USDA Offers New Loans For Portable Farm Storage, Handling Equipment
May 2, 2016 USDA will provide a new financing option to help farmers purchase portable storage and handling equipment. Farm Service Agency (FSA) Administrator Val Dolcini and Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Administrator Elanor Starmer last week announced changes to the Farm Storage Facility Loan (FSFL) program during a local and regional food roundtable in Columbus, OH. The loans, which now include a smaller microloan option with lower down payments, are designed to help growers, including new, small, and mid-sized producers, grow their businesses and markets.
“As more communities reconnect with agriculture, consumer demand is increasing for food produced locally or regionally,” Dolcini said. “Portable handling and storage equipment is vital to helping farmers get their products to market more quickly and better maintain product quality, bringing them greater returns. That’s why we’ve added this type of equipment as a new category for our Farm Storage Facility Loan program.”
The program also offers a new “microloan” option, which allows applicants seeking less than $50,000 to qualify for a reduced down payment of 5% and no requirement to provide three years of production history. Farms and ranches of all sizes are eligible.
The microloan option is expected to be of particular benefit to smaller farms and ranches, and specialty crop producers who may not have access to commercial storage or on-farm storage after harvest. These producers can invest in equipment like conveyors, scales, or refrigeration units and trucks that can store commodities before delivering them to markets. Producers do not need to demonstrate the lack of commercial credit availability to apply.
“Growing high-value crops for local and regional markets is a common entry point for new farmers,” Starmer said. “Since they often rent land and have to transport perishable commodities, a loan that can cover mobile coolers or even refrigerated trucks fills an important gap. These producers in turn supply the growing number of food hubs, farmers markets, or stores and restaurants interested in sourcing local food.”
Earlier this year, FSA significantly expanded the list of commodities eligible for Farm Storage Facility Loan. Eligible commodities now include aquaculture; floriculture; fruits (including nuts) and vegetables; corn, grain sorghum, rice, oilseeds, oats, wheat, triticale, spelt, buckwheat, lentils, chickpeas, dry peas sugar, peanuts, barley, rye, hay, honey, hops, maple sap, unprocessed meat and poultry, eggs, milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, and renewable biomass. FSFL microloans can also be used to finance, wash, and pack equipment used postharvest, before a commodity is placed in cold storage.
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