In late June, the Senate Agriculture Committee released its own discussion draft for an updated Farm Bill, the Agricultural Act of 2026. The House passed the Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026 in April. Next step is for the Senate to mark up its draft, currently scheduled for morning of Aug. 6.
The most recent Farm Bill, the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, initially expired in 2023 and has been extended multiple times following stalled negotiations in Congress. The law is currently extended through Sept. 30.
From the perspective of the American Bankers Association’s agriculture and rural policy team, the Senate Farm Bill is an improvement for agriculture banks.
“We are pleased to see that the Senate version of the Farm Bill contains substantially all of the major priorities that the ABA Agricultural & Rural Banking Committee has been advocating for,” said David White, chair of ABA’s ag committee and senior commercial relationship manager, Commodities and Correspondent Banking at Intrust Bank. “In particular, FSA modernization and the increases to the FSA guaranteed loan limits will be significant enhancements to provide ag bankers additional tools to help our customers during some tough economic times.”
USDA Farm Service Agency Guaranteed Loan Program increases have been included, and the Senate Agriculture Committee included eligibility changes to Farm Service Agency Guaranteed Programs, for which ABA has advocated.
Also noteworthy, the Senate removed multiple Farm Credit System provisions from the House Farm Bill that ABA did not support, including making the Farm Credit Administration the sole regulator of the Farm Credit System and having Farm Credit Institutions on 24-month examination cycles rather than 18-month examination cycles.
Among the highlights in the Senate’s Farm Bill version are increases to the FSA Guaranteed Farm Ownership Loan Program limits to $3.5 million and increases to the FSA Guaranteed Farm Operating Loan Program to $3 million. The Senate version also increases the FSA Direct Farm Ownership Program loan limit amounts to $850,000 and FSA Direct Farm Operating Loan Programs to $750,000.
The Precision Agriculture Guaranteed Loan Program creates a guaranteed loan program for precision agriculture purchases. FSA Loan Eligibility lowers the required active farm ownership stake from 75% to at least 50%. The Senate’s version creates a five-year pilot program that allows pre-approval for the Farm Ownership Loan Program. This will allow farmers and ranchers to obtain pre-approval when buying land, helping new and young farmers compete in fast-paced real estate markets
Another Farm Bill addition expands eligibility for the definition of a “qualified beginning farmer or rancher” by removing the “blood relation” requirement, which historically restricted entities from qualifying for beginning farmer and rancher status unless all members were related by blood or marriage. Removing this rule expands eligibility for business structures, joint operations, cooperatives and limited liability companies
Under the updated bill, there are increases to the caps in state agricultural mediation from $500,000 to $700,000 per year and an appropriations limit of $10 million. The Senate Agriculture Committee’s draft Farm Bill also establishes the USDA Express Loan Program to help family farmers and ranchers access credit efficiently. This streamlined program requires the USDA to quickly process guaranteed loans for up to $1 million, reducing red tape for producers. The Senate’s Farm Bill version also allows commercial fishing to use USDA FSA Guaranteed Loan Programs.
While the base text of the package reflects many ABA priorities, we continue to work to prevent that adoption of problematic amendments that might materialize, including a potential amendment that would expand Farm Credit System rural home loan eligibility by raising the population limit from 2,500 to 10,000.
