A listening session hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Thursday afternoon will open a dialog for beginning farmers and ranchers to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic affected their operations. The session’s outcome will be ideas and input from those farmers and ranchers to contribute to the effectiveness of future USDA policy in supporting the beginning segment of the industry, especially given its importance to the future of agriculture in general. Officials say they hope to learn both what has and what hasn’t worked from a policy standpoint during the listening session, as well as how beginning farmers and ranchers have modified their operations to overcome the challenges of the pandemic in the last 15 months. See more and find out how to participate in the listening session.