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For Immediate Release
January 3, 2003
White: State Includes Farmers in
Small Business Loan Program
Harrisburg
– A state program that provides low-interest loans to small businesses will now
be available to farmers, state Sen. Mary Jo White (R-21) said today.
White said
the Small Business First Loan Program, previously available only to other types
of entrepreneurs, will begin lending capital to eligible farmers in 2003 to
purchase equipment, technology, land and buildings.
"Farming is
more than a Pennsylvania tradition, it's a driving economic force, and it's
time that farmers receive the kind of capital support available to other
businesses," said White.
Loans will
be available to farm enterprises with 100 or fewer full-time employees. Unlike other businesses participating in the
program, farms will not have to create new jobs as a condition for receiving a
loan.
To qualify
as an agricultural operation under the program, a farm must be involved in the
management and production of a farm commodity, including but not limited to
poultry, livestock, crops, timber, horticultural crops such as flowers or
shrubs, or aquaculture.
White said
eligible farm enterprises must also include at least 10 contiguous acres or
have an anticipated yearly gross income of at least $10,000.
For more
information or to receive a loan application, farmers should contact the Small
Business Financing Division at the Pennsylvania Department of Community and
Economic Development at (717) 783-5046.
Information is also available by contacting the state Department of
Agriculture at (717) 787-6041 or through the PA PowerPort website at
www.state.pa.us, PA Keyword:
"agriculture."
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