USDA offers transition incentives to help farmers |
Daily Advertiser • June 5, 2010
The USDA's Farm Service Agency announced that
sign-up started May 17 for the Transition Incentives
Program — a new program under the Conservation
Title of the 2008 Farm Bill — to encourage retired or
retiring owners or operators to transition their land
to beginning or socially disadvantaged farmers or
ranchers.
Ensuring that our nation's land is returned to
production using sustain able methods is critical not
only for our future food supply, but for the
economic future of our rural communities. Access to
land is one of the greatest challenges faced by new
farmers. The Transition Incentives Program is one
more tool in the USDA toolkit to protect family farms
and support beginning and socially disadvantaged
farmers.
To be eligible, TIP requires that the retired or
retiring farmer or rancher:
n Have land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve
Program (CRP) that is in the last year of the contract
n Agree to allow the beginning or socially
disadvantaged farmer or rancher to make
conservation and land improvements.
An Agree to sell, or have a contract to sell, or agree
to long-term lease (a minimum of 5 years) the land
under CRP contract to a beginning or socially
disadvantaged farmer or rancher by Oct. 1 of the
year the CRP contract expires.
If all program requirements are met, TIP provides
annual rental payments to the retiring farmer for up
to two additional years after the date of the
expiration of the CRP contract, provided the
transition is not a family member.
To learn more about the program, producers
interested in applying and participating in TIP
should visit their local USDA Service Center or FSA
Parish Office or www.fsa.usda.gov.
Theresa L. Mathews is the executive director of the
Lafayette Parish Farm Service Agency, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She can be
reached by calling 262-6601, ext. 2 or at 905
Jefferson St., Suite 300, Lafayette, LA 70501-5712.