NATION : 20,000 Farmers to Receive Notices to Restructure Loans or Lose Land
The government’s main agricultural lender is about to tell 20,000 farmers that they must act quickly to avoid foreclosure on delinquent loans, an Agriculture Department official said today.
The notices to be mailed in four to six weeks are a sign that many farmers are still hurting from financial woes that have dragged under tens of thousands during the 1980s.
“Certainly the problems in agriculture have not been corrected,” said Keith Smalley, a program official for the department’s Farmers Home Administration, which is known as the farm lender of last resort.
Farmers who receive the notices will be given 45 days to declare their interest in restructuring their delinquent loans. If they do not respond, they face foreclosure.
The lending agency sent similar notices in November to 66,426 farmers whose delinquent loans had accumulated over several years. During that time the agency was barred by a court order from foreclosing.
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