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A new study shows health disparities cost Texas billions of dollars; Senate rejects impeachment articles against Mayorkas, ending trial against Cabinet secretary; Iowa cuts historical rural school groups.

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The Senate dismisses the Mayorkas impeachment. Maryland Lawmakers fail to increase voting access. Texas Democrats call for better Black maternal health. And polling confirms strong support for access to reproductive care, including abortion.

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Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

MT Beginning Farmers Get Helping Hand in Acquiring Land

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Monday, January 30, 2012   

HELENA, Mont. - Money and land are usually listed as the top obstacles for beginning farmers and ranchers in Montana, and now there's a new program through the U.S. Farm Service Agency designed to help find a way around those barriers.

Traci Bruckner, assistant director of the rural policy program with the Center for Rural Affairs, says the Land Contract Guarantee program provides a safety net that benefits both the seller and the buyer for 10 years.

"The government will guarantee that land sale, to give them a little bit of an incentive to work with a beginner or socially-disadvantaged farmer or rancher."

Bruckner says the paperwork is minimal, and the Center for Rural Affairs is offering free assistance.

The buyer must be a beginning or socially-disadvantaged farmer or rancher with a good credit history, but unable to obtain credit elsewhere. Bruckner says that's a common situation.

"Oftentimes, beginning farmers have a hard time getting capital from a traditional bank and so, if they can find someone to work with, who'll think about how to help the next generation, rather than working with the top bidder, it can help."

The seller carries the contract, rather than a bank, and there are two types of guarantees: a prompt payment guarantee, or an asset guarantee that covers 90 percent of the outstanding principle balance. Buyers have to put at least five percent down, and there are limits on the total amount of the sale.


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