CoBank, the Farm Credit System’s sole authorized lender to utility and agricultural cooperatives, has ranged further afield in lending to investor-owned utilities and energy companies, and taking on more credit risk in doing so.
The House Agriculture Committee yesterday passed a reauthorization bill for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. ABA successfully advocated for the inclusion of an amendment that would provide an exemption for derivatives clearing for small bank holding companies.
Steve Apodaca today joined ABA as SVP and head of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Banking.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) on Friday wrote to the Government Accountability Office to request an audit and study of the Farm Credit System’s impact “on taxpayers, the agriculture community and the private banking industry.”
Curt Everson explains how South Dakota’s bankers are changing the conversation on the Farm Credit System’s unfair advantages.
ReformFarmCredit.org today posted a new infographic, “Betting the Farm,” that illustrates how the Farm Credit System has lost its way, providing credit for big non-farm businesses at the expense of small farmers and American taxpayers.
The Farm Credit System’s moves to lend far beyond the farm pose risks to taxpayers, ABA President and CEO Frank Keating said in an op-ed today in the Grand Forks, N.D., Herald. He noted FCS lenders’ financing for telecommunications mega-deals and luxury estates for the wealthy — even as the FCS enjoys federal tax subsidies
ABA President and CEO Frank Keating discussed regulatory burden and reforming the Farm Credit System in several local North Dakota and South Dakota radio interviews this week.