Bill would expand aid to more farmers

WASHINGTON — Rep. William L. Owens said he may be able to advance a bill early this month to open U.S. Farm Service Agency loan guarantees to more farmers.

Mr. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, has complained that the agency does not extend loan guarantees to farms where the land is owned by one entity and the business by another, even if the names are the same.

With the help of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's office, Mr. Owens said, he should be ready to introduce legislation in the next two weeks. He said in a telephone interview he is confident it can pass well ahead of the next broad update to farm programs in 2012.

Mr. Owens said he is working with Rep. Joseph Courtney, D-Conn., on the plan, and he discussed it with Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., in a meeting last week. Mrs. Gillibrand serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Mr. Owens on the House Agriculture Committee, each of which would be the first stop for such a bill.

The USDA has not taken a position on the proposal but has helped Mr. Owens's office with technical language in writing the legislation, a department spokesman said.

Mr. Owens heard about the issue through conversations with farmers and with farm groups, as well as with agricultural lenders, said his spokesman, Sean Magers. The congressman has mentioned it as a top priority as he takes on a new assignment to the Agriculture Committee.

New York Farm Bureau is one of the groups supporting Mr. Owens's effort. The great majority of farms in New York are family owned, said Julie Suarez, a Farm Bureau lobbyist. But as farms have consolidated, many farmers have created limited liability corporations, which help in estate planning and in distributing income to family members, she said.

Changing the program's rules reflects modern agriculture, she said.

"At a time when so many family farms are struggling, it makes sense to enact a common sense change in the law to expand access to credit to family farms," Ms. Suarez said.