I am definitely interested in this myself, I have a small farm (at least I call it a farm at 6 acres) and in Missouri myself. I am working to get going on doing organic gardening on it with around 60 fruit trees so far and several vegetable gardens. I purchased a greenhouse from Harbor Freight and didn't support it to withstand wind, one day was quite windy and pretty much destroyed it which I am working to repair.
But I plan on looking into this. I don't like the idea of government involvement in what I am doing but like you were saying what can be bad about registering another organic farm? I sort of need to be registered for tax purposes anyway being a good part of my income goes back into it. As long as the gubbermint doesn't start dictating how I do things I have no issues with it.
The Ag business here in MO is sort of a sacred cow and is well protected. I don't mind the protections but I don't like mandates.
Update: I went in to the local USDA office and talked with the guy in charge of EQIP just to see what it would amount to and what steps I need to take. He of course told me the first thing was to register the property as a farm which I did a few hours later because I didn't have my deed with me. They were quite helpful there actually giving me info on different things because I am raising fruits and vegetables. Just different loans and insurance that I could get because of this type of farming when I go into doing it commercially. I am still getting started but that is my ultimate plan. Once I get all the paperwork done I should be on my way because of the info you gave here was quite helpful. I wasn't planning on getting the government involved in any way but if they are handing out money for something without obligating me to anything other than to keep track for 4 years I can't hardly say no to that. Also with my putting a large chunk of my income into what I am doing while deducting it off my taxes then I need to be legit as possible so that there are no questions as to what I am doing here.
Thanks again for you info, extremely helpful!
awesome!! don't know how i missed this days ago, but very happy to read of your great experience! yeah, we don't feel the gubberment threat is very high as far as this is concerned... it's a low risk involvement-- it's all about those local relationships, then you're talking with people, not "ideas"! best to you! cool!