Monday, October 03, 2011

University of Wyoming receives $671K USDA grant for beginning ranchers

It used to be ranches were handed down in families. Ranching was a culture into which a person was born. Today, ranching and other agricultural professions are declining. To help foster a new generation of ranchers, the United States Department of Agriculture awarded the University of Wyoming a $670,890 grant for ranch management practicum courses. The grant was one of 36 totaling $18 million the USDA announced Friday for organizations planning or offering training and assistance programs for beginning farmers and ranchers. The USDA awarded the grants through its Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program established in the 2008 farm bill. The grant will help expand the program, allowing the university to offer four new courses, as well as scholarships to help offset the $600 cost, Mount said. The program also will add ranching mentors for students. The program offers a venue for those interested in agriculture who don’t come from a family ranch or farm to learn the business. Aging ranchers is one of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association’s biggest concerns, said Jim Magagna, executive vice president. The average age of ranchers in Wyoming is between 56 and 57 years old, he said. Ranch land is being divided or sold to people from out of state who want it for the aesthetic value and not to use it as a working ranch, Magagna said. “We consider it one of the most critical issues, to get young people on to these ranches,” he said...more

And this article points out that 25% of the $18 million is set aside for "socially disadvantaged" farmers and ranchers.  In other words, instead of E-I-E-I-O, its EEO-EEO.

Sure, just run down to your local "practicum" and then start ranching!

Look around you folks. Ranches are being regulated and taxed out of business.

Get off the producers backs so they can turn a profit and then you will see younger people entering, staying in or even expanding the business.

Quit wasting money on these grants to universities and nonprofits and instead clear cut the regulatory jungle and remove the death tax so these ranches can be passed down to the next generation.

And shame on industry for supporting this boondoggle.

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