Welcome to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Small Farms@USDA web site! This web site is intended to be a one-stop gateway to resources, benefits and services offered by USDA for small farmers. In addition, this site includes a section which provides visitors with a link to the USDA Progress Reports and Small Farms Database developed by the Department in response to the recommendations submitted in the USDA National Commission on Small Farms report, A Time To Act.

The First USDA Small Farms Report, Meeting the Challenge of a Time To Act: USDA Progress and Achievements on Small Farms provides highlights of the progress and achievements made by the Department between January 1998 and December 1999 in assisting small farmers. The Second USDA Small Farms Report, Assisting America's Small Farmers and Ranchers in the 21st Century, which was published in February 2003, chronicles USDA's continuing efforts to respond to the USDA Commission on Small Farms report, A Time to Act. The report also moves beyond the Commission's recommendations with several new initiatives launched by the Department to assist small farmers and ranchers.

The USDA Small Farms Database provides visitors with detailed action plans developed by USDA in response to each recommendation submitted in A Time to Act. The database is indexed in three different formats based on the 8 policy goals and 146 recommendations inlcuded in the Commission's report--i.e., by Policy Goal, Subject Category, and the USDA Mission Area responsible for responding to the each recommendation.

Future Updates 

This web site will be updated periodically to reflect the latest steps taken by the Department to assist small farmers.  

Please note that many of the Commission's recommendations have already been implemented while others either have been partially adopted or are unable to be implemented due to budget constraints or failure to obtain legislative authority to do so.  

If you have any questions or comments about a specific action plan listed in the database, please contact the designated Small Farms Coordinator listed next to that particular recommendation and action plan.  For general comments about this web site, you may e-mail us at: sfp@reeusda.gov.  Thank you for visiting our site.   

Future Updates 

This web site will be updated periodically to reflect the latest steps taken by the Department to assist small farmers.  

Please note that many of the Commission's recommendations have already been implemented while others either have been partially adopted or are unable to be implemented due to budget constraints or failure to obtain legislative authority to do so.  

If you have any questions or comments about a specific action plan listed in the database, please contact the designated Small Farms Coordinator listed next to that particular recommendation and action plan.  For general comments about this web site, you may e-mail us at: sfp@reeusda.gov.  Thank you for visiting our site.