Farm Credit Loaned Nearly $13 Billion Last Year To New Growers And Ranchers
June 16, 2016 Farm Credit made nearly 80,000 new loans to beginning farmers and ranchers in 2015 totaling nearly $13 billion.
The number of loans made to beginning producers increased by 12.2% – more than 5,000 loans – over 2014.
More than one in five Farm Credit loans was made to beginning farmers in 2015, and, on average, every hour of every day last year, Farm Credit made well over $1 million in loans to beginning farmers and ranchers.
The Farm Credit Administration recently released the statistics on Farm Credit’s 2015 financing of beginning farmers and ranchers, which includes significant increases across multiple metrics: the number of beginning farmers served, the number of new loans, the average size of loans, and the total amount of financing provided to this important agricultural sector.
“We are pleased to see the improvement in loans made to young, beginning, and small farmers in 2015,” Farm Credit Administration Board Chair Kenneth A. Spearman said.
Each year, Farm Credit lenders specifically report their loan activities in support of beginning farmers and those results are reviewed by the Farm Credit Administration, the federal regulator that oversees Farm Credit activity, and reported to Congress.
“These results represent a considerable increase in Farm Credit lending to beginning farmers and demonstrate our continued commitment to fulfilling our mission, which has always been to provide stable access to credit for all of agriculture,” the President and CEO of the Farm Credit Council, Todd Van Hoose, said. “Beginning farmers and ranchers have always been an important part of Farm Credit’s mission and we make specific efforts to meet their unique financing needs.”
“As lower commodity prices put pressure on farmers, our commitment to all our customers will be especially critical as we continue to help them establish, maintain, and grow their businesses,” Van Hoose added. “This ongoing commitment builds on Farm Credit’s 100-year history of providing the essential credit rural communities and agriculture, including beginning farmers, need to thrive.”