Capital is critical when it comes to maintaining the viability of America’s agriculture and farmers across the nation depend on direct loans from the Agriculture Department to fund and boost their business operations.
To support producers in identifying the Agriculture loans that best meet their specific needs, the agency launched a new Farm Loan Discovery Tool through farmers.gov Wednesday.
“From a personal standpoint, obtaining a loan for a lot of folks can be intimidating and the process is possibly borderline confusing,” Farm Service Agency Administrator Richard Fordyce told Nextgov. “So this intuitive new tool helps answer questions and makes our potential borrowers more comfortable and more prepared.”
A fourth-generation farmer, Fordyce has faced the challenges producers experience in funding their efforts firsthand. He explained that though it can be a convoluted process to apply, the 2018 farm bill increased fiscal limits on several of Agriculture’s loan products. Compared to this time last year, Fordyce’s agency has seen an 18% increase in the amount that is obligated for direct farm ownership loans, meaning farmers could see more funding available in the future.
The agency hopes this new tool will leverage technology to make the entire loan application and approval process less daunting for its customers.
The tool can be accessed through the agency’s farmers.gov site, the department’s go-to online resource for farmers and ranchers across America. Chad Sheridan, chief of USDA's Service Delivery and Operations, and instrumental in the development and rollout of farmers.gov, said the whole journey to offer a farm loan tool on the site started with the idea that farm loans should be as accessible as co ..
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