0560-AI29 201410 The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions 0560 Farm Service Agency FSA 0500 Department of Agriculture USDA Farm Loan Programs Changes

The rule implements regulatory changes required by the Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 Farm Bill) to change certain program requirements in the Farm Loan Programs (FLP) regulations. The changes: 

  • increase percent of guarantees on Conservation Loans (CL),
  • reduce interest rates for direct Farm Ownership (FO) loans made under a joint financing arrangement,
  • increase the loan limit for direct FO loans made under the Down Payment Program,
  • remove the rural residency requirements for Youth Loan (YL) applicants,
  • allow a borrower who had debt forgiveness on YL to receive future Federal loans under certain conditions,
  • revise Microloans (ML) for beginning and veteran farms to exclude them from the existing direct Operating Loan (OL) term limitations,
  • make a special ML interest rate available to beginning and veteran farmers,
  • eliminate certain appraisal requirements,
  • remove term limits on guaranteed OLs, and 
  • change the term from "median" to "average" in the definition of a beginning farmer.
]]> Substantive, Nonsignificant First Time Published in The Unified Agenda Final Rule Stage Undetermined No 7 CFR 761 7 CFR 762 7 CFR 764 7 CFR 765 7 USC 1924 7 USC 1927 7 USC 1935 7 USC 1941 to 1943 7 USC 1946 7 USC 1949 7 USC 1991 No Final Rule 12/00/2014 No Businesses None No No No No Deirdre Holder Branch Chief, Regulatory Analysis and PRA Requirements Branch 0500 Department of Agriculture USDA 202 205-5851 deirdre.holder@usda.gov Farm Production and Conservation Business Center, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington DC 20250-0572