AUSTIN (March 15, 2010)--Texas has joined a federal effort funded by fees from the sale of farm license plates offer low-interest loans to beginning farmers.

The Young Farmer Grant program is designed to help farmers from ages 18 to 46 start or expand their agricultural businesses

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples issued the first grants from the program last month.

A total of $100,000 in matching grants went to 13 young farmers who put up $10,000 of their own money.

Staples said the program aims to encourage more young people to take up farming at a time when more than 80 percent of the state's farmers are older than age 45.

The Farm Service Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has managed similar loan program at the federal level since 1992.