I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1991
To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to modify
limitations on amounts of farm ownership loans and operating loans,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH10, 2025
Mr. F
INSTAD(for himself and Ms. CRAIG) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development
Act to modify limitations on amounts of farm ownership
loans and operating loans, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Producer and Agricul-4
tural Credit Enhancement Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON LOAN AMOUNTS. 6
(a) L
IMITATIONS ONAMOUNT OFFARMOWNERSHIP 7
L
OANS.—Section 305(a)(2) of the Consolidated Farm and 8
Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1925(a)(2)) is amended 9
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by striking ‘‘$600,000, or, in the case of a loan guaranteed 1
by the Secretary, $1,750,000 (increased, beginning with 2
fiscal year 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘$850,000, or, in the case 3
of a loan guaranteed by the Secretary, $3,500,000 (in-4
creased, beginning with fiscal year 2025’’. 5
(b) L
IMITATIONS ON AMOUNT OF OPERATING 6
L
OANS.—Section 313(a)(1) of the Consolidated Farm and 7
Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1943(a)(1)) is amended 8
by striking ‘‘$400,000, or, in the case of a loan guaranteed 9
by the Secretary, $1,750,000 (increased, beginning with 10
fiscal year 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘$750,000, or, in the case 11
of a loan guaranteed by the Secretary, $3,000,000 (in-12
creased, beginning with fiscal year 2025’’. 13
SEC. 3. INFLATION PERCENTAGE. 14
Section 305(c) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 15
Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1925(c)) is amended— 16
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘of the Prices 17
Paid By Farmers Index (as compiled by the Na-18
tional Agricultural Statistics Service of the Depart-19
ment of Agriculture) for the 12-month period ending 20
on July 31 of the immediately preceding fiscal year’’ 21
and inserting ‘‘of the per acre average United States 22
farm real estate value, the per acre average United 23
States cropland value, and the per acre average 24
United States pasture value for the preceding year 25
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(as published in the applicable Agricultural Land 1
Values report of the National Agricultural Statistics 2
Service of the Department of Agriculture), weighted 3
equally’’; and 4
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘of such index 5
(as so defined) for the 12-month period that imme-6
diately precedes the 12-month period described in 7
paragraph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘of the per acre aver-8
age United States farm real estate value, the per 9
acre average United States cropland value, and the 10
per acre average United States pasture value for the 11
year immediately preceding the year described in 12
paragraph (1) (as so published), weighted equally’’. 13
SEC. 4. DOWN PAYMENT LOAN PROGRAM. 14
Section 310E(b)(1) of the Consolidated Farm and 15
Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1935(b)(1)) is amend-16
ed— 17
(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 18
by striking ‘‘exceed 45 percent of the least’’ and in-19
serting ‘‘exceed, subject to section 305(a), 45 per-20
cent of the lesser’’; 21
(2) in subparagraph (A), by adding ‘‘or’’ after 22
the semicolon; 23
(3) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘; or’’ and 24
inserting a period; and 25
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(4) by striking subparagraph (C). 1
SEC. 5. LIMITATION ON MICROLOAN AMOUNTS. 2
Section 313(c)(2) of the Consolidated Farm and 3
Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1943(c)(2)) is amended 4
by striking ‘‘$50,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$100,000’’. 5
SEC. 6. REFINANCING OF GUARANTEED LOANS INTO DI-6
RECT LOANS. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 8
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agri-9
culture, acting through the Administrator of the Farm 10
Service Agency (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec-11
retary’’), shall promulgate regulations allowing certain 12
loans guaranteed by the Farm Service Agency to be refi-13
nanced into direct loans issued by the Farm Service Agen-14
cy, in accordance with this section. 15
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The regulations promulgated 17
under subsection (a) shall provide that a guaranteed 18
loan described in that subsection may be refinanced 19
into a direct loan described in that subsection only 20
if the Secretary determines that— 21
(A) the guaranteed loan is distressed; 22
(B) the borrower on that guaranteed loan 23
has attempted to work with the lender and has 24
been unsuccessful; 25
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(C) a reasonable chance for the success of 1
the operation financed by the guaranteed loan 2
exists; and 3
(D) all other criteria established by the 4
Secretary for purposes of this section to protect 5
taxpayer funds and the loan programs of the 6
Farm Service Agency have been satisfied. 7
(2) R
EASONABLE CHANCE OF SUCCESS .—For 8
purposes of paragraph (1)(C), the Secretary may de-9
termine that a reasonable chance for the success of 10
an operation exists if the Secretary determines 11
that— 12
(A) all relevant problems with the oper-13
ation financed by the guaranteed loan— 14
(i) have been identified; and 15
(ii) can be corrected; and 16
(B) on correction of those problems, the 17
operation can achieve, or be returned to, a 18
sound financial basis. 19
(c) N
OEFFECT ONSUBSIDIES.—In carrying out this 20
section, the Secretary shall ensure that the refinancing of 21
guaranteed loans into direct loans has no impact on the 22
subsidy rate of— 23
(1) loans guaranteed by the Farm Service 24
Agency; or 25
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(2) direct loans issued by the Farm Service 1
Agency. 2
(d) L
OANPROGRAMS.—In making direct loans pur-3
suant to the regulations promulgated under subsection 4
(a), the Secretary may refinance a loan guaranteed under 5
1 program of the Farm Service Agency into a direct loan 6
issued under another program of the Farm Service Agen-7
cy, as the Secretary determines to be appropriate and in 8
accordance with the laws applicable to the program under 9
which the new direct loan is issued. 10
(e) M
AXIMUMAMOUNT OF DIRECTREFINANCING 11
L
OANS.—A direct loan issued by the Farm Service Agency 12
pursuant to the regulations promulgated under subsection 13
(a) shall be subject to any otherwise applicable limitation 14
on the maximum amount of a direct loan issued by the 15
Farm Service Agency, including, if applicable, the limita-16
tions described in— 17
(1) section 305 of the Consolidated Farm and 18
Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1925); and 19
(2) section 313 of that Act (7 U.S.C. 1943). 20
SEC. 7. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS. 21
It is the sense of the Congress that— 22
(1) access to credit is essential to the success 23
of farmers and ranchers; and 24
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(2) microloans, direct loans, and guaranteed 1
loans provided by the Farm Service Agency should 2
be fully funded to meet producer demand, help be-3
ginning farmers and ranchers, and support family 4
farms. 5
Æ
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