fsa

When Mike Sullivan met a 30-year-old beginning farmer, he never thought it would launch a relationship that would influence an entire African-American farming community in the Cane River region of Louisiana.

“Sometimes good things can come out of a not-so-good situation,” said Sullivan, farm loan manager in the Natchitoches Farm Service Agency (FSA).

That’s what happened the day Thomas Roque, Jr., walked into the Natchitoches FSA County Office. Roque was hoping to get a loan to purchase calves to raise and sell for profit on his family’s 800-acre farm, purchased by his great-great grandparents in 1916. But things didn’t work out as easily as he hoped.

Farm Service Agency (FSA) employees from communities across Montana met in the state capitol this month to participate in the first annual Geographic Information System (GIS) Day in Helena. More than 20 FSA employees joined dozens of other GIS professionals from private, state and federal government to learn more about GIS technology and real-world mapping applications that are making a difference in our society.

La Agencia de Servicio Agrícola (“Farm Service Agency” o FSA por sus siglas en inglés) del Departamento de Agricultura de Estados Unidos (“United States Department of Agriculture” o USDA),  la agencia gubernamental a cargo de la distribución equitativa de programas y servicios agrícolas para agricultores y ganaderos estadounidenses, recientemente lanzó una cuenta de Twitter en español. Esperamos que Twitter nos ayude a comunicarnos con los agricultores y ganaderos hispanos en una manera nueva. Desde ahora en adelante, vamos a "tweet" la última información sobre los programas y préstamos agrícolas y las designaciones de emergencia. También proporcionaremos a través de Twitter noticias sobre el proceso de reclamaciones para agricultores Hispanos y mujeres agricultoras.

"Estamos entusiasmados de poder ofrecer un espacio que llegue a los Hispanos que no hablan inglés", dijo el Administrador de la FSA Bruce Nelson. "A medida que la población de agricultores y ganaderos Hispanos continúa creciendo, tenemos que crecer con ellos y proporcionar recursos para ayudar a educar e informar a todos nuestros clientes."

USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA)—the agency responsible for equitably serving all farmers, ranchers, and agricultural partners in the United States with effective agricultural programs—recently launched a Spanish-language Twitter account. We hope it helps to reach Hispanic farmers and ranchers in a new way. We’ll “tweet” the latest information on farm programs, loan announcements and emergency designations. We’ll also issue updates via Twitter on the Hispanic and women farmers claims process.

“We are excited to offer a tool that reaches folks for whom English is not their first language,” said FSA Administrator Bruce Nelson. “As the population of Hispanic farmers and ranchers continues to grow, we need to grow with them and provide resources to help educate and inform all of our customers.”

As summer has faded into fall, this is another season when many Americans are struggling to make ends meet.  USDA programs already make a big difference in the lives of many Americans: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps over 45 million Americans put nutritious food on the table.  This summer, USDA employees went even further and helped fill the shelves of food banks and pantries around the country through the 3^rd Annual Feds Feed Families Food Drive. With generosity in their hearts and the mission of fighting hunger, USDA employees joined together nationwide and raised an impressive 1,791,393 pounds of food for donation!  That number breaks down further to a donation of about 15 pounds per employee.  Thank you to all USDA employees and partners who contributed to this remarkable donation. Your efforts reinforce the Department’s efforts to help people every day, every way.

USDA is making an effort to transform the workplace so that all customers are provided the opportunity for success and the numbers show the department is making progress.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced this week that it has significantly reduced the number of civil rights complaints in fiscal year 2010 to the lowest level in the agency's history, while increasing the number of loans and dollars obligated to programs dedicated to minority and women farmers for fiscal year 2011.

“The loan numbers reflect the significant progress we have made in the effort to equally serve all eligible applicants for FSA program support,” said FSA Administrator Bruce Nelson.

Last week, we welcomed Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan to Vermont as she toured farms to see recovery efforts after Tropical Storm Irene.

Our first stop was the Wheeler Farm, a 100 acre 50-cow grass based farm just north of Wilmington, one of the hardest hit communities in the state.  Visible water marks were higher than the historic flood of 1927 and hurricane of 1938.  The group welcomed Deputy Secretary Merrigan on the porch of the historic farmhouse, which had just escaped the flood waters by a few inches.  As we pulled onto the farm’s access road, a large grader and dump truck continued work to repair washed away segments.

A four-acre plot of land has saved one Kentucky county thousands of dollars while helping to feed hungry families.

The USDA Scottsbluff Service Center, local Agri-businesses and local producers delivered on September 2^nd,  more than 6,150 pounds of food to the Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraska (CAPWN) in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.  The food was collected through the “Feds Feed Families”.  CAPWN’s local programs provide a natural partnership for the “Feds Feed Families” campaign because they have an established avenue to distribute to people who are in need.

While Nebraska is known as the “Cornhusker State”, agricultural production in western Nebraska also includes dry edible beans and sugar beets.  Kelley Bean, New Alliance Bean and Grain, Stateline Bean Producers Cooperative, Trinidad Benham Corporation and individual producer Leo Hoehn combined to donate 5,700 pounds of navy, pinto and mixed dry edible beans.  Western Sugar, a grower owned cooperative, donated 160 pounds of granulated sugar.

When Phillip Mitchell heard about the effort, he brought in 15 dozen ears of locally grown, organic sweet corn from his one and one-half acre plot.  Phillip also participates in the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) available through the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Farm Service Agency (FSA) Administrator Bruce Nelson traveled to South Texas last week in the midst of the historic drought impacting most of Texas and the Southwest and adversely affecting thousands of agricultural producers. Nelson took the opportunity to visit with area farmers, ranchers and agribusiness representatives who are working hard to keep their operations going in the face of the natural disaster. He made a point to reassure everyone that Secretary Vilsack and the USDA are committed to helping affected producers.