Fences are designed to do one of two things: keep things in or keep things out. On a farm, fences may be used to control livestock and wildlife for protection. Fences may also be used to create separate grazing areas where the farm owner can control the movements of his livestock. This can help to conserve water and stimulate the growth of grass to make the farm more profitable.

Beginning Farmers and Ranchers

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a number of resources available to assist beginning farmers and ranchers. To help feed this country, new generations of producers are receiving grants and financial assistance to buy farms, build fences and receive technical assistance to implement conservation practices.

Conservation Issues

The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has a number of programs to help individual farmers and ranchers to conserve natural resources such as soil or water. One program, Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) will provide grants and technical assistance to help farmers "improve their conservation performance by installing and adopting additional activities, and improving, maintaining, and managing existing activities on agricultural land." The CSP program will provide grants to build fences around the farm to implement the conservation activities. To apply for this program, contact your local NRCS office.

Wildlife Issues

The USDA NRCS offers a program to share costs for improvements to wildlife habitats. The Wildlife Improvement Incentives Program will provide technical assistance and provide funds to build fences if the fences will improve habitat for wildlife. Consider applying for this grant to protect an area of your farm that is ideal as a natural wildlife habitat.

Urban Interface Assistance

A farm that is near an urban development, such as a city or suburb, can find itself in danger of being bought out or overrun by the expanding population from the city. Farmland can be targeted by developers and even be threatened by eminent domain issues. If the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, farmers can be forced to sell out their property. The USDA NRCS Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQUP) and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) may be able to assist farmers who farmland is threatened by urban sprawl and eminent domain issues. These programs can help to build fences around the farm to establish the farm's boundaries in relationship to neighboring properties and further funding may be leveraged to improve the farming capacity while saving natural resources such as soil and water.