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Next farm bill should address agricultural barriers, ABA says

A leader with the American Bankers Association says Congress needs to remove some barriers for producers in the next farm bill.

Ed Elfmann, senior vice president of agricultural and rural banking policy, says there are structural issues with beginning farmer and rancher programs. “Your family put the farm in a trust 30 years ago for tax purposes. Now you want to get a beginning farmer loan, but you have to ask every single person in that trust if you can get that loan. We need to fix that structure. We want to make it as easy as possible for folks to get into the business.”

He tells Brownfield FSA guaranteed loan programs need a boost. “They’re currently too small. I pick on my Iowans and Missourians a little bit, they’re all competing for who can have $30,000 land across the board. But with those rising costs and land, we need to have programs at USDA that reflect the rising costs of agriculture.”

Elfmann says Congress needs to get a new five-year farm bill finalized as soon as possible.

He spoke to Brownfield at the 2023 NAFB Convention in Kansas City.