Growing Forward program helps agriculture’s next generation

By Ty Higgins and Brianna Smith

For young, beginning, and emerging farmers, getting started in agriculture can be a challenge long before the first crop is planted or the first group of livestock is purchased.

Land costs remain high. Input costs are volatile. Margins are tight. For many young producers, the dream of farming comes with a long list of financial hurdles.

That is where Farm Credit Mid-America’s Growing Forward ® program is designed to help.

“Growing Forward was really born out of a need,” said Amy Weaver, senior financial officer with Farm Credit Mid-America in Eaton. “We needed a way to serve the unique needs of young and beginning farmers, and so we created Growing Forward to do that.”

Weaver has been with Farm Credit Mid-America for 28 years and said she has seen firsthand the difference the program can make.

“I know what it was like before we had the Growing Forward program,” she said.… Continue reading