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Farm Ownership Improvement Act
To require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a pilot program to implement a pre-qualification or pre-approval process for farmers and ranchers with respect to a direct farm ownership loan under the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, and for other purposes.
Summary
The bill requires the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a five-year pilot program for a pre-qualification or pre-approval process for farmers and ranchers applying for direct farm ownership loans. The pilot program would allow the Secretary to use alternative financial assessment methods, such as financial benchmarking, to evaluate borrowers' financial viability and repayment likelihood. The Secretary must prioritize outreach to organizations working with beginning farmers and ranchers. The Secretary must evaluate the pilot program annually and submit reports to Congress with performance data and a recommendation on whether to make the program permanent.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT] (D-VT)
2 cosponsors
- Sen. Hoeven, John [R-ND] (R-ND)
- Sen. Smith, Tina [D-MN] (D-MN)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Peter Welch’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $8,600
- THE OLD MOUNTAIN COMPANY, INC. $3,300
- WEST FRONT STRATEGIES $2,500
- UCAR $2,300
- MINILEC SERVICE $2,000
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Peter Welch → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Mar 10, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. · senate
- Mar 10, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 10, 2025
Mr. Welch (for himself, Mr. Hoeven, and Ms. Smith) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a pilot program to implement a pre-qualification or pre-approval process for farmers and ranchers with respect to a direct farm ownership loan under the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Farm Ownership Improvement Act”.
SEC. 2. DIRECT FARM OWNERSHIP LOAN PILOT PROGRAM.
Subtitle D of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act is amended by inserting after section 374 (7 U.S.C. 2008i) the following:
“SEC. 375. DIRECT FARM OWNERSHIP LOAN PILOT PROGRAM.
“(a) Establishment of Pilot Program.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of the Farm Ownership Improvement Act, the Secretary shall establish a 5-year pilot program (referred to in this section as the ‘pilot program’) to implement a pre-qualification or pre-approval process for farmers and ranchers with respect to a direct farm ownership loan under subtitle A.
“(b) Borrower Viability and Repayment Assessment.—In carrying out section 360(b) with respect to a participant in the pilot program, the Secretary, as the Secretary determines to be appropriate, may make use of alternative methods, including financial benchmarking, to reliably evaluate the financial viability of the participant and the likelihood of repayment of the applicable loan.
“(c) Limitation.—This section shall not be interpreted to repeal any borrowing requirement imposed under subtitle A.
“(d) Outreach Priority.—In conducting outreach relating to the pilot program, the Secretary shall prioritize outreach to organizations that have demonstrated engagement with beginning farmers or ranchers.
“(e) Evaluation and Reports.—The Secretary shall—
“(1) evaluate the pilot program on an ongoing basis; and
“(2) annually submit to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives a written report that includes—
“(A) a description of the performance outcomes of the pilot program, including stakeholder and participant evaluations, assessments, and participation demographics, that includes the information described in section 5413(b)(1)(A)(iv) of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (7 U.S.C. 2008x(b)(1)(A)(iv)); and
“(B) a recommendation as to the value of the pilot program, including whether to authorize a permanent program modeled on the pilot program.”. <all>
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