Women and minority farmers interested in buying and operating family-sized farms can apply for loans from the Farm Service Agency.

“Each year, the Farm Service Agency reserves a portion of its farm loan funding specifically for socially disadvantaged applicants,” Virginia Farm Service Agency State Executive Director J. Calvin Parrish said in a statement.

A socially disadvantaged applicant is a member of a group subjected to racial, ethnic or gender prejudice without regard to individual qualities, the statement said.

Such groups recognized in the program are women, blacks, American Indians, Alaskan natives, Hispanics, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

The loan eligibility requirements for women and minorities are the same as for other borrowers, according to local agency Farm Loan Chief Cleveland W. Adamson

Applicants must be primarily and directly engaged in farming and ranching on family-size operations, he said in a statement.

Applicants must also:

• Have a satisfactory credit history.
• Have sufficient education, experience and/or training indicating managerial ability for reasonable prospects of success.
• Be a U.S. citizen or legal resident alien.
• Be unable to obtain credit elsewhere at reasonable rates and terms.
• Possess legal capacity to incur loan obligations.

Contact the Farm Service Agency at 804-287-1580 or visit www.fsa.usda.gov.