Growing the Small Business Agricultural Economy (S. Hrg. 119-348, January 14, 2026)
Summary
The printed record of a hearing of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the United States Senate titled Growing the Small Business Agricultural Economy, on January 14, 2026, S. HRG. 119–348. Chair Joni Ernst and Ranking Member Edward J. Markey gave opening statements, and the chair's statement says small businesses in rural communities represent over 96 percent of all employers and provide nearly 57 percent of all jobs. The witnesses were Melissa Spurgin of First Iowa State Bank, Erbin Crowell of the Neighboring Food Co-op Association, James “Jay” Funke of Del Clay Farm Equipment, LLC and Maria Moreira of World Farmers. The record includes a Berkshire Strategic Alliance, Inc. letter dated January 10, 2026 and responses to questions submitted by Senator Scott.
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“Growing the Small Business Agricultural Economy (S. Hrg. 119-348, January 14, 2026).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/chrg-119shrg63357-growing-the-small-business-agricultural-economy-593cafbdc6/
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S. HRG. 119–348
GROWING THE SMALL BUSINESS
AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
OF THE
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED NINETEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
JANUARY 14, 2026
Printed for the use of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
(
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
63–357 WASHINGTON : 2026
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COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ONE HUNDRED NINETEENTH CONGRESS
JONI ERNST, Iowa, Chair
EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts, Ranking Member
JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
RAND PAUL, Kentucky JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire
TIM SCOTT, South Carolina CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
TODD YOUNG, Indiana CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware
JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii
TED BUDD, North Carolina JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
JOHN R. CURTIS, Utah JOHN W. HICKENLOOPER, Colorado
JAMES C. JUSTICE, West Virginia ADAM B. SCHIFF, California
JON HUSTED, Ohio
MEREDITH WEST, Republican Staff Director
SEAN MOORE, Democratic Staff Director
(II)
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CONTENTS
JANUARY 14, 2026
OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
Joni Ernst, U.S. Senator from Iowa, Chair ........................................................... 1
Edward J. Markey, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, Ranking Member ......... 2
WITNESSES
Ms. Melissa Spurgin, Chief Financial Officer, First Iowa State Bank ................ 5
Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 7
Mr. Erbin Crowell, Executive Director, Neighboring Food Co-op Association ... 9
Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 12
Mr. James ‘‘Jay’’ Funke, Co-Owner and Past President, Del Clay Farm Equip-
ment, LLC ............................................................................................................. 21
Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 23
Ms. Maria Moreira, Founder and Board Chair, World Farmers ......................... 25
Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 27
ADDITIONAL LETTERS/STATEMENTS FOR THE RECORD
Letter to the Small Business Administration dated January 9, 2026 ................ 49
Berkshire Strategic Alliance, Inc., Letter Dated January 10, 2026 .................... 51
QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD
Ms. Melissa Spurgin Responses to Questions Submitted by Senator Scott ........ 57
Mr. James ‘‘Jay’’ Funke Response to Question Submitted by Senator Scott ...... 59
(III)
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GROWING THE SMALL BUSINESS
AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2026
UNITED STATES SENATE,
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:33 p.m., in Room
428A, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Joni Ernst, chairwoman
of the committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Ernst [presiding], Young, Husted, Markey,
Cantwell, and Shaheen.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ERNST
CHAIR. I call the Committee on Small Business and Entrepre-
neurship to order. Folks, it’s the start of a new year, and I’m ex-
cited to kick it off discussing the ways we can supercharge Main
Street and promote economic growth across our rural communities.
This committee routinely looks at the integral role small busi-
nesses play in our economy and our lives, especially in our rural
communities, where small businesses represent over 96 percent of
all employers, and provide nearly 57 percent of all jobs.
I grew up on a farm in Southwest Iowa, and currently live in Red
Oak. Still, today, I know the local small business owners who run
the stores and shops around me, and experience firsthand how in-
grained they are in our agricultural community, not to mention the
role of America’s original small business owners, family farmers.
After all, these are my neighbors and my friends. They carry on the
spirit of entrepreneurship that runs deep throughout rural Amer-
ica.
Despite the importance of these small businesses to rural agricul-
tural communities, they have faced numerous challenges in secur-
ing affordable access to capital, essential to their survival. The
SBA’s 7(a) loan program was established to help address some of
those gaps.
But under the Biden administration’s mismanagement, we saw
the opposite. The share of lending to rural small businesses de-
clined year after year. The reason for the decline is no mystery.
While the Biden administration was recklessly slashing lending
standards and eligibility rules in the 7(a) program, it was building
up regulatory hurdles in the private sector and ignoring the chal-
lenges faced by the small community banks that serve rural and
agricultural entrepreneurs, including their challenges in utilizing
the 7(a) program itself.
(1)
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Luckily, President Trump and SBA Administrator Loeffler have
overseen a tremendous turnaround in lending to rural communities
with the dollar value of all 7(a) lending to rural small businesses
in the first year of the new administration increasing by nearly 20
percent over last year.
However, many rural community banks still find it incredibly dif-
ficult to fully and actively participate in the 7(a) loan program due
to unnecessary red tape and overly complex requirements that do
not account for the unique needs and operations of rural small
businesses. Many community banks also worry that their inability
to dedicate staff to SBA compliance will jeopardize their ability to
rely on the 7(a) loan guarantee.
This red tape shouldn’t be what stands in the way of reaching
borrowers who can benefit from 7(a). That is why I called Adminis-
trator Loeffler earlier this week to report to this committee on the
resources and efforts the SBA has made to promote greater partici-
pation by rural community banks in SBA loan programs.
I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record my January 9th
letter requesting information from the SBA on its efforts to assist
rural community banks. Without objection, so ordered.
In the letter, I also asked what the SBA is doing in the new year
to reduce compliance and paperwork burdens for rural community
banks so they can reach more rural and agricultural small business
owners.
