Legislation designed to help American farmers access credit could benefit aquaculture firms and seafood processors as well.
The Access to Credit for our Rural Economy (ACRE) Act lowers the cost of credit for rural borrowers by making the income from loans issued to agricultural real estate and rural homes exempt from taxes.
“Rural communities across America are facing a serious affordable housing crisis. It has simply gotten way too hard to find reasonably priced homes in our small towns,” U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) said in a statement. “The ACRE Act is a commonsense way to make home and farm ownership possible for more families by providing better access to low interest loans.”
“Persistent inflation and high interest rates are putting a strain on farmers and rural homeowners in Kansas and across the country,” U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) said in a statement. “Rural Americans should have the flexibility to access the capital needed to expand their family farms and achieve the dream of homeownership. This legislation will help to boost rural housing and support the agricultural economy that plays a vital role in small towns across America.”
While the ACRE Act has been touted as a bill designed to help farmers and rural homeowners, the benefits also apply to loans made for fisheries and aquaculture facilities. In defining what rural real estate projects fall under the legislation’s purview, the bill clarifies that it applies to any aquaculture facility or “any real property which is substantially used in the trade or business of fishing or seafood processing.”
According to the bill’s authors, the legislation would expand credit access to over 4,000 rural communities and save farmers and producers more than USD 400 million (EUR 370 million) in annual interest expenses. The legislation is being backed by both the Independent Community Bankers of America and the American Bankers Association.
“With community banks making 80 percent of banking industry agricultural loans, the ACRE Act would allow community banks to offer lower loan rates to farmers and ranchers on agricultural real estate loans and for rural homeowners in small towns," ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said in a statement. "This important legislation will help community bank lenders revive and sustain rural economies struggling to overcome the impact of higher interest rates.”
Similar legislation was introduced in 2023, but it was never voted out of committee in either the U.S. House or Senate.
