The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced funding under the new Farm Bill to train and educate the next generation of farmers and ranchers. The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, or B-F-R-D-P, will help a new generation get into agriculture. Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden says the USDA will help train and educate new farmers and ranchers with $100 million from the new Farm Bill.

“The average age of our farmers is 58 years old. So, we need the bench,” Harden says. “We need to get folks coming into agriculture who either grew up on a farm or are thinking about coming back, but also folks who don’t know much about agriculture, but who have that drive, that passion, who want to get into farming or ranching.” Part of BFRDP’s funding will help limited-resource and socially disadvantaged beginning farmers and ranchers and military veterans get started.

“We’re targeting these groups of folks to give them the very special tools they may need, the uniqueness of their questions or concerns that they may have and getting into agriculture, so it’s really a target of funds to these areas,” Harden says. Earlier this year, the USDA reported there were 88,631 farms in Iowa in 2012. That represented a 6.6 percent drop from 2007. Iowa still ranks third among the states in the total number of farms – behind only Texas and Missouri. The average age for an Iowa farmer is about 63.

(Radio Iowa)