We must also do our part in the Senate. We made headway when
the committee reported out my bipartisan bill with Senator Coons,
the Made in America Manufacturing Finance Act, which will in-
crease the SBA-backed loan limit from $5 million to $10 million for
small manufacturers. A companion to our bill has passed the House
of Representatives, so I do hope that we can get these loan limit
increases enacted in the coming weeks to complement the Ernst/
Coons bill.
I also introduced my Modernizing Agricultural and Manufac-
turing Bonds Act, which will modernize IRS rules for rural develop-
ment bonds. It is only through concerted coordinated efforts and
thoughtful legislation that we will be able to cut the red tape ham-
pering community lenders and give our rural agricultural small
businesses the room and capital to grow.
I am grateful that we’re joined today by our panel of witnesses.
I look forward to hearing from them to see how we can help both
rural entrepreneurs and the community banks that serve them. I
now recognize Ranking Member Markey for his opening statement.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR MARKEY
Senator MARKEY. Thank you, Madam Chair, very much, because
today we’re here to talk about supporting local farms, grocery
stores, food banks, other small businesses that make up the rural
agricultural community economy in our country. And these small
businesses are key to feeding local communities, creating jobs,
building sustainable food systems.
Unfortunately, the agricultural economy is being crushed by the
Trump administration’s attack on rural communities. In President
Trump’s playbook, MAGA really means Making Agriculture Go
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Awry, and we’re seeing it as it cascades down onto the kitchen ta-
bles of people in America.
Grocery costs are dramatically up. Over last year, coffee’s up 20
percent, beef’s up 16 percent, bananas are up 6.5 percent. Food
prices went up 3.1 percent in 2025 in the Trump administration.
And Trump keeps saying that affordability is a fake word. But it’s
not a fake word for small businesses, not a fake word for con-
sumers when something’s up 3.1 percent.
In fact, his agriculture committee strategy is bananas, okay, in
terms of what he’s doing, all across the board from tariffs to every
other policy which he has. His tariffs threatened to bankrupt thou-
sands of family farmers who are seeing their own prices increase,
and their exporting opportunities squeezed as other countries re-
taliate with tariffs of their own.
President Trump’s immigration policies are spreading fear in our
neighborhoods and making it even harder for rural businesses and
small farms to find hard working employees, a longstanding issue
in rural communities.
And we cannot ignore President Trump’s disastrous healthcare
policies. With the passage of President Trump’s big ugly bill, hun-
dreds of rural hospitals will likely close or cut services of to 22 mil-
lion Americans who just saw a dramatic increase in their health in-
surance on January 1st, just 12 days ago. Ten million of them are
small businesses, all work at small businesses, 10 million up to 22
million.
And a lot of these farmers, you know, they belong to farmer co-
ops. They’re Rotarians, they’re the lifeblood of Main Street across
rural America. And he’s turning Main Street into Pain Street, you
know, for these people, healthcare, electricity, energy costs, food
costs, all the way across the board.
And it’s just that the Republicans are just clueless, callous and
it’s the cruel decision not to extend the Affordable Care Act, their
enhanced tax credits. That’s going to mean thousands of rural
small businesses and their employees are going to see healthcare
costs skyrocket.
In fact, they’re facing in rural America a 28 percent higher in-
crease than those who live in cities. America was already strug-
gling with climate change impacts, rising housing costs, retraining
workers, finding a path forward for their small businesses when
they decide to retire. But we have to address these issues, support
our farmers, fishermen, ranchers in rural America, and not make
it harder for them to exist.
In Massachusetts, more than 7,000 small farms and thousands
of small businesses support our local agricultural economy. These
local producers lead the way in sustainable and innovative agri-
culture, cutting down greenhouse gas emissions, treating workers
fairly and feeding local communities and schools.
If President Trump were serious about supporting rural commu-
nities, he would be investing in small local producers rather than
prioritizing large multinational agricultural corporations that rou-
tinely violate workplace and environmental laws.
And while creating a small business blight, President Trump is
beefing up the pockets of his billionaire buddies. These corporations
receive extreme favorable treatment from the largest buyer of
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goods and services in the world, the United States government,
when it is small producers that are leading the way in creating
local sustainable food systems.
In Fiscal Year 2024, nearly $5 billion in food spending by the De-
partment of Agriculture went to just 25 companies. Those aren’t
small farmers, and that’s why I introduced the Effective Food Pro-
curement Act, which would provide more federal contracting oppor-
tunities for small producers, small farmers that are using sustain-
able practices and treating employees fairly.
It’s important that we provide those pathways for small busi-
nesses inside of our food systems. Food is more than what we see
on our plate. It is the labor of farmers and farm workers, the
health of our environments, and the cornerstone of growth for
many rural economies. So, today, I look forward to hearing from
our witnesses about how we can further our shared goals to help
small businesses in the agricultural community. Thank you.
CHAIR. Great. Thank you, Ranking Member Markey. And again,
I want to extend a warm welcome to all of our witnesses, and I am
thankful that you all took time out of your busy schedules to come
to Washington, DC to share your expertise on how we can improve
America’s rural agricultural economy.
I will now introduce the two witnesses who are here today to tes-
tify on behalf of the majority. And first, is Ms. Melissa Spurgin.
She is from Albia, Iowa, and is the Chief Financial Officer of first
Iowa State Bank, where she has worked for over 22 years. She pre-
viously served as Vice President of First Iowa State Bank. Ms.
Spurgin holds a bachelor’s degree from St. Ambrose University and
an MBA from Capella University.
And next, Mr. Jay Funke. Jay is from Edgewood, Iowa, and is
the owner of Del Clay Farm Equipment, a family-owned farm
equipment dealer business. Del Clay Farm Equipment has been in
business for over 25 years, and provides new and used farm equip-
ment to farmers throughout Northeast Iowa. Mr. Funke holds a
bachelor’s degree from Loras College.
