USDA announced funding to help veterinarians repay loans

Apr 07, 2017

$4.2 million will be made available

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced it’s making $4.2 million available to help veterinarians pay down their educational loans.

In exchange, vets have to serve outside of urban centers for three years. These vets would work on farms and ranches to keep livestock and the nation’s food supply healthy.

"This assistance will help veterinarians return to rural America where they can provide needed services to our farmers and ranchers, and continue to keep our food supply secure from diseases of farm animals,” Sonny Ramaswamy, NIFA director, said in an April 6 release.

To be eligible for the payment assistance, veterinarians must meet certain criteria, including:

Have a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, or the equivalent from a college of veterinary medicine accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association, by July 2, 2017,
Have a minimum qualifying education loan of $15,000,
Secure an offer of employment in a NIFA-designated veterinary shortage area, and
Not owe an obligation for veterinary service to the federal government, state or other entity.

The deadline to apply is May 26, 2017.

NIFA is also providing $2.4 million in funding to relieve the overall shortage of veterinarians across the United States.

The deadline for those applications is May 19, 2017.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.