Plowpoint: Loans and subsidies

Not according to the forms I read. Accepting their money gives them the right to enter your property without your permission or notice. This is part of why I don't accept their subsidies, etc.

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

I don't take subsidies, but we do participate in some of the programs, and from experience, I can state that we've never had a problem and no one has ever stepped foot on our farms without our permission.

My experience has been like Paul's, only I have got Cost Share Programs, Farm Loans and Subsidies.

Like him, no one ever comes out here to just check on my farm for the sake of farming. In fact I have asked them 3 weeks ago to come out an assess some erosion I have in a new field and an access problem to two fields that is extremely perplexing...even my Uncle who has farmed for 60 years has no idea on how to address the issue. The people that think the NRCS and FSA are going to come out and just invade your privacy are just being silly and have no idea what the workload of these people are...they just do not have the time!

Some programs are really good and some are not so good, and it is important to know the difference. For instance the EQUIP Program is excellent because it addresses a host of farm issues and really conserves soil and water. For beginning farmers the cost share is 90%them/10% you while established farms get 75% them/25% you. But here is the kicker. The way they figure the cost of the project is based on what it would cost the federal government to do the job. Because often these labor rates, material costs and others are higher than local costs, a farmer comes out ahead. BUT the project has to be built to their specifications and I do not have a problem with that. The fence they funded has a 30 year guarantee on it, the road they built for me is the best gravel road in the town I live in, and the concrete manure pad has held up well...all things they funded.

An example of a bad program however, is the Grassland Reserve Program. It is designed to grow grass for wildlife primarily. Because it is designed for that, there is a vast amount of requirements, but yet you are paid only $10 per acre to tie up your land for several years. For me anyway, and I can only speak for me, it is not worth it. For others it may be a great program. So you have to really research what you are getting into.

I ran into problems with the CRP Program as well. One requirement in there is having brush grow on the edge of the fields for birds and other wildlife. I already have plenty of this in my woodlot, and with a limited number of acres of fields, field that has been cleared of rocks, stumps, and be fertilized for years...I am not letting even part of that be woods again...I farm right up to the rockwalls...so this requirement is outside the scope of my farm plan and I do not participate in that program.

As for the subsidies...sometimes they are there, and some years they are not. Never count on them, but they do help.

And loans, the paperwork is not that bad. The biggest thing is you have to keep good records. I have always done that since taking over the family farm anyway, so when I applied for a loan, everything they wanted I already had. I think it is the people who do not keep careful records that think they are just going to get a quick, low interest loan who are put off by the process. I actually just got an operational loan to see how easy/hard it was going to be as a sort of test. It worked so well that now I am going ahead with another to buy additional farmland.

Good or bad; I can say that my farm has improved greatly with their help; both financially and with ethical farming. I have a long ways to go, but there is no way I could fund where I am now by my own means. But I would not have put as much food on the national food chain either, which is what the USDA is all about.