And thank you, again, I now recognize Ranking Member Markey
to introduce his witnesses.
Senator MARKEY. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Erbin Crowell
serves as Executive Director of the Neighboring Food Co-op Asso-
ciation, a cooperative federation of retail grocery co-ops across New
England and New York State. And he has nearly three decades of
experience in cooperative business and food system development,
and serves on the boards of the National Cooperative Business As-
sociation and the New England Farmers Union. He lives with his
family in rural western Massachusetts.
Ms. Maria Moreira is the founder and board chair of World
Farmers which is based in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Her perspec-
tive as a farmer, a business owner, an immigrant, has fueled her
passion to advocate for small scale farmers for over 45 years. She
is also vice chair of the Rural Coalition Board of Directors and has
served as farm service agency county committee advisor for nine
years and was a member of the USDA Beginning Farmer and
Rancher Advisory Committee.
She’s just been a leading voice in identifying and establishing
market opportunities for ethnic crops and increasing access for cul-
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turally appropriate crops for immigrant and refugee communities,
and we look forward to hearing from both of them.
CHAIR. Wonderful. Thank you, Ranking Member Markey. And
briefly, I’ll take a moment and explain the lighting system in front
of you. There are three lights in front of you. Green means go. Yel-
low means you’re running out of time, and red means please wrap
it up quickly.
I ask unanimous consent that the witness’s full statements be in-
cluded in the record. And without objection, so ordered. As your
written testimony has been made part of the record, the committee
asks that you limit your oral remarks to five minutes. And with
that, Ms. Spurgin, you are recognized for five minutes for your tes-
timony.
STATEMENT OF MS. MELISSA ANN SPURGIN, CHIEF
FINANCIAL OFFICER, FIRST IOWA STATE BANK, ALBIA, IOWA
Ms. SPURGIN. Thank you, Madam Chair, Ranking Member, and
members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to ap-
pear before you today. My name is Melissa Spurgin, and I’m the
Chief Financial Officer of First Iowa State Bank, where we serve
rural communities across Southern Iowa.
I appear before you today on behalf of rural banks that underuti-
lize SBA loan programs, rural banks play a critical role in financ-
ing small enterprises. We rely heavily on local knowledge, long-
standing relationships, and firsthand understanding of our commu-
nities, not just standardized financial metrics.
Our limited use of SBA programs is not philosophical, it’s struc-
tural. In many rural banks, a single lender, single lender may han-
dle commercial ag and consumer lending. But SBA programs were
largely designed for lenders with scale and specialized staff. SBA
loans require significantly more documentation, certifications, and
post-closing compliance than conventional loans. With lender staff
requiring continuous training due to frequent rule changes, the de-
parture of just one employee can eliminate a bank’s SBA capability
entirely.
This is especially challenging because rural businesses typically
need smaller loans, not multimillion dollar financing. SBA under-
writing and servicing costs, both in terms of compliance and staff-
ing, are largely the same regardless of loan size or market area.
So, the economics often do not work for the small dollar loans.
Most common in rural communities, little weight is given to the
judgment of experienced rural lenders with specific requirements
around aspects of loan of a loan like debt service coverage ratio
that do not account for seasonal or cyclical income patterns. This
results in credit worthy businesses failing underwriting, not be-
cause they cannot repay, but because of timing. Mismatches in
cash flow equity injection requirements similarly fail to reflect
rural asset structures. Many rural businesses are asset rich, but
cash poor with wealth tied up in land, equipment or other assets
accumulated over generations. Collateral and personal guarantee
requirements also need greater flexibility.
Rural assets are often inherited, jointly owned, or held in trusts.
SBA collateral rules can require costly and time-consuming legal
restructuring simply to pledge assets or obtain guarantees. Docu-
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mentation alternatives should also be permitted for long estab-
lished rural businesses with informal but reliable operating his-
tories.
Community bank relationship knowledge should be recognized as
a compensating factor in underwriting aligning. SBA underwriting
with rural economic realities would expand access, increase pro-
gram utilization in rural markets, and do so without materially in-
creasing default risk. These are flexibility improvements, not loos-
ened standards.
Rural banks also have significant concerns about the risk of tech-
nical default and guarantee claw backs. SBA guarantees can be de-
nied or reduced due to minor paperwork or procedural errors, even
when the borrower performs as agreed. And rural banks typically
lack the in-house SBA specialist or legal teams to manage this risk.
A single denial of a guarantee can have a meaningful impact on a
small bank’s capital.
In practice, the guarantee is only as reliable as the compliance
process, and that process has proven unforgiving. As a result, rural
banks continue to lend, but we do so outside SBA programs, we
rely on portfolio loans, relationship-based underwriting, flexible re-
newals during downturns, faster credit decisions, and long-term
customer support.
During economic stress, rural banks are lending, but we are not
able to reach every credit worthy rural entrepreneur without SBA
support borrowers most affected our startups and those on the eco-
nomic margins of rural communities. The path to greater rural
bank participation is reducing friction in the system.
I believe Congress and the SBA can better achieve the goals of
supporting entrepreneurs and increasing access to capital in rural
America by doing the following; easing the compliance burden and
cost structure for smaller loans and for loans in rural areas, recog-
nizing the value of the judgment and relationship knowledge of the
community banker, providing flexibility and acceptable equity col-
lateral and personal guarantee requirements and how they’re docu-
mented, ensuring greater clarity so banks can truly rely on the
SBA guarantee without risking a claw back on a technicality. And
more effectively marketing resources such as the small business de-
velopment centers to ensure both banks and borrowers understand
what support exists.
The SBA with these reforms can be better and a more impactful
partner with community banks in Iowa and across the country. We
stand ready to be a partner in helping achieve this worthy goal.
Thank you for the opportunity to share these perspectives, and
I look forward to answering your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Spurgin follows.]
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CHAIR. Thank you, Ms. Spurgin. And is it Mr. Crowell or
Crowell?
