Legislation to expand access to affordable real estate credit in rural areas is needed if small farms seek to grow their businesses, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said today at the American Bankers Association Washington Summit.
Gallego is the lead Democrat co-sponsor in the Senate of the Access to Credit for our Rural Economy Act. Passage of the ACRE Act is one of ABA’s top policy priorities for 2025. In a Q&A with ABA Chief Policy Officer Naomi Camper, Gallego explained how his own background in running a family ranch in Mexico shaped his support for the bill.
“Mexican ranches and farms are very small, so not very productive,” said Gallego, whose family immigrated to the U.S. “And what ends up happening a lot of times is these small ranches and farms will eventually go belly up because they can’t expand. They don’t have the opportunity to borrow money. There’s nothing to borrow money against.”
Banks need to be as close to their customers as possible, Gallego said. He also noted that parts of rural Arizona are facing a housing crisis, driven in part by a lack of access to affordable credit. “So making sure that there is access to local capital and knowledge, I think, is the most important thing,” he said.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to state Sen. Gallego is a Democrat.
