After years of falling farm income and an intensifying U.S.-China trade war — JPMorgan and other Wall Street banks are heading for the exits, according to a Reuters analysis of the farm-loan holdings they reported to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). Total U.S. farm debt is on track to rise to $427 billion this year, up from an inflation-adjusted $317 billion a decade earlier and approaching levels seen in the 1980s farm crisis, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agricultural loan portfolios of the nation’s top 30 banks fell by $3.9 billion, to $18.3 billion, between their peak in December 2015 and March 2019, the Reuters analysis showed, a 17.5 percent decline. The retreat from agricultural lending by the nation’s biggest banks, which has not been previously reported, comes as shrinking cash flow is pushing some farmers to retire early and others to declare bankruptcy, according to farm economists, legal experts, and a review of hundreds of lawsuits filed in federal and state courts. Read more.
The “Family Farmer Relief Act of 2019,” supported by ABI, is scheduled to be considered today at a House Judiciary Committee mark-up. Sponsors of the Family Farmer Relief Act, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-N.Y.), are circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter in both chambers urging support for the legislation. Click here to view the letter.