Mr. CROWELL. Either.
CHAIR. Very easy. So, thank you, Mr. Crowell. Go ahead, and
thank you. You have five minutes for your testimony.
STATEMENT OF MR. ERBIN CROWELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
NEIGHBORING FOOD CO–OP ASSOCIATION (NFCA),
SHELBURNE FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS
Mr. CROWELL. Thank you, Chair Ernst, Ranking Member Mar-
key, and members of the committee. Thank you for this opportunity
to testify before you. We certainly appreciate your focus on this
issue, and the chance to discuss the role of cooperatives and credit
unions in building thriving local economies and agricultural sys-
tems.
My name is Erbin Crowell, and I serve as Executive Director of
the Neighboring Food Co-op Association. I’m also a board member
of the National Cooperative Business Association and the New
England Farmers Union. I’ve nearly three decades of experience in
co-op and food system development, beginning as a member of
equal exchange worker co-op based in West Bridgewater, Massa-
chusetts.
As the committee works to craft thoughtful policy, co-ops should
continue to have a significant role in creating thriving local econo-
mies. I want to recommend the following improvements in key sup-
ports. First, providing access to capital through the SBA by
crafting alternatives to current lending requirements for co-ops.
Second, ensuring that a generation of small business and family
farms are preserved through outreach and education on the cooper-
ative business model. And third, ensuring that key support for
cross-agency collaboration and technical assistance for co-ops is
available through federal programs and initiatives.
The Neighboring Food Co-op Association was founded in 2011 to
support the growth and development of food co-ops in the North-
east U.S., and we also partner with local producers and other co-
ops to strengthen the regional food system and economy, and col-
laborate with the NCBA and the New England Farmers Union on
policy advocacy related to agriculture, food security, and co-ops and
credit unions.
Our region is home to many farm and fishery co-ops, worker co-
ops, housing co-ops, and credit unions, as well as several utility co-
ops. But food co-ops are particularly prevalent. There’s 60 food co-
ops operating 70 storefronts, locally owned by almost 300,000 peo-
ple.
These range from large multi storefront retailers to small rural
grocery stores. Our co-ops are focused not just on accessing healthy
food, but sustaining jobs, strengthening food security, and pro-
viding markets for local producers, with a third of our sales being
local products. And that’s compared to about two to five percent in
supermarkets.
It’s also important to note that a half of all U.S. farmers are
members of at least one cooperative. Co-ops tend to be multi-
generational, maintaining crucial infrastructure and markets for
their members and their communities. For example, 78 percent of
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agricultural co-ops are more than 50 years old with Iowa, Texas,
and California leading in the number of farm farmer co-ops. With-
out these enterprises, rural people would not be able to fully par-
ticipate in the modern economy.
Similarly, most of our food co-ops in the northeast are in rural
and underserved areas, and have been in operation for decades.
Several were founded during the Great Depression era, with a sec-
ond wave in the ’60s and ’70s, and more startups opening in the
past decade.
An area where co-ops offer a solution is in business succession.
Small businesses are the backbone of our communities, and yet
we’re in the middle of a watershed moment in Main Street America
where across our country, many small businesses are owners are
swiftly approaching retirement age, and the average age of farmers
is 58 years old.
So, while some owners may choose to close or sell to an outside
investor, a better option is to sell to a worker, producer, or con-
sumer co-op. This ensures that the owner benefits financially, and
their legacy is preserved along with accessing goods and services
that would otherwise be lost.
My own region, we have an example of old creamery co-op, which
is a rural grocery store that when their members decided to retire,
they sold it to the people who loved it as much as they did; the peo-
ple who shopped there. We also have a worker co-op called Real
Pickles that became owned by its workers over 10 years ago, pre-
serving jobs in the community.
Despite the demonstrated success, impact and resilience of co-
ops, an ongoing challenge continues to be access to capital and ap-
propriate technical support. The shared ownership structure of co-
ops makes it makes them unable to access financing through SBA
due to lending requirements that are not feasible for co-op busi-
nesses, and in that can include hundreds or even thousands of
member owners.
During the COVID–19 pandemic, the personal guarantee policy
was temporarily removed with many positive outcomes for co-ops
including Real Pickles which was able to not only maintain its
business, but grow 25 percent in revenue since the end of the pan-
demic. We also have a retail co-op, Franklin Community Co-op,
which received a loan and has been able to not only grow, but is
now plan planning a major expansion.
Unfortunately, we’ve seen a lot of changes in instability in the
economy. And so, we believe that by improving policies, SBA can
help ensure that small business people, employees, farmers, and
ranchers, and especially young and beginning farmers, can harness
the power of the co-op business model to address the urgent chal-
lenges and opportunities in our rural communities. For example,
the Improving SBA Engagement Act, the Main Street 2.0 Act, and
other opportunities to increase interagency collaboration.
In summary, co-ops offer a time-tested successful and impactful
tool for addressing the challenges we face in these unstable times.
They have a track record of success and they can grow and serve
our communities better with some basic policy changes.
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So, thank you again, Chair Ernst, Ranking Member Markey,
members of the committee. Look forward to your questions. Thank
you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Crowell follows.]
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CHAIR. Thank you very much. And next, we’ll turn to Mr. Funke,
and you are recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF MR. JAMES ‘‘JAY’’ F. FUNKE, SALES MANAGER,
DEL CLAY FARM EQUIPMENT, EDGEWOOD, IOWA
Mr. FUNKE. Thank you, Chair Ernst, Ranking Member Markey,
distinguished members of the Small Business and Entrepreneur-
ship Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on cur-
rent conditions of Ag business and rural economy.
I grew up on a family farm, attended Loras College, came back
and have spent 45 years in Ag business, 39 years in ownership in
two different Ag businesses in Edgewood, Iowa. Edgewood is a com-
munity in Northeast Iowa with a current population of 904, and I
since found out, we’re at 908. So, we’re growing.
