Agriculture industry

Maine Harvest Federal Credit Union, which will serve farmers and the food industry, opened this week and aims to make $12 million in loans over the next six years.

Banks are taking back more farmland through foreclosure than at any point in the past three years as low crop prices, epic flooding and the Trump administration’s trade spat with China have left many farmers struggling to pay their debts.

The Unity, Maine-based institution, which should open in the fall, will provide member business loans and other products to local farmers.

Growers Edge is adapting retail financial technology to compete with traditional banks in ag lending and crop insurance.

President says Facebook could face “full banking regulation”; big banks’ farm loan portfolios have shrunk more than 17% since 2015

Farmers were already taking on more debt to cover losses from falling crop prices. New tariffs and other retaliatory moves could hurt ag borrowers further and lead to loan losses and tighter underwriting.

Farm Service Agency staff will have three days to work on existing loan applications and provide tax documents for existing loans.

A recent proposal to allow the government-sponsored enterprise to offer more credit in agricultural regions is deeply flawed.

The impasse has halted grant and loan applications and frozen many farm subsidies just weeks ahead of planting season.

Hostilities toward the legal U.S. cannabis industry are softening considerably, with signs of further removing cash and digital workarounds from a market that has long been shunned by traditional payment cards.