More With Under Secretary Michael Scuse

More With Under Secretary Michael Scuse. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture.

Small and mid-size farms are getting a boost thanks to the new farm bill and Ag Undersecretary Michael Scuse says in just a short amount of time that loans of up to $50-thousand dollars will be available.

SCUSE: There are also other areas as far ascending goes. Farm storage facility loans, those have been changed to make it easier for producers to borrow money for farm storage facilities and not just for grain but for other areas; packing, for fruits and vegetables. So we've made it easier for producers, small and mid0sized producers to obtain those loans as well.

Scuse says that other changes have been made.

SCUSE: There's also been some changes in our farm ownership loans that we think will be advantageous to many, again, of our small and mid-sized producers in obtaining the ownership of farms and ranches. There were some tremendous strides made in the lending side in the farm bill and in other areas to help our small and beginning producers.

But what does it take to qualify?

SCUSE: We're going to be looking at the number of years of experience that a producer has to be eligible for some of these loans, to qualify as a beginning farmer or rancher and they';re different between the agencies. We also have in the Risk Management Agency for crop insurance those with 5 years or less experience, they're going to be able to obtain crop insurance for their products at a reduced rate.

That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.