Federal Funds Become Available for Cold Storage Loans

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that its Farm Storage Facility Loan Program will now finance low-interest loans for farmers, to pay for the construction of cold storage facilities. The cold storage facilities must be used by farmers to store fresh fruit and vegetables. The cold storage loans are part of the USDA’s “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” program, a program promoted by the Obama administration to encourage Americans to eat food that has been grown locally. The money to finance the loans was authorized by Congress’ 2008 Farm Bill.

Although the statement released by the Department of Agriculture does not mention self storage, it does not specifically rule out the possibility that self storage facilities could be used to store the nation’s locally grown food. Facilities that apply for federal loans must, however, demonstrate a need for the storage provided by the facility, based on the average production from a particular acreage over three years and the borrower’s share of the production. It is probable that self storage facilities, if they were to apply, would have to enter a business relationship with a farmer whose acreage is in need of storage, and document that relationship for the USDA. However, self storage facilities seem like a natural choice for seasonal food storage, since they offer short term storage at reasonable prices, and can provide refrigerated and/or climate-controlled units. [More]