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With Lack of Help from FCS, Farmers Creating Their Own Solutions
Farming’s a tough job, and few people would deny that. And because it’s tough, fewer younger people are becoming farmers and producers. That’s why the Farm Credit System (FCS) has a mandate to lend to young, beginning and small farmers. Short of automating most farms, American agriculture needs young people to become farmers to continue its proud tradition of feeding the country and the world.
American Banker: Farm Credit System makes a consumer push, and bankers push back
A new consumer-focused program with ties to the Farm Credit System is drawing bankers’ ire.
Rural 1st, a program from Farm Credit Mid-America, will make make loans tied to lots, recreational land and construction, along with mortgages and home equity lines, to borrowers in rural markets across Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Farm Credit Fails YBS Farmers in 2017
Farming’s tough. Any farmer, rancher or producer will tell you that it’s hard to make a living off of agriculture, and that’s especially true for young, beginning and small farmers. Because of this, Congress requires the Farm Credit System (FCS) to make loans to young, beginning and small farmers and to report their lending data annually. This is all to ensure that those farmers have access to the credit they need, and that American agriculture will continue to thrive in the future.
No CoBank Oversight Leaves Co-Op Devastated
The Farm Credit System (FCS), a $333 billion giant in agricultural lending, plays by different rules. Unlike rural community banks and other financial institutions, which answer to an alphabet soup of agencies, Farm Credit institutions answer primarily to the Farm Credit Administration (FCA). The FCA doesn’t do much by way of enforcement, leaving Farm Credit associations across the country to mostly regulate themselves. But shady activity is happening under the noses of Farm Credit institutions all across the country. Continue Reading
REGULATORY CALENDAR – PART I: Does FCS Really Face “Regulatory Burden?”
The Farm Credit System (FCS) is a massive, nearly $330 billion institution that would be the seventh largest bank in the country, if it had the same stringent regulation that other financial institutions have. It doesn’t – instead, it is regulated by the Farm Credit Administration (FCA), which routinely fails to crack down on some of the FCS’s worst offenses.
Is FCA Finally on the Right Track with Oversight?
On October 2, the Farm Credit Administration (FCA), the Farm Credit System’s regulator (FCS), publicly posted a memorandum outlining its National Oversight Program (NOP).
REGULATORY CALENDAR – PART II: How Will the FCA Help Farmers with Non-accrual Loans?
Reform Farm Credit has already taken a look at the FCA’s proposed regulation on reducing regulatory burden. Among other regulations the FCA is rolling out this year is one on new “criteria for reinstating non-accrual loans”
REGULATORY CALENDAR- PART III: Will the FCA Farm Credit’s Appraiser Problem?
The Farm Credit Administration (FCA), the regulator of the Farm Credit System (FCS), has announced that it will be rolling out new regulations through 2019 to address pressing issues, including reducing regulatory burden and instituting new criteria for restoring problem loans. Among these many proposed regulations is one on appraisals.
Capital Farm Credit Showcases Farm Credit Merger Problem
The Farm Credit System (FCS) is supposed to serve the entire country through its local associations, which are supposed to make sure that farmers, ranchers and producers have access to credit from a local source. That local source – the association – can best serve the needs of its clients because it’s close by; it understands the local economic pressures, the community and can keep an eye on things.