The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Small Farm Program has become a vendor to provide Borrower Training, a business education course required for many new or beginning Farm Service Agency (FSA) borrowers. The course is also for farmers receiving a second year loan or other FSA loans.
The first Borrower Training course will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 7-8, at the UAPB S.J. Parker Agricultural Research Center Conference Room.
Producers will undergo 12 hours of farm business training and six hours of production, crop or livestock training, according to a news release.
Producers will have required homework and be tested. They will receive a score of 1 to 3. A score of 1 or 2 is needed to pass the course. The score will be sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture FSA state office and to the borrower’s local FSA loan officer.
“Most producers needing to take the course have two years from receipt of their first FSA loan to complete the Borrower Training,” said Henry English, director of the UAPB Small Farm Program.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The cost for the training is $300 per person. Funds will go to a UAPB Small Farm Program Borrower Training Fund. Fees will be collected on the first day of the course. Only a cashier’s check or money order, made payable to UAPB Small Farm Program, will be accepted.
The S. J. Parker Agricultural Research Center is located at 2101 Oliver Road in Pine Bluff, off University Drive. Those interested in taking the course should contact the Small Farm Program at 870-575-7226 or 7246.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff offers all of its Extension and Research programs and services without discrimination.