The Farm Bill is a large piece of legislation that, every five years, updates the federal government’s agricultural policy. And this year, the House and the Senate are working on their own versions of the Farm Bill, keeping good policy, getting rid of bad policy, and making improvements along the way.
The Farm Credit System (FCS) is renowned for its mission creep and lending outside the bounds of the law. One only needs to look at its loans to huge telecoms, technology real estate investment trusts (REITs) and customers looking to buy luxury houses. It’s pretty clear that Farm Credit is way out of bounds.
But is it also out of date too? Continue Reading
Compeer Financial – if you heard that name, would you think of a local Farm Credit association helping local young, beginning and small farmers and ranchers?
It may come as a surprise, but Compeer Financial is a Farm Credit System (FCS) association. And this $20 billion behemoth is posting record profits. Continue Reading
It’s too often that the Farm Credit System (FCS) and its constituent banks and associations get away with skirting the law either by taking deposits, lending to bail out foreign companies or lending to companies building “server farms.” The list could go on and on.
Every five years the federal government reviews its national agricultural policy and updates it through a piece of legislation called the Farm Bill. Continue Reading
Leave it to the Farm Credit System (FCS) and its defenders to make the same mistake over again – and now the deferral of principal payments is back. Continue Reading
In the 1980s the Farm Credit System (FCS) needed a taxpayer-funded rescue of $4 billion. Lawmakers saw that the FCS couldn’t continue Continue Reading
Every five years, Congress makes sure that agricultural policy stays fresh by developing a piece of legislation called the Farm Bill. Continue Reading
Before and after its bailout in the 1980s, the Farm Credit System’s (FCS) M.O. has been to expand its activities beyond what Congress has authorized. Most of the time, that’s meant lending for unauthorized purposes – loans to huge telecoms, technology real estate investment trusts (REITs) and customers looking to buy luxury houses.
But the FCS is constantly overstepping its bounds to make a profit. And one way it’s doing that is by taking deposits.
The details are everything. One gritty detail, often overlooked, is that Farm Credit is allowed to have in-house appraisers Continue Reading