I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6336 
To require the Secretary of Agriculture to grant farm numbers to individuals 
with certain documentation, to amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural 
Development Act to include qualified intermediaries as recipients of farm 
ownership loans, to provide for a study of farmland tenure, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 11, 2018 
Ms. FUDGE (for herself and Mr. BISHOP of Georgia) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of Agriculture to grant farm num-
bers to individuals with certain documentation, to amend 
the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to 
include qualified intermediaries as recipients of farm 
ownership loans, to provide for a study of farmland ten-
ure, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Access for Farm-
ers and Ranchers Act of 2018’’. 
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SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF SECRETARY. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec-
retary of Agriculture. 
SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY FOR OPERATORS ON HEIRS PROPERTY 
LAND TO OBTAIN A FARM NUMBER. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) ELIGIBLE
DOCUMENTATION.—The term 
‘‘eligible documentation’’, with respect to land for 
which a farm operator seeks assignment of a farm 
number under subsection (b)(1), includes— 
(A) in States that have adopted a statute 
consisting of an enactment or adoption of the 
Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, as ap-
proved and recommended for enactment in all 
States by the National Conference of Commis-
sioners on Uniform State Laws in 2010— 
(i) a court order verifying the land 
meets the definition of heirs property (as 
defined in that Act); or 
(ii) a certification from the local re-
corder of deeds that the recorded owner of 
the land is deceased and not less than 1 
heir of the recorded owner of the land has 
initiated a procedure to retitle the land in 
the name of the rightful heir; 
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(B) a fully executed, unrecorded tenancy- 
in-common agreement that sets out ownership 
rights and responsibilities among all of the own-
ers of the land that— 
(i) has been approved by a majority of 
the ownership interests in that property; 
(ii) has given a particular owner the 
right to manage and control any portion or 
all of the land for purposes of operating a 
farm or ranch; and 
(iii) was validly entered into under the 
authority of the jurisdiction in which the 
land is located; 
(C) the tax return of a farm operator 
farming a property with undivided interests for 
each of the 5 years preceding the date on which 
the farm operator submits the tax returns as el-
igible documentation under subsection (b); 
(D) self-certification that the farm oper-
ator has control of the land for purposes of op-
erating a farm or ranch; and 
(E) any other documentation identified by 
the Secretary under subsection (c). 
(2) FARM NUMBER.—The term ‘‘farm number’’ 
has the meaning given the term in section 718.2 of 
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title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 
the date of enactment of this Act). 
(b) FARM NUMBER.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 
for the assignment of a farm number to any farm 
operator who provides any form of eligible docu-
mentation for purposes of demonstrating that the 
farm operator has control of the land for purposes 
of defining that land as a farm. 
(2) ELIGIBILITY.—Any farm number provided 
under paragraph (1) shall be sufficient to satisfy 
any requirement of the Secretary to have a farm 
number to participate in a program of the Secretary. 
(c) ELIGIBLE
DOCUMENTATION.—The Secretary 
shall identify alternative forms of eligible documentation 
that a farm operator may provide in seeking the assign-
ment of a farm number under subsection (b)(1). 
SEC. 4. LOANS TO PURCHASERS OF LAND WITH UNDIVIDED 
INTEREST AND NO ADMINISTRATIVE AU-
THORITY. 
(a) REAUTHORIZATION OF BEGINNING FARMER AND 
RANCHER INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT ACCOUNTS PILOT 
PROGRAM.—Section 333B(h) of the Consolidated Farm 
and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1983b(h)) is 
amended by striking ‘‘2018’’ and inserting ‘‘2024’’. 
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