The Southern Farmers Financial Association is being established by the Biden administration to help small farmers in high-poverty areas of the South get access to capital.
Launched at an event in Atlanta on Thursday, the SFFA will operate under a cooperative agreement with USDA and be funded with $20 million from the Inflation Reduction Act, according to a USDA release.
Cornelius Blanding, who is executive director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, was named acting CEO of the SFFA. Shirley Sherrod, a former state rural development director at USDA, will be acting secretary. Calvin King, founder of the Arkansas Land Development Corp. and a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, will be the acting treasurer.
The USDA release suggested the SFFA could eventually be elevated to a status as a non-bank financial institution.
In a brief statement to Agri-Pulse, the Farm Credit Council, which represents Farm Credit institutions, said "access to credit in rural America is needed and any opportunity to do so will benefit producers."
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“Support from the USDA will help bring other partners to the table so that SFFA can obtain strategic certifications and raise additional sources of capital,” the release said.
“Examples include working with organizations like the Farm Credit System and CoBank to obtain Other Financial Institution (OFI) status, or working with the U.S. Department of Treasury, Community Development Financial Institution Fund to become a CDFI, and continued engagement with USDA so that the institution can become a guaranteed lender with the Farm Services Agency.”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release that the SFFA “furthers the Biden-Harris USDA’s vision to keep farmers farming, support rural economies by making it viable for small farms to stay in operation, and make USDA’s programs more accessible and inclusive for everyone who wants to participate in agriculture. This new organization will provide a vital bridge to those who may benefit from a different model of outreach, support, and farm lending.”
Increasing resources for Black and other minority farmers has been a major focus of Vilsack's tenure under President Joe Biden.
