The Farmers Home Administration has suspended the...

The Farmers Home Administration has suspended the further sale or lease of thousands of farms taken over when borrowers failed to repay their loans. Agency spokesman Joe O’Neill said the halt also applies to new leases of FmHA-held farmland, although current leaseholders will be able to continue. However, he said the agency intends to review the leasing process, and the ban on sales of property held in the FmHA inventory applies only to new buyers. “We’re putting a hold on sales to everybody but the former owner,” O’Neill said. The suspension of further leases, rentals and sales was ordered as a result of new legislation to help bail out the Farm Credit System.