Local organization played role in farm bill

By Tom Hintgen (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Thursday, June 12, 2008

A program to help beginning farmers that has been supported by Fergus Falls-based Communicating for America (CA) for many years received a significant update in the recently approved Farm Bill.

Since 1981 Aggie bond programs, which utilize tax-exempt bonds to provide lower cost loans from private sector lenders for beginning farmers and ranchers, have been a cost-efficient way for states such as Minnesota to provide financial support to new farmers. CA has worked to enhance the program over the years.

“But none of our work has been as significant as this year when we helped new farmers as part of the new six-year farm bill,” said Wayne Nelson, president of Communicating for America (CA). “We worked with the National Council of State Agricultural Finance Programs (NCOSAFP), U.S. Rep Collin Peterson (head the U.S. House Agriculture Committee) and others to initiate a number of changes in the program.”

To help beginning farmers purchase land, farm equipment, farm buildings and breeding stock, several states operate special loan programs through Aggie Bonds. Lenders are allowed to offer loans at a reduced interest rates.

However, until this year, the loan rates and land size eligibility requirements essentially stayed the same since the inception of the program back in 1981.

Nelson said the new farm bill, enacted into law, increases the loan limits from $250,000 to $450,000 and indexes future limits to inflation.

“The new bill also eliminates the dollar limitation on owned farmland and only uses the acreage restriction of 30 percent of the median size of a farm to determine eligibility,” Nelson said. “We appreciate that Rep. Peterson has been a long-time supporter of these types of programs to help new farmers.”

Nelson and Fergus Falls-based CA also worked to establish one other important provision of the farm bill. That provision allows for grant applications for agriculture apprenticeship programs — similar to those previously sponsored by Communicating for America.

“Rep. Peterson has been a strong supporter for rural development in rural America,” Nelson said.

The work of Nelson and support of CA in helping to enhance the new farm bill did not go unnoticed by farm leaders from across the nation.

“There’s been a lot of time and effort invested by a lot of people — including Wayne Nelson of Fergus Falls-based CA — to make this happen,” said Jeff Ward, president of the NCOSAFP Steering Committee and head of the Iowa