The mission of the Farm Service Agency is to help ensure the well-being of American agriculture. In Kansas, this mission is being fulfilled through the administration of a multitude of programs and direct benefits that serve the state?s farmers and ranchers.
FSA farm loan programs are an important source of credit to family farmers unable to obtain credit from conventional sources at reasonable rates and terms. Kansas FSA county offices approved 1,288 farm operating, ownership and emergency-type loans for a total disbursement of more than $147 million.
Farm programs are designed to improve the economic stability and viability of the agriculture sector and to help ensure the production of an adequate and reasonably priced supply of food and fiber for American citizens.
Kansas farmers and ranchers received nearly $548 million in program benefits in fiscal year 2009, representing a period from Oct. 1, 2008, through Sept. 30, 2009. Around 85 percent of these payments were from Direct and Counter-cyclical, Conservation Reserve, Loan Deficiency and commodity CCC loan programs.
Other programs that Kansas producers received benefits or payments from included crop-disaster assistance, emergency conservation assistance, noninsured crop-disaster assistance, farm storage-facility loans and milk income loss contracts.
Marion County FSA issued a total of $5.8 million in USDA payments during fiscal year 2009. These benefits were disbursed among more than 1,900 program eligible farms.
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Bill Harmon is executive director of the Marion County FSA office.
