HEAL Food Alliance Urges Congress to Protect Transparency in Lending for Small Farmers and Ranchers
WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 5, 2024) – Today, the House Committee on Financial Services held a hearing for multiple bills that threaten key protections for small farmers, ranchers, and everyday borrowers. Lawmakers discussed rolling back critical regulations designed to provide transparency in banking practices to small businesses—specifically, targeting Rule 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act.
Rule 1071 requires financial institutions, including lenders in the Farm Credit System, to track and report demographic data on small business loan applicants. This rule has been a major victory for family farmers, ranchers, and food and farm organizations, who have long requested more transparency in lending. Weakening it would make it harder to track disparities in financing and could reinforce inequities in agricultural and small business lending.
As the fight for fair economic agriculture policies continues, HEAL Food Alliance calls on lawmakers to uphold CFPB Rule 1071 and ensure that financial institutions remain accountable to fair lending practices for all.
“Tracking loan demographics isn’t just good policy—it’s common sense,” said Maleeka Manurasada, Organizing Director at the HEAL Food Alliance. “Rule 1071 helps small farmers access the credit they need. At a time when corporate consolidation threatens our food systems, we need more transparency in lending, not less. We urge Congress to protect Rule 1071 and stand with family farmers, not banks.”
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The HEAL (Health, Environment, Agriculture, Labor) Food Alliance is a national multi-sector, multi-racial coalition. HEAL is led by its member-organizations, who represent about two million rural and urban farmers, ranchers, fishers, farm and food chain workers, Indigenous groups, scientists, public health advocates, policy experts, and community organizers united in their commitment to transformed food and farm systems.