In a joint letter with the Independent Community Bankers of America yesterday, ABA wrote to leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees thanking them for their efforts to craft the 2018 Farm Bill.

To access the full 2017 Farm Bank Performance report, click here. 

The nation’s farm banks increased agricultural lending by nearly 6 percent, or $5.9 billion, to $106 billion in 2017, according to the American Bankers Association’s annual Farm Bank Performance Report released today.

By Bert Ely As last month’s Farm Credit Watch reported, the major tax bill Congress enacted at the end of last year added a new section 199A to the Internal Revenue Code, one portion of which would greatly benefit agricultural cooperatives at the expense of investor-owned grain companies of all sizes — not only Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland but ...

A little after midnight this morning, the Senate voted to pass a $1.3 trillion spending bill that will fund the government through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today released the lists of rural counties and rural or underserved counties that entities can use in 2018 to determine whether they are exempt from certain regulatory requirements under the bureau’s Ability-to-Repay, escrow, HOEPA and appraisal rules.

With Midwestern grain and row crop commodities continuing to trade in lower-price bands, producers’ ability to manage price risk takes on growing importance.

Hopefully an unintended consequence of the major tax legislation enacted in December will be the triggering of a fundamental review of the taxation of the FCS and agricultural co-ops relative to banks and other investor-owned businesses.

The latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast tackles the shortage of qualified appraisers -- especially in rural areas, where lenders are seeing delays of several months in getting appraisals for commercial real estate and agricultural transactions.

One unintended effect of the wide-ranging tax legislation Congress enacted last month was a slight reduction in the competitive edge the FCS has long had for loans secured by real estate.