Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins issued a suite of proposals intended to support small family farms across rural America. John Walt Boatright, director of government affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said this is a critical time to support all of agriculture, but particularly small farmers.

"We all know the farm economy is not doing quite well at the moment, but especially so for small family farms," Boatright said. "The proposal notes about 86 percent of America's farmers are small farmers, and they really wanted a chance to tout some policy proposals and ideas that would specifically help these small farmers get through these tough times, and we were excited to see it happen."

He said small farms are a vital building block of American agriculture.

"Without them, we cannot collectively be as sustainable as we are, be as productive as we are, and be as competitive as we are throughout the world," Boatright said. "So that's, I think, a critical recognition by USDA, and the fact that they are planning to prioritize policy solutions to help small farmers, it's a helpful step forward."

Boatright said Farm Bureau made several recommendations to USDA related to small farms ahead of the announcement.

"We raised issues ranging from efficiencies with local FSA and NRCS offices to expanded and enhanced risk management options for these small farming operations to addressing bigger, larger issues, such as burdensome and complex regulations that small farmers just simply aren't equipped to wrap their arms around," Boatright said.

To read the letter AFBF sent to USDA, visit fb.org/news.