I got a beginning farmer loan this year for operating expenses and I bought a tractor as well. While it was a bunch of paperwork, maybe they streamlined it a bit because I didnt have quite that much paper lol.

You got to spell out your lifes story and have all your financials in order, and like someone else said, it makes a difference who your officer is, my first one was a brand new guy and while he was pretty decent, I could tell he hasnt spent much time on a real farm, but mostly he was just double checking everything with the superiors. Now I have a very good one, shes the head of the office and has been doing it a very long time and understands how farming really works.

It also helps a bit if youve ever done anything with the FSA or Gov before, where youve been farming youre "in the system". I had a FSA loan back when I was in 4H to buy some cows and that helps speed things up as well.

I do know that to buy ground with the program, you cant buy it at an auction. But you can have someone else buy it at the auction and then you buy it from them. But it has to be a private sale because of the unpredictable nature of an auction. I only know that because thats how a neighbor had to do it to buy his place.