A coalition of more than 600 agricultural banking and insurance organizations -- including ABA -- and other ag industry constituents signed onto a letter to members of the Senate urging them to oppose any harmful amendments in the 2018 Farm Bill that would increase the cost of, reduce or limit participation in, or harm private sector delivery of crop insurance.

By a narrow vote of 213 to 211, the House today passed the 2018 farm bill, a crucial step toward ensuring the well-being of the nation’s farmers and ranchers and the 2,000 farm banks that serve them.

Farmer Mac reported $372.1 million in net new business for the first quarter of 2018, bringing its outstanding business volume to $19.4 billion.

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 ...

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.