isn't free at all....it just comes from some other taxpayer, and without their consent.
Agree.
This however is a loan program by private sectors. The FSA bonds the private loans from the bank or multiple banks. This is not a hand out program. I don't do those.
Not to grow or CPR is $49 an acre this year.
That totally stinks! Any possibility in teaching your neighbors to be neighborly?
Yes, I have a shot gun.
This is only the first attempt. More research is coming.
bahahahahah!
A shotgun is sometimes the only thing some people understand.
We looked into something similar when we were moving to Maine. All gov help sucks and I agree with Carolyn. Now that said. Hope you can find something that works out.
thanks for sharing..
Hey, I tried sending you an email telling you to go to my blog and type in "cave" in the search. There are 2 posts that will come up. The one with the pictures are the pictures of that place I was telling you about. Get back with me at sherrilyns@windstream.net I'll send you some more later
We have something called a Texas Land Bank here. They are owned by the depositors instead of the government. I'll bet Kansas has something similiar.
http://www.texaslandbank.com/aboutus.htm
It is all, pardon my french, BULLSHIT! We wouldn't want anyone to be successful in anything. I am proud of this country,but very disappointed in the government. I am pretty much cash and carry also. My credit report comes back as "thin file". Nothing in it. No bad credit, just not any credit history.
Once again, pardon my French, BULLSHIT!
Kelly, agreed. I thought since this was a bond program, which means that they help get you loans of various sizes through multiple private lenders and sort of back them, it would be a decent program. No tax payer funds (unless you count the bank bailouts.)
Small, my love, my doll, drool.
Wren, we do have a kansas land bank, but they no longer have a program. They are a basic bank. Thank you though, it did send me in a new direction.
John, no worries. Even though I do not cuss on this blog I make sailors blush on a daily basis. I am a credit ghost. I don't exist. Boo! This program pisses me off. He gave me cudos for starting small and learning my skills, but if I didn't already have large acreage and I was already commercial farming, they couldn't help. (Help is a general term people, stop getting your panties in a bunch over it) I am not sure why this program is called beginner farmer as you already need to be an old hat at it.
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