(U.S. Department of Agriculture )<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2022<\/strong>\u00a0– The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that distressed borrowers with qualifying USDA farm loans have already received nearly $800 million in assistance, as part of the $3.1 billion in assistance for distressed farm loan borrowers provided through Section 22006 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA directed USDA to expedite assistance to distressed borrowers of direct or guaranteed loans administered by USDA\u2019s Farm Service Agency (FSA) whose operations face financial risk.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s announcement kicks off a process to provide assistance to distressed farm loan borrowers using several complementary approaches, with the goal of keeping them farming, removing obstacles that currently prevent many of these borrowers from returning to farming, and improving the way that USDA approaches borrowing and servicing. Through this assistance, USDA is focused on generating long-term stability and success for distressed borrowers.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough no fault of their own, our nation\u2019s farmers and ranchers have faced incredibly tough circumstances over the last few years,\u201d said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. \u201cThe funding included in today\u2019s announcement helps keep our farmers farming and provides a fresh start for producers in challenging positions.\u201d<\/p>\n Work has already started to bring some relief to distressed farmers. As of today, over 13,000 borrowers have already benefited from the resources provided under the Inflation Reduction Act as follows:<\/p>\n In addition to the automatic assistance already provided, USDA has also outlined steps to administer up to an additional $500 million in payments to benefit the following distressed borrowers:<\/p>\n More details on each of the categories of assistance, including a\u00a0downloadable fact sheet<\/a>, are available on the\u00a0Inflation Reduction Act webpage on farmers.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n Similar to other USDA assistance, all of these payments will be reported as income and borrowers are encouraged to consult their tax advisors. USDA also has resources and partnerships with cooperators who can provide additional assistance and help borrowers navigate the process.<\/p>\n The announcement today is only the first step in USDA\u2019s efforts to provide assistance to distressed farm loan borrowers and respond to farmers and to improve the loan servicing efforts at USDA by adding more tools and relaxing unnecessary restrictions. Additional announcements and investments in assistance will be made as USDA institutes these additional changes and improvements.<\/p>\n This effort will ultimately also include adding more tools and relaxing unnecessary restrictions through assistance made possible by Congress through the IRA. Further assistance and changes to the approach will be made in subsequent phases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (U.S. Department of Agriculture ) WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2022\u00a0– The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that distressed borrowers with qualifying USDA farm loans have already received nearly $800 million in assistance, as part of the $3.1 billion in assistance for distressed farm loan borrowers provided through Section 22006 of the Inflation Reduction Act […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3507,"featured_media":179657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[1,37],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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