Pub. 7 2018 Issue 6

l e a d i n g a d v o c a t e f o r t h e b a n k i n g i n d u s t r y i n k a n s a s 14 So Far, House and Senate Farm Bills Have Minor Impact on FCS So far, the 2018 House and Senate Farm Bills now pending in Congress would have a minor impact on the FCS, which is good news for bankers. On June 21, the House passed its version of the next Farm Bill (H.R. 2) while on June 13, the Senate Agriculture Committee sent to the Senate floor its version of the Farm Bill (S. 3042). The full Senate will take up the Farm Bill before the end of June, with passage of the bill likely, after numerous floor amendments are considered. Differences between the two bills will then have to be resolved in a conference committee, which is expected to begin work in July. While there is a reasonable chance that Congress will enact a new Farm Bill this year, if it does not, then Congress almost certainly will extend the current Farm Bill, passed in 2014, for another year. FCA Posts Misleading Video on Its Website In connection with a redesign of its website, the FCA has posted a short (1 minute, 35 second) video, which presents a misleading picture of the role the FCS plays in providing credit to agriculture and rural America. The video clearly conveys the idea that the FCS is the dominant, if not exclusive, provider of credit to agriculture and rural America, yet that definitely is not the case. According to unbiased data from the USDA, in 2016 commercial banks actually provided slightly more credit to farmers and ranchers than did the FCS, despite the significant tax and funding cost advantages the FCS has over banks, especially with regard to financing agricultural real estate. In the non-real estate component of farm borrowings, where the FCS has less of a tax and funding cost advantage, banks provided three dollars of credit to farmers and ranchers for every two dollars provided by the FCS. When the FCA updates its video, as surely it should, it needs to present a much more BERT ELY’S FARM CREDITWATCH®