Our business community has been very active and been able to
roll with the changes, working together as a community supporting
local businesses and a strong work ethic with continuity and own-
ership of businesses. I’ve been a member of the Iowa Nebraska
Equipment Dealers Association since 1992, serving 10 years as a
board member, chairman, and current position as past chairman.
Like most members of rural communities, I have served on many
committees and spent over 30 years on economic development in
Edgewood. I have been around long enough to experience highs and
lows in the Ag business and our rural economy as our farmers’ in-
come has dropped in the losses of around $200 an acre are com-
mon.
The impacts can be felt in the small businesses supporting those
farmers. Our association monitors our member dealers and reports
large equipment sales are down 26.5 percent through October of
2025 versus 2024. The decrease in sales causes other problems. We
have larger inventories than needed for the current sales volume,
causing higher interest cost, which can lead dealers to dump inven-
tory and take losses on equipment.
Ultimately, this creates losses on the income statement that will
be reflected on the balance sheet. And as that happens, we stop
buying vehicles or replacing tools, cut advertising, and the list goes
on. Rural small business owners all experience problems like these
when the farmers they depend upon start to hurt.
We have always offered financing to our customers, and the need
today is greater than ever with increasing equipment costs, making
it harder for small farmers to afford the equipment. We do have
a strong business community in Edgewood, but we have lost our
Ford dealership, a restaurant, a realtor, and some other small busi-
nesses.
It is important for rural America to keep these services alive.
Otherwise, we will only continue to lose population to our larger
cities. I truly believe rural communities are vital to this country
and are a great place to raise a family. But if we are going to keep
them and the small businesses in them alive, then they will need
the support from Congress and the SBA.
I want to thank Congress for the steps taken to extend the tax
incentives to small businesses in the big beautiful tax bill. Small
businesses pour most of their earnings into growing and improving
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22
their business. We do not see a return until we sell or allow the
next generation to take over.
I want to share some other thoughts on how to improve our Ag
business and our rural economy. Number one, encourage young en-
trepreneurs, and give them the access to financing they need to get
their business started or to take over businesses that their commu-
nities already rely on. We need to keep rural America operating
and be able to support our farmers.
Number two, invest and to support programs to improve, and en-
courage businesses and people to stay in our rural communities, es-
pecially those communities under 10,000 people. In most cases, a
lot of the basic infrastructure is in place or can easily be improved
if we just offered the communities and small business owners the
advice and support they need.
Number three, although not in this community’s jurisdiction, in-
creased insurance support and stronger safety nets for our farmers
would go a long way to helping rural communities they’re a part
of.
Number four, fair and reciprocal trade requests from those coun-
tries we are purchasing goods and services from. My brother and
I also farm our family farm, and we sell our corn to all three grain
elevators in our community as they do business with us. I think
every farmer would rather have markets for their products than
rely on government payments, but we must make sure those mar-
kets treat us fairly and that our trading partners live up to the
agreements they make with us.
One percent of our population are farmers. They produce food for
the rest of this great country and the world, and create thousands
of jobs in their communities from all the support businesses re-
quired in their quest to feed the world. I’m proud to be a farmer
and an Ag business supporting farmers. These are some ideas that
I hope can be considered.
I greatly appreciate this opportunity to testify to this committee,
and look forward to any additional conversation.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Funke follows.]
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25
CHAIR. Thank you. And, finally, Ms. Moreira.
STATEMENT OF MS. MARIA MOREIRA, FOUNDER AND BOARD
PRESIDENT, WORLD FARMERS, LANCASTER, MASSACHUSETTS
Ms. MOREIRA. Thank you, Madam Chair Ernest, Ranking Mem-
ber Markey, and members of the committee. Thank you for the op-
portunity to offer testimony for today’s hearing, growing the small
business agriculture economy.
My name is Maria Moreira, and I am the founder and Board
Chair of World Farmers, a nonprofit which currently provides ac-
cess to land in technical assistance to 260 immigrant and refugee
farmers in Massachusetts. I am also the vice chair of the Board of
Rural Coalition, a national coalition with more than 60 grassroots
member organizations working to protect and sustain land food in
rural based here in Washington, DC.
In addition to the credentials you heard in my introduction, I
come to you today with 45 years of experience in both creating and
operating several successful food and farm businesses, and sup-
porting other farmers to build successful farming businesses in this
country, World Farmers’ founding mission is to support small scale
vegetable producers in accessing mainstream agricultural resources
in developing strong, viable businesses through technical assistance
and land access production and marketing.
Through all my years of dedicated to this work, the last five
years have been the most turbulent for farmers. Our farmers are
aging. Our shifting climate is imposing in creating threats to farm-
ers operations. Our farm labor is ever fragile in our land. Prices
are ever changing, changing markets posing threats.
While farmers continue to receive pennies on the dollar for their
products, we are seeing businesses continue to consolidate across
sectors, and their market models are not built to support new, be-
ginning small to medium scale farmers. This has made it increas-
ingly difficult for small farm family farms to sustain their oper-
ations, putting undue pressure on them to increase scale in an at-
tempt to compete.
We need to invest in our small to mid-size farms if we want to
see them not only survive but thrive. A local agricultural sector
stimulates job creation and supports economic activity among adja-
cent and neighboring businesses. And yet, individuals choosing to
farm are dwindling, and farmers’ children are first witness to the
scarce profit margins of finding other jobs.
In order to support the American people, we need to intentionally
prioritize and build a food system that facilitates the development
in growth of small to mid-scale agriculture businesses. One of the
most impactful programs for facilitating the business growth
among small and mid-scale farmers across the country was the
COVID-era policy that channeled resources directly to farmers, and
it did it in the most effective way possible by purchasing their
products.
This program originated under the Trump administration named
as the Farmers to Families Food Box Program, and evolved into
the local food purchasing assistance program known as LFPA. We
have not witnessed another single program that has provided a
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similar level of direct financial impacts to small and mid-size scale
farmers.
World Farmers was a contract holder for the first Farmers to
Families Food Box Program. The first time that USDA Agricultural
Marketing Service, AMS, had sourced diversified specialty crops
from farmers. It was a big shift for the agency, although many peo-
ple I know said that the bid process was not meant for small
aggregators like world farmers.
We applied and we were awarded the contract, recognizing the
impact it would have for direct market farmers who did not know
if their markets would operate during the pandemic. This program
proved AMS’s ability to source from small and mid-tier aggregators
who prioritize local farmers of scale.
It kept farmers afloat. The FPA and LFPA Plus programs did
similar things for farmers in Massachusetts. Of the 14.3 million in-
vested in cooperative partners to implement the program, 11.3 mil-
lion was the food purchases made with local farmers, fishermen,
and producers. That’s 80 percent of the total budget direct directly
invested in farmers products. These programs showcase the capac-
ity in success of the mid-tier aggregators across the country and
connecting with in advancing sales for small and mid-scale farm-
ers, as well as AMS’s ability to direct spending resources towards
smaller producers.
In another way, which USDA can invest in our nation’s pro-
ducers is through program outlined effective Food Procurement
Act, which we thank Senator Markey for developing and intro-
ducing. This bill would shift USDA’s significant purchasing power
to purchase from small to mid-sized producers, prioritizing local
sustainable and just purchasing with our government contracts and
sourcing just with the LFPA program.
This would support farmers by creating a market for their prod-
ucts, recognizing the rising needs for farmers of all scales across
the nation. We hope that USDA, either of their own accord or
through congressional direction, will invest in our farmers by in-
vesting in these programs.
Thank you for your time consideration of these in very important
matters in our support of growing the small business agriculture
economy. And I’m ready for the questions when they come.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Moreira follows.]
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39
CHAIR. Wonderful. Thanks, Ms. Moreira. We will now move into
questions and answers, and I’ll now recognize myself for five min-
utes for questions.
So, we’ll start with Ms. Spurgin. In your written testimony, you
state that, ‘‘The path to greater rural bank participation is reduc-
ing friction in the system.’’ And on her first day in office, SBA Ad-
ministrator Loeffler noted that one of her goals was to streamline
and improve user experience.
I know that significant process has been made, and I expect to
see that continue under this administration. Can you walk us
through the process you went through the last time you tried to
utilize the 7(a) loan program, and how it can be made easier to
navigate through automation?
Ms. SPURGIN. Yes. Thank you for the question, Senator. Well, I
will admit it has been five years since the last——
CHAIR. That’s a problem.
Ms. SPURGIN. Yes. Reason being, the last SBA loan that we did
took six months to close. It was the purchase of an existing busi-
ness that was so able to provide the historical data points, the his-
torical financials. It was a very well positioned business. So, there’s
no reason it should have taken six months to close.
And the other issue that we run into was the customer burnout.
And I’m not sure that ever gets referenced just in regard to the
back and forth that often happens between the SBA application
portal and the lender and the customer. So, it has been some time
since we have actually used the portal.
So, I would be very anxious for the small business development
centers and or local SBA offices to really start to reach out to local
lenders and describe the improvements. Because it will take turn-
ing the boat from with small lenders that have experienced the
frustrations with that within that system to start to try to recon-
sider using SBA programs.
CHAIR. So, when you’re describing that customer burnout, it is
simply that it takes so long they go back and forth between the
portal or additional information——
Ms. SPURGIN. Right. Or we submit something and then it’s some-
thing else. We need some additional documentation of some kind
or some additional projections. And so, that constant customer
thinks we’re done, we’ve submitted it, we’ll get a response, and
then it’s, oh, we need something else. We need something else. And
that is a very long, and can be a very stressful, timeframe for the
customer.
CHAIR. Absolutely. No, thank you. I appreciate that. And Mr.
Funke, last year, Congress passed the Working Families Tax Cut,
which extended several small business tax breaks. And how will
those tax cuts help your business this upcoming tax season, and
what investments do you plan to make in your own business?
Mr. FUNKE. Thank you for the question, Senator Ernst. First off,
the 20 percent deduction on qualified business income was very
helpful. And for a small business where we are investing our prof-
its back into our facilities, back into our people, back into our
equipment, it’s important to have that.
In my own instance, the 100 percent bonus depreciation along
with a Section 179 was a great help to our business. December is
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the biggest month of the year for sales in the farm equipment busi-
nesses, and we were able to capitalize on that and had one of our
best year ends. We’re very fortunate.
Yes, I talk about the farmers losing $200 an acre, but as you’re
familiar, we are from a more of a livestock-oriented farming in our
northeast location. And it’s been very helpful to our business to
minimize the reduction in our sales. So, those two things have hap-
pened.
And for the record, two guys that did buy pieces, big pieces of
equipment at the end of the year, both moved it into 2026 business.
So, the programs were good enough through the manufacturers
that they did that. So, you know most of our sales at the end of
the year were between 10 and $60,000. So, you know, not big-ticket
items. We didn’t sell any big tractors, a couple of combines, but
that was about it.
As far as ourself the investments we’ve made, our biggest one
came a year ago when we opened up our addition onto our facility.
We added 10,000 square feet of shop space onto our facility because
our shop had been expanding. And that’s one of the things we’ve
worked very strongly for the last several years; to expand our shop,
to be able to help our farmers and keep them up and operating in
those times when they need us in the spring and the fall in par-
ticular.
And even right now, when they’re in the winter, our livestock
guys need that skid loader to run every day. And we’re able to do
that. But I’ve invested in crane hoists you know, many different
pieces of equipment replacing some vehicles, and doing some of
those things.
And there’ll be more. But I will tell you that in 2026, at this
point, we’re going to be very cautious moving forward. Because we
don’t know where this price of commodities is going to go. And it
will trickle down and catch my livestock guys eventually.
