Posted at: 11/03/2009 7:18 PM
By: David Springer

Grants for New Farmers

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- The Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture was in Minnesota today, to announce 17-million dollars in grants aimed at helping new farmers and ranchers be successful. And those grants could help people in our area.

The USDA grants hope to build on similar programs that have already helped local farmers stay afloat through the recession.

The owners of the Hidden Stream Farm in Elgin, Minnesota say their farm most likely wouldn't be as successful if not for the specialized training they received through a program called "Farm Beginnings."

"They helped us establish a network that we still use. We still know the people that we started with and we mentor and work with people that have gone through it in recent years" says Lisa Klein.

People like Aimee Finley, a St. Charles Dairy farmer, who received help putting together a viable business plan.

"You get overwhelmed because you're still trying to do the day to day chores and the business stuff sometimes gets put on the wayside" says Finley.

Their stories are two of the reasons USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan was at the Hidden Stream Farm today. The other reason was to announce 17 million dollars in grants for the new "Beginning Farmer and Rancher development Program."

"Every time a farm closes down and people leave the land there's a high cost for the rural community. What farmers do affects a whole distribution system and what goes on in the small towns. I come from a small town. I know," says Deputy Secretary Merrigan.

Merrigan says the new grants will help to create wealth and prosperity in rural America.

"Well it's been huge. It's kind of helped us to be where we are today. (And where are you today?) A successful small family farm" says Eric Klein.

The grants are part of an overall program aimed at supporting local farmers called "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food." You can learn more about the program in the links section of our website.