Access to Capital

USDA Rural Business-Cooperative Service Administrator Sam Rikkers just unveiled new rules to expand access to capital for rural businesses.The Idaho Farm Bureaus Jake Putnam explains the reasoning behind this decision.

"Access to capital is one of the most important needs for businesses," Rikkers said. "USDA is partnering with the Treasury Department and other agencies to ensure that rural businesses have the resources they need to prosper and grow. The regulatory changes I am announcing today will help businesses expand their operations and create jobs."

The changes, published in the  Federal Register, make it easier for rural businesses to qualify for loans in USDA's  Business & Industry (B&I) Guaranteed Loan Program.

They allow businesses to use the  New Markets Tax Credit as a form of equity, and allow, for the first time, employees of a business to qualify for loan guarantees to purchase stock in a business by forming an Employee Stock Ownership Plan or worker cooperative.

The stock ownership provisions are modeled after rural cooperative businesses. Co-ops have been economic development partners with USDA for decades. A January 2016  USDA report indicated that cooperatives earned $6.5 billion in net income and generated $246.7 billion in total revenue in 2014.