The Farm Service Agency is offering loans for farm operations and for farm ownership to women and members of minority groups who want to buy or run a family farm.

Last year the agency provided $5.1 million in direct and guaranteed loans to 49 applicants who qualified as being “socially disadvantaged,” a description assigned to people who have been “subjected to racial, ethnic or gender inequality without regard to their individual qualities,” said Stacy Kull, farm loan manager for the agency in Douglas and several other area counties.

Applicants may include women, blacks, American Indians, Hispanics, Asian and Pacific Islanders and Alaskan Natives, Kull said.

For more information, contact the agency’s Lawrence office at 843-4260.