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PureHarvest · March 17, 2016

Nice pics!

Do a search in your county to find out where the USDA FSA office is.
See if you are in their mapping system with a Farm and Tract number.
Ask them if they can add you if not. It is free to do.
Tell them you are a beginning farmer and what to get set up with them.
Once they add you, you are a farm in USDA NRCS's eyes.
Now you can apply for NRCS EQIP programs and get a high tunnel.
The beginning farmer rate here is 3.50 per sqft, with the cap on that around $7,300. That buys a pretty nice high tunnel.
There is paperwork and a lot of time that goes by to go through the process, but if you are not in a hurry, it's not too hard.
Basically, (in my area) apply by October this year, get paperwork submitted (only a few easy documents) by December, we rank applications for priority in March (beginning farmers rank higher. We rank because there are more applicants than money), sign a contract in April, then you have one year to begin construction. When you complete construction they pay you.

March 17, 2016	#54
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	Nice pics! Do a search in your county to find out where the USDA FSA office is. See if you are in their mapping system with a Farm and Tract number. Ask them if they can add you if not. It is free to do. Tell them you are a beginning farmer and what to get set up with them. Once they add you, you are a farm in USDA NRCS's eyes. Now you can apply for NRCS EQIP programs and get a high tunnel. The beginning farmer rate here is 3.50 per sqft, with the cap on that around $7,300. That buys a pretty nice high tunnel. There is paperwork and a lot of time that goes by to go through the process, but if you are not in a hurry, it's not too hard. Basically, (in my area) apply by October this year, get paperwork submitted (only a few easy documents) by December, we rank applications for priority in March (beginning farmers rank higher. We rank because there are more applicants than money), sign a contract in April, then you have one year to begin construction. When you complete construction they pay you.