Elfman Banking Regulations Must Make Improvements for Ag Industry

Ed Elfman is the senior vice president of Agriculture and Rural Banking at the American Bankers Association.  He said he works on the behalf of a sizable portion of the nation's banking system.

"Nearly a third of all the banks in the country are agricultural banks, where at least 15% of their portfolio, or more, is in agriculture.  And about 85% of all banks in the country have Ag in their portfolio somewhere."

He says welcomes any efforts in Washington DC to reform banking regulations, but those regulations must be made with the concerns of farming in mind.

"From the agricultural end of the world, making sure that specific regulations that might affect agriculture differently within a bank, within an institution, then other types of lending, we want to make sure that's acknowledged not forgotten as we go through the process."

Currently ag loans are considered more risky than other small business loans, that's a practice he would like to see changed.  Another issue is a house on the farm, should that home follow the mortgage requirements of other houses.  He noted these are just a few of the questions those in DC should answer, and they will only answer if the ag community continues to work to have their voice heard.

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