I don't know what regulations the bankers feel handcuffed by, but these apple growers in Washington feel $1.1 million is too small. That seems to be the cap on the FSA loan program (presumably the one for beginning farmers, though that's not clear).
I saw elsewhere that farmland prices in the Midwest were pushing towards $7K per acre. That would mean about a quarter section, which probably is a smallish orchard. Of course, if it's bare ground, you've got to allow for planting trees and bringing them to production, and hopefully you aren't growing Red Delicious but some up and coming variety. (I've found Jazz to be good; I usually eat Fujis but in late summer the Fujis we get have lost something (imported maybe from New Zealand or somewhere).)
I suspect I'll confirm the thoughts of the food movement but I suspect the FSA beginning farmer program was mostly geared to growers of field crops or dairy. It's been around a while so it would be hard to prove. Anyhow raising the cap is hard. Even if you get past the opponents of any such farm program, you face the reality the bigger the loan you can make, the fewer the loans. So is it better to lend money to a bunch of people who want to flee their city job and set up a small farm in the country, supporting themselves by free-lancing or other such work or to one hard-working immigrant farmer who plans to farm full-time?
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