II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5231 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a pilot program to 

implement a pre-qualification or pre-approval process for farmers and 

ranchers with respect to a direct farm ownership loan under the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 

Mr. WELCH (for himself, Mr. HOEVEN, and Ms. SMITH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a pilot 

program to implement a pre-qualification or pre-approval 

process for farmers and ranchers with respect to a direct 

farm ownership loan under the Consolidated Farm and 

Rural Development Act, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farm Ownership Im5 provement Act’’. 


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•S 5231 IS

1 SEC. 2. DIRECT FARM OWNERSHIP LOAN PILOT PROGRAM. 

2 Subtitle D of the Consolidated Farm and Rural De3 velopment Act is amended by inserting after section 374 

4 (7 U.S.C. 2008i) the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 375. DIRECT FARM OWNERSHIP LOAN PILOT PRO6 GRAM. 

7 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM.—Not 

8 later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, 

9 the Secretary shall establish a 5-year pilot program (re10 ferred to in this section as the ‘pilot program’) to imple11 ment a pre-qualification or pre-approval process for farm12 ers and ranchers with respect to a direct farm ownership 

13 loan under subtitle A. 

14 ‘‘(b) BORROWER VIABILITY AND REPAYMENT AS15 SESSMENT.—In carrying out section 360(b) with respect 

16 to a participant in the pilot program, the Secretary, as 

17 the Secretary determines to be appropriate, may make use 

18 of alternative methods, including financial benchmarking, 

19 to reliably evaluate the financial viability of the participant 

20 and the likelihood of repayment of the applicable loan. 

21 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION.—This section shall not be inter22 preted to repeal any borrowing requirement imposed under 

23 subtitle A. 

24 ‘‘(d) OUTREACH PRIORITY.—In conducting outreach 

25 relating to the pilot program, the Secretary shall prioritize 


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•S 5231 IS

1 outreach to organizations that have demonstrated engage2 ment with beginning farmers or ranchers. 

3 ‘‘(e) EVALUATION AND REPORTS.—The Secretary 

4 shall— 

5 ‘‘(1) evaluate the pilot program on an ongoing 

6 basis; and 

7 ‘‘(2) annually submit to the Committee on Agri8 culture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and 

9 the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep10 resentatives a written report that includes— 

11 ‘‘(A) a description of the performance out12 comes of the pilot program, including stake13 holder and participant evaluations, assessments, 

14 and participation demographics, that includes 

15 the information described in section 

16 5413(b)(1)(A)(iv) of the Agriculture Improve17 ment Act of 2018 (7 U.S.C. 

18 2008x(b)(1)(A)(iv)); and 

19 ‘‘(B) a recommendation as to the value of 

20 the pilot program, including whether to author21 ize a permanent program modeled on the pilot 

22 program.’’. 

Æ 


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