“To reauthorize and improve the relending program to resolve ownership and succession on farmland, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section adds a new subsection (f) authorizing the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with eligible nonprofit entities to provide legal or accounting services at no cost to underserved heirs, assisting in resolving ownership and succession issues on farmland or forest land with multiple owners. Such agreements support (1) transitioning land to agricultural production, (2) maintaining land in agricultural production, or (3) increasing access to USDA programs by resolving real property claims to meet land ownership eligibility requirements. Cooperative agreements last up to 4 years (with possible re-entry for continued services if ownership unresolved), require annual progress reports, and may be terminated for lack of success; the Secretary must publicize selection criteria and implementation processes. On a limited basis, services may extend to certain heirs whose property is not currently farmland if it could support agricultural, conservation, or forestry uses and the heir intends to enroll in a USDA program post-resolution. An eligible entity is a nonprofit with demonstrated experience in such resolutions; an underserved heir is one with an undivided interest who is a limited resource heir (i.e., household income at or below national poverty level for a family of 4, less than 50% of county median, or in a persistent poverty community or socially vulnerable area), a socially disadvantaged group member, or a veteran; and the Secretary must submit annual reports to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees within 1 year of enactment and annually thereafter. (As background, the program authorizes loans to intermediaries such as cooperatives, credit unions, and nonprofits to relend funds for heirs property resolution projects on farmland, with preferences for entities experienced with socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers and states adopting the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act.)
This section revises the reporting requirement for the relending program to resolve ownership and succession on farmland—under which the Secretary of Agriculture provides zero-interest loans to eligible intermediaries that relend funds to beginning, socially disadvantaged, or veteran farmers and ranchers to facilitate farmland transfers—to require annual reports by the Secretary (from a single report due not later than one year after enactment).