CHAIR. Thank you. My time has expired. But just because we
maybe have an audience and folks that may be viewing that don’t
understand the cost of the type of farm equipment that we are
using in the Midwest, can you maybe just give the price of a com-
bine for those that are listening or watching?
Mr. FUNKE. I hope you’re all having fun with this one. So, certain
combines are in the $700,000 to $800,000 for the base unit. And
then on top of that, if you’re going to put a 12-row corn head on
it, that’ll run you someplace in $150,000 to $170,000. A 35-foot
platform is going to run you well over $100,000.
Now, my Ag-Co people with my Gleaner combines have done a
really strong job and they are trying to reduce the current inven-
tory. And we actually sold a brand new combine for true cash price
of, in the $430,000 range.
CHAIR. Yeah. So, I just use that to demonstrate, and thank you,
Mr. Funke. I just use that to demonstrate the cost associated with
equipment and farming today through the Midwest. So, thank you
for humoring me. I now recognize Ranking Member Markey.
Senator MARKEY. Thank you, Madam Chair. In December, I in-
troduced the Effective Food Procurement Act to fix our broken food
federal contracting system. This bill would help more small local
producers that care about climate change and sustainability and
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41
worker of fairness to get considered for federal purchasing opportu-
nities.
We just cannot continue to stick with the status quo of rewarding
massive agricultural corporations that are willing to sacrifice work-
er safety and sustainability while leaving small farmers on the
sidelines. Small farmers are like beggars at the banquet of federal
subsidies. They don’t get access to this funding.
And federal contracting just shouldn’t go to those same big com-
panies again, and again, almost like socialism that’s built into our
system where the biggest get the most every single time. If our
government supports small businesses, we should practice what we
preach. Public purchasing dollars should support the public good
and lift up small producers.
So, Ms. Moreira, what can be done to help small producers build
sustainable food systems in their local communities, and how
would the Effective Food Procurement Act help? You mentioned it
in your opening statement.
Ms. MOREIRA. First of all, it’s all about the markets, access to the
markets.
Senator MARKEY. Can you move the microphone over a little?
Ms. MOREIRA. First of all, it’s all about the access to the markets.
Farmers and ranchers across the nation strongly prefer investing
to improve access to markets over direct farm subsidies often ac-
crue the most agribusiness and integrators opening the markets,
existing markets to localized farm family, farm businesses in mid-
tier aggregators who work with small farmers.
By leveraging current investment in shifting procurement prac-
tices through the Effective Food Procurement Act, it is a critical
step that would, which would adapt USDA’s procurement practices
to establish a pipeline that future dependable, stable markets for
community connected and family operated farmers simply by
leveraging current investments in shifting procurement practice by
USDA. That’s all we’re asking.
Senator MARKEY. Yeah. Thank you. And again, a subsidy pro-
gram without access is an hallucination. That’s where small farm-
ers are in America. They’re just over here in some hallucinatory
state, you know, hoping someday that out of the goodness and be-
neficence of the federal government, that they’ll stop just having
socialized handouts to the biggest companies.
So, Mr. Crowell, what is the role of cooperatives in supporting re-
silient, sustainable, and localized food supply chains?
Mr. CROWELL. Thank you, Senator, for your leadership on this
issue, and particularly for including co-ops in this legislation. Cer-
tainly, shifting federal purchasing priorities towards small and
mid-size family farms would make a big difference, and it’s an ef-
fective investment in our rural communities and would expand
markets.
But particularly by including co-ops, it would also strengthen
farmer-owned infrastructure in these communities because these
co-ops are owned and governed by their patrons or the users of the
products and services.
Their goal isn’t to maximize profit, but to ensure that they can
meet their members’ needs over time, whether that’s inputs, proc-
essing or marketing and distribution. And that means that there’s
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a built-in incentive for the cooperative to stay rooted in its commu-
nity, to weather economic and environmental challenges and invest
in long-term infrastructure and impact.
By procuring from co-ops, you’re also benefiting not just one busi-
ness, but all the members of that business, which in a farmer co-
op can be in the tens or it can be in the thousands. So, it’s a very
efficient investment in rural America.
Senator MARKEY. So, talk about then the issues around SBA
lending and cooperatives.
Mr. CROWELL. Thank you. Yeah. As I mentioned also, I’ll just
mention briefly for food co-ops, you know, we’re very focused on
local procurement, the average co-op purchases from 169 local
farmers. But our growth is limited by personal guarantee require-
ments in SBA loans, the lack of technical support for people want-
ing to transition to the business model, understand what it means
to be a member owned co-op, and the lack of strong interagency col-
laboration. So, those are the basic changes we’d like to see, many
of which are already reflected in bipartisan legislation such as the
Main Street Employee Ownership Act.
Senator MARKEY. Yeah. Thank you. But again, legislation with-
out passages are hallucination. So, we have to work on a bipartisan
basis to get them passed. Thank you, Madam Chair.
CHAIR. Yeah, thank you. I just want to mention it’s a topic that
we should be debating; the Effective Food Procurement Act. It has
been referred to the Agricultural Committee. It is not under the
purview of the Small Business Committee, but thank you, Senator
Markey.
And actually, Senator Husted, you are recognized for five min-
utes.
Senator HUSTED. Thanks, Madam Chair. I’ve enjoyed the con-
versation and listening. You know, having grown up in Ohio, and
in a farming community, and watching the industry over the years
and how innovation technology and globalization, all these things
have affected it.
I started to do a little math, having a little fun here with my AI
partner as I was going through the economics of a family farm and
reflecting on the estate tax debate that always goes on around
farms. And I was thinking about a large family farm, 3,000 acres,
row crops; wheat, corn, soybeans. I did the math on this.
At $10,000 an acre, that’s a $30 million asset. But once you fac-
tor in average input costs and average yields, an average net or
price for what people would be yielding in those crops over this sort
of, this past three years, the estimate of the net profit would be
$81,153 a year, which is great. It’s a profit, but not much of one
when you consider all the risk that’s involved in that. But if you
would’ve taken that same amount of value and invested in the S&P
500 this past year, it would’ve netted you $4.9 million, and you
could have sat home the whole time.
So, I guess I’m not making a case for farming economically
speaking with that assessment. But I’m just trying to talk about
how important it is that we have people who are willing to do this
in our country, to feed America and people around the world who
don’t have the ability to grow this kind of food, and how important
the estate tax exemptions that we put in the bill and the Working
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Families Tax Cut plan this year really were for that very example
that I used.
Because the tax bill for that, were it not there, and you wanted
to pass it on to the next generation, would’ve been $12 million. And
$12 million at an average net profit of $81,000 a year, it would
take you 147 years to pay that tax bill. And so, when we make poli-
cies here with family farms in mind, and we hear the rhetoric
around the estate tax, it’s just economics. People won’t stay in the
family farming business if they can’t afford it, if they get charged
a tax bill that they could never pay.
And so, Ms. Spurgin, I appreciate you being here. And I, I’m glad
that you brought my friend Adam along with you as former Sec-
retary of State. But does that sound like the kind of people that
are the customers in your bank and the, the kind of issues that
they contemplate when they’re making in financial decisions?
Ms. SPURGIN. Absolutely. And it’s unfortunate that the piece that
is considered when a family farm is going to transition is to sell
the farm. And that’s unfortunate.
Senator HUSTED. And what we did in the bill to help exempt
them from that tax bill, does it save family farms?
Ms. SPURGIN. Yes, very much so.
Senator HUSTED. Thank you. Well, I’m glad to know that because
I think it’s a virtuous goal, and I’m glad that we were able to get
that accomplished and sort of make the economic—at least give a
chance for the economics of this to work.
You talked about in your testimony, compliance burdens. Could
you talk a little bit more about that as it relates to the how you,
like, give us a flavor, if you could, about that farmer, about that
family farm. They come to you and they’re looking for financing.
Explain what that compliance burden means.
Ms. SPURGIN. Yeah. So, you know, at the very basic level, a lot
of the requirements just at the very beginning in the application
side, when you’re talking about business plans, financial state-
ments projections and especially for either young borrowers or even
new entrepreneurs into a new business, that’s really where we see
the struggle is just having—you know, they’re all trying to do their
work on a day-to-day basis, but then to have this additional burden
of not opposed to providing projections or providing any of that.
It’s the level of compliance that’s required and the constant.
What seems to be a constant back and forth between the applica-
tion portal, and getting with the customer, and having them be
able to set aside the time that’s required to put this together. You
know, so that’s what we see from the front end.
Also, compliance issues related just simply around once an SBA
loan is done around the guarantee where we have lived. Unfortu-
nately, not all businesses remain as ongoing entities and have lived
working through with SBA on the guarantee. And it is not an easy
process. Something that you do at the very beginning that says you
have a guarantee, and five years later, you unfortunately have to
go back on that guarantee with SBA. And it is a very cumbersome
process.
Unfortunately, the lender that did the loan that we did five years
ago, I asked him, I said have you ever talked to anyone about an
SBA loan? And he goes, I will never do one again. And it was a
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good business. It was a purchase. It wasn’t even a startup. But,
again, just the time that it took to close the loan, six months, and
the unfortunate side is the sellers of existing businesses, they’ve
got to be willing to stay hooked with that buyer to be able to work
through that timeframe in that process. So, thank you for the ques-
tion.
Senator HUSTED. Great. Thank you.
CHAIR. Yeah. Thank you. Senator Shaheen.
Senator SHAHEEN. Thank you, Madam Chair. One of the things
that I think is quite apparent listening to the testimony of all of
our witnesses, and the questions from you, Madam Chair, and the
ranking member, is that farming isn’t the same all across the coun-
try. And when SBA or USDA tries to make rules that apply to
farms, there’s a really different ability for farmers to be able to
benefit from those programs.
And as Senator Markey pointed out, and the witnesses from
Massachusetts have pointed out, farming in New England is a
whole lot different than farming in Iowa and in New Hampshire.
We have a lot of small farms, a lot of organic farms and they have
not been able to take advantage of a lot of the programs that are
more available for larger farms.
And, Mr. Crowell, you talked about the federal food programs
that play an important role in providing a revenue stream for busi-
nesses and food producers. We’ve seen that in New Hampshire. We
have one of the oldest food co-ops in the country. I’m sure you’re
aware of the Hanover Food Co-op which I think is the second oldest
in the country.
And one of the things that’s really helped that co-op and the one
in Littleton, which is a smaller community, is the Local Food Pur-
chase Assistance Cooperative Agreement program that you men-
tioned, Ms. Maria. And one of the challenges is that our federal
agencies, like so much of our bureaucracy, don’t talk to each other.
And so, if we want to promote small business farming, then we
need to have SBA work with USDA. And what we saw with the
LFPA program is that it was terminated back in March by USDA
and what we lost in New Hampshire was $2.7 million to purchase
food from local farms. And while that doesn’t sound like a lot, if
you’re in Iowa or New York or California, that’s a lot in New
Hampshire.
So, can you talk Mr. Crowell, about the consequences of the
losses of this kind of federal funding for our small, small farms and
what that means and how we should think about encouraging coop-
erative agreements between federal agencies to avoid this kind of
problem in the future?
Mr. CROWELL. Yes. Thank you, Senator Shaheen. And especially
for your support of our family farmers and food co-ops in New
Hampshire, as you mentioned our farms in the northeast are quite
unique. They tend to be much smaller, much more diversified. They
tend to be vulnerable to issues like climate change because they’re
in very narrow river valleys. And often the services coming from
USDA aren’t, aren’t quite appropriate. I mean, they’re easily ad-
dressed, I think.
But it can be difficult for us and certainly for our food co-