Remarks by 

The Honorable Jill Long Thompson

Board Chair and CEO, Farm Credit Administration

National Good Food Network 

Food Hub Collaboration, Spring 2014 Conference

Raleigh, North Carolina 

March 26, 2014

Thank you so much for this opportunity to join you today. It is an honor for me to be a part of 

your conference. I wish I were in Raleigh with you.

I hope my participation in your conference will help in the development of future relationships 

between local food producers, food hubs, and the Farm Credit System. I am very impressed 

with the work you’re doing at the Wallace Center. By helping connect small and mid-sized ag 

producers with larger-scale markets, you are providing a wonderful service for both farmers and 

consumers. What’s more, you’re creating jobs in rural communities by making it possible for 

more people to participate in agriculture. 

I myself have been in agriculture for a long time. I grew up on a family farm in northern Indiana. 

From a very young age, I helped with the milking, livestock feeding, and other farm chores. 

Just like our neighbors, we had a little bit of everything back then—grain, cows, hogs, and 

chickens. Compared to the farm my husband and I have today, our operation was small. I 

remember when we got a four-bottom plow, and we thought we had made it big. Today, we 

don’t even use a plow.

Over my life and career, I have seen a great deal of change in agriculture. In the past 50 years 

or so, yields have risen tremendously—thanks to more sophisticated machinery, pesticides, 

commercial fertilizers, advances in genetics, and precision agriculture. 

And this increase in productivity has greatly expanded the number of people we can feed. In the 

1960s, one farmer could feed about 26 people; today, one farmer can feed 144. 

As a result, the cost of food to the consumer has declined greatly. We spent about 17 percent of 

our disposable personal income on food in 1960; now we spend less than 10 percent. 

As yields have gone up, commodity prices have become more volatile, and for many farmers 

that has meant expanding their operations and their marketing expertise or getting out of the 

business. Over the years, many farmers have sold out to larger, more profitable farms. As a 

result, farms have declined in number and have grown considerably bigger. By the 1990s, many 

people had placed the small family farm on the endangered species list. 

But something happened during that decade. Consumers began to demand local and organic 

foods—products that often came from small farms.
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What was the source of this demand? It varied. Many sought local products simply because 

they wanted the vine-ripened taste they had enjoyed when they were kids. Others had concerns 

about health and environmental issues. 

Whatever the reason for the demand, it has strengthened over time. And this demand has 

produced a noticeable uptick in the number of small farms in this country. 

There’s a long list of reasons why I’m so enthusiastic about local food farming. First, it helps 

solve one of our planet’s most pressing problems—how to feed a growing population. By 2050, 

nine billion people are expected to inhabit this globe. According to one source, to meet this 

demand, we will have to produce more food in the first half of this century than we produced in 

the past 10,000 years. That is mind-boggling.

How can we possibly feed all of these people? Technology, of course, is part of the answer. It 

has allowed us to produce more food with less land and fewer inputs, and technology will 

continue to help farmers around the world produce the food we need.

But local food farming offers another means to meet the growing demand for food. It has given

local communities a chance to generate their own food, and it has created markets for a oncedying breed—the small and mid-sized producer. 

Which leads me to the second reason to be enthusiastic about local food farming: I grew up on 

a family farm. I understand the way of life, and I believe in the value of it. Because of the 

demand for local farm products, Americans can once again “choose” to farm. 

For many years, it has been difficult to become a farmer unless you inherit a farm or marry

someone with a farm. Thanks to local food farming, there are now more opportunities for small, 

first-generation farmers. 

And that not only benefits the individuals who choose to farm, it also benefits the communities in 

which they live. It creates economic opportunities in rural areas. People don’t have to leave rural 

communities to find jobs. They can stay and farm and sell their products locally, and that

benefits the broader community. 

Another reason I feel so enthusiastic about local food farming is that it provides a means for 

people who do not have a great deal of capital to enter agriculture. This is near and dear to my 

heart. 

In 2012, the FCA Board adopted a diversity and inclusion regulation to encourage System 

institutions to reach out to all eligible, creditworthy producers in their lending territories, including

members of underserved groups such as women and minorities. And because women and 

minorities often face greater challenges accessing capital, local food systems provide them with 

real access to market opportunities. 
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Of course, another important benefit of local food farming is the positive environmental impact of 

reducing the distance over which food must be transported from producer to consumer. It 

reduces the carbon footprint of food distribution. And because many local food consumers want

foods produced with minimal pesticides and commercial fertilizers, raising products for local 

markets encourages farmers to use sustainable production practices.

And the final reason for my optimism about local food farming is simple—I like good, fresh food. 

When peaches and apples ripen on the tree and tomatoes ripen on the vine, they just taste 

better. And the only way to eat food like this is to grow your own or buy local. During the 

summer months, many people buy local produce by shopping at farmers’ markets and stopping 

by roadside farm stands, but not everyone has the time or means to shop like this on a regular 

basis.

That is the one abiding challenge of local food farming—how to get local foods produced by 

small and mid-sized producers into wholesale, retail, and institutional markets. In simple terms, 

how do you get the food from the farm to the fork?

Food hubs have become a critical part of meeting this challenge. They are providing muchneeded infrastructure to bring more local foods to consumers. They are giving small and midsized producers a chance to aggregate their products for sale to larger markets, including 

schools, hospitals, restaurants, and other institutions. 

In addition, many food hubs provide distribution, warehousing, and marketing services to 

producers. Innovations like food hubs can help ensure that local foods will have a permanent 

place on the American dinner plate. 

So where does the Farm Credit Administration fit into the local food equation? My Agency is the 

regulator of the Farm Credit System. Many of you may know about the System, but for those of 

you who don’t, I’ll describe it briefly. 

It’s a nationwide network of cooperative lending institutions serving farmers, ranchers, 

agricultural cooperatives, and other eligible borrowers. The Farm Credit System is America’s

oldest Government-sponsored enterprise. It’s been around for almost 100 years. 

The System has 78 institutions that lend directly to farmers and ranchers. The United States is 

divided into lending territories, and each institution has its own chartered lending territory. 

Because each institution is a cooperative, its farmer-borrowers actually own and control the 

institution. The Farm Credit System provides about 43 percent of our nation’s farm lending.

Over time, the System has evolved with agriculture. As farms became larger, more of the 

System’s loan volume has been used to finance larger operations. Local food farming, however, 

has increased the number of young, beginning, and small farmers seeking credit. With the 

growing strength of local food systems and the increasing number of small farms, many Farm 
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Credit System institutions are recognizing a good opportunity to broaden their membercustomer base. 

In fact, serving young, beginning, and small farmers is an important part of the System’s mission 

as a Government-sponsored enterprise. The Farm Credit Act of 1971, which now governs the 

Farm Credit System, calls on the System to “be responsive to the credit needs of all types of 

agricultural producers having a basis for credit.” 

In addition, the act requires each institution to have a program to serve the credit needs of 

young, beginning, and small farmers. So local food systems are not only creating business 

opportunities for the Farm Credit System, they are also creating opportunities for the System to 

better serve its public mission.

As the regulator of the Farm Credit System, my Agency is responsible for ensuring that the 

System complies with all laws and regulations while remaining safe and sound. In 2012, we 

issued guidance to encourage System institutions to serve farmers and ranchers who market 

products through local and regional food systems. We encouraged them to develop new loan 

products and to find alternative ways to measure the creditworthiness of loan applicants. 

And I am pleased to report that many institutions are reaching out to local food producers. 

Today, I am happy to recognize a couple of institutions in particular for their efforts to reach out 

to individuals in the local food industry. Last year, Farm Credit East collaborated with the 

Wallace Center and the Farm Credit Council to complete the National Good Food Network Food 

Hub Benchmarking Study. The study examined the business and operational characteristics of 

several food hubs. 

The information from this study is valuable to many groups. It can help producers understand 

how they can use food hubs to access new markets. It can help food hub operators improve 

their business performance. And it can help lenders understand the funding needs of food hubs 

and the opportunities for strategic investment. 

In addition, using data from USDA, Farm Credit East developed a working list of food hubs. It 

has formed relationships with a food hub in Connecticut and two in New York State. One of the 

New York food hubs, Corbin Hill Road Farm, has helped farmers in upstate New York reach 

markets in Harlem and the Bronx. A follow-up study on food hubs is planned for this year.

MidAtlantic Farm Credit is another Farm Credit System institution that is reaching out to serve 

local food farmers. It has created a program called New Generation and Local Food Systems, 

and it calls the loans offered through this program “farm-fresh financing.” MidAtlantic partnered 

with Temple University to conduct a study on local food systems, including food hubs, and it is 

sharing what it has learned with other institutions in the Farm Credit System. Already 

MidAtlantic has made many loans to food hubs and other businesses in the local food system. 
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I commend Farm Credit East and MidAtlantic Farm Credit for their support of local food systems

and their willingness to reach out to local food producers. I encourage more Farm Credit System 

institutions to follow their example.

In addition to financing eligible, creditworthy producers, Farm Credit System institutions may 

also serve certain farm-related businesses. As the regulator of the System, we interpret the 

Farm Credit Act and create regulations to implement the act. We are currently reviewing our 

regulations governing eligibility for System financing to identify opportunities for financing local 

food businesses. 

In addition, many System institutions offer training as part of their efforts to serve young, 

beginning, and small producers. Since many local food producers belong to at least one of 

these categories, the System can provide valuable training and development to many producers 

of local foods.

Agriculture is a noble calling. Whether you are producing food or processing and distributing 

food, you are helping meet one of humanity’s basic needs. And agricultural credit has allowed 

American agriculture to flourish. It will continue to be critical to the success of farm enterprises, 

large and small. 

I believe that the Farm Credit System and members of the local food movement have an 

exciting future. Working together, you can help protect our nation’s food security, create job 

opportunities in rural America, and ensure that small and mid-sized producers have a bright 

future.