Sioux City Times

On July 23, 2024, U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra (R-Hull) joined Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and the entire Iowa congressional delegation in urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use its existing statutory authority to provide relief to Iowa farmers and producers impacted by recent severe storms, including tornadoes and flooding.

“Our farmers and producers have been hit hard by tornadoes, floods, and other disasters, which have taken a serious financial toll on our rural communities. They need immediate relief to make up for costly losses and rebuild from damages, but current restrictions on USDA disaster programs prevent our producers from receiving the support that they need,” said Rep. Feenstra. “Alongside Governor Reynolds and the entire Iowa delegation, I urge Secretary Vilsack and the USDA to use their existing statutory authority to adjust their disaster programs and deliver critical relief to our agricultural community during this very challenging time. As we’ve seen in Iowa, some farmers lose everything when disaster strikes, and we should not burden them with regulatory hurdles and red tape.”

The lawmakers wrote that “The Small Business Administration's (SBA) disaster assistance programs offer vital, flexible support in difficult times to small businesses. We understand that these programs are limited to non-agricultural small businesses, with USDA providing access to complementary programs, such as the Emergency Loan Program, that are intended and specifically designed to assist agricultural producers like farmers and ranchers. While USDA and SBA coordinate to ensure these programs effectively reach rural small businesses, we continue to hear from disaster victims that the terms available to borrowers within the USDA programs are less favorable compared to those at SBA, which offer a greater amount of flexibility with interest, balance, and payment terms. Similar to our request today, the SBA provided much of this flexibility in 2022 and 2023 by utilizing administrative authorities.”

“As Iowans begin to recover from the many disasters that have impacted them, the historical and continued lack of fairness in what rural communities are offered by USDA is having a meaningful and substantial impact. Consideration should be given to these communities, which are integral to feeding America and the world, by granting them the same or similar terms through USDA as those that are provided to less rural areas through SBA. USDA can do this through its existing statutory authorities, which provide it with the ability to make all loans repayable at such times as the Secretary may determine, and broad authority to set interest rates at a level prescribed by the Secretary but not in excess of 8 percent per annum. We encourage you to utilize these existing authorities to defer payment on disaster loans for a full year and reduce interest rates to zero during that deferment. This would provide much-needed parity to farmers as they rebuild their agricultural operations,” the lawmakers added.

The full letter can be found HERE.

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