Relief Provided To Distressed Farm Loan Borrowers

Jun 28, 2023

By Tom Block

In a move to aid distressed farm loan borrowers, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) allocates nearly $6 billion in funding to help producers avoid foreclosure and get back on their feet financially. This financial assistance replaces the provisions initially established by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The funds are available until the end of fiscal year 2031.

Approximately $3.1 billion has been appropriated to provide immediate relief to at-risk borrowers in the Farm Service Agency (FSA) farm loan programs. These funds will be used for payments and the cost of loans or loan modifications for distressed borrowers of direct or guaranteed loans administered by the FSA. Congress has also allocated $125 million for technical and other forms of assistance by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

As of May, the USDA has already commenced the distribution of nearly $1.5 billion to aid more than 20,000 distressed borrowers, incorporating both automatic and case-by-case assistance.

“Through the Inflation Reduction Act, Congress directed the USDA to deliver financial assistance to distressed farm loan borrowers as quickly as possible, and that is what we are delivering to help producers across the country stay on their land,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Our goal is to make sure we provide producers access to the tools they need to help get back to a financially viable path and ultimately succeed as thriving agricultural businesses.”

Borrowers who received these automatic payments include FSA direct loan borrowers whose interest exceeded principle owed on outstanding debts; borrowers who had a balance up to 60 days past due as of Sept. 30, 2022 and remained delinquent; and borrowers with a recent restructure between Feb. 28, 2020 through March 27, 2023, or who had accepted an offer to restructure on or before March 27, 2023, but had not yet closed that restructure.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.