Amanda Koehler has spent the past decade working to help young and first-time farmers gain access to land—the single biggest obstacle for people who aspire to grow crops or raise animals but can’t afford the soaring cost of acreage.

State officials across the country are looking to crack down on fraud and mistakes in the nation’s largest food assistance program, spurred by looming federal rules that will force states with high error rates to pay more.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Ohio State Director Charles Tassell announced recently nearly $1 million in grant funding for 12 projects through the agency’s Housing Preservation Grant (HPG) program.

The federal government will provide $12 billion to U.S. farmers who have been hurt by “unfair market disruption,” President Donald Trump said at a White House roundtable event this month.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last month that it will stop funding wind and solar energy on American farmland, a move that continues the Trump administration’s attempts to kill incentives for renewables while it boosts support for fossil fuels and land-hungry, energy inefficient biofuels.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to slash its presence in the Washington, D.C., area by sending employees to five regional hubs, Secretary Brooke Rollins said recently.

President Donald Trump’s administration will pursue a ban on Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland as part of an effort to strengthen farm security, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said last Tuesday.

Anna Pesek saw a federal program supporting local food purchases as much more than a boost to her Iowa pork and poultry farm.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, on National Agriculture Day, announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is issuing up to $10 billion directly to agricultural producers through the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) for the 2024 crop year. Administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), ECAP will help agricultural producers mitigate the impacts of increased input costs and falling commodity prices.

Wooly Pig Farm Brewery sits on a gentle rise above Highway 36 and the Tuscarawas River in Fresno, Ohio. It takes its name from the Mangalitsa pigs covered in coats of thick curly wool, that roam the pastures nearby. Kevin Ely and Jael Malenke are the husband-and-wife team that run the brewery — Ely handles the beer and Malenke manages the business. They met in Utah and moved back to the area in 2014 when a farmstead near Malenke’s childhood home went up for sale.

Farmers across the United States are finding themselves in precarious economic positions, as they attempt to navigate a strained farm economy and a barrage of executive orders from the Trump administration that put some farm programs in limbo.

In 2024, USDA awarded nearly $1 million in grant funding to four Ohio rural small businesses and agricultural producers through the Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program, which is designed to help generate new products, create and expand market opportunities, and increase overall producer income to grow local economies in rural areas.

Sarah Fullenkamp, County Executive Director of the Highland County Farm Service Agency, would like to remind drought-impacted livestock producers of the upcoming deadline of the 2024 Livestock Forage Program (LFP) and 2024 Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP).

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development in Ohio State Director Jonathan McCracken announced Monday nearly $1 million in grant funding for three projects through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). These grants help Ohio farmers and rural small businesses invest in renewable energy systems or make energy efficiency improvements to lower operating costs.

In 2024, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development awarded nearly $4.4 million in grant funding to five Ohio school districts through its Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant program.