Five dozen farm lenders and financial experts sent a letter to House and Senate Ag Committee leadership urging Congress to strengthen U.S. sugar policy in the farm bill and oppose efforts to weaken the safety net.
“An effective safety net is essential when lenders consider extending operating loans to farmers, given the high level of investments necessary to run a successful sugarbeet or sugarcane operation and the financing necessary for processing those crops into raw sugar,” the letter says. Improvements to U.S. sugar policy will help sustain a “stable financial framework for continued investment by family farmers at the farm and sugar-processing levels,” the letter continues.
The letter was signed by CoBank and 59 other lending institutions, Certified Public Accountants, and tax professionals in more than a dozen states. Any efforts to undermine the effectiveness of the no-cost U.S. sugar policy would increase the likelihood of farm operating loan defaults.
