Apply for a Commodity Marketing Assistance Loan Online

How to Get a Commodity Marketing Assistance Loan

What it is

At a Glance
Loan Type:	Farm
Lender:	Government
Secured:	Yes

A commodity marketing assistance loan is administered by the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency, or FSA. It administers commodity loan programs with marketing loan provisions for wheat, rice, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, oilseeds, peanuts, mohair, wool, honey, small chickpeas, lentils, and dry peas through the Commodity Credit Corporation, or CCC. This allows producers of designated crops to receive a loan from the government at a commodity-specific loan rate per unit of production by pledging production as loan collateral. After harvest, a farmer may obtain a loan for all or part of the new commodity production.

Commodity loans may be repaid in three ways, including at the loan rate plus interest costs, by forfeiting the pledged crop to the CCC at loan maturity, or at the alternative loan repayment rate. When market prices are below the loan rate, farmers are allowed to repay the commodity loans at a lower loan repayment rate. Repayment rates are based on locally posted county prices.

Who it's for

Sometimes farmers don't have what they need to get by from year to year. Income depends a lot on the weather conditions, water levels, insect populations and many other uncontrollable phenomena. That means that they end up needing a little something extra to help pay the bills. A commodity marketing assistance loan can help make ends meet before harvest.

What you need to do to apply

Commodity certificates can be purchased at the posted country price or at the adjusted world price. The certificates are available for producers to use immediately in acquiring crop collateral pledged to the CCC for a commodity loan. These provisions enable producers who are facing payment limits an opportunity to benefit from the lower loan repayment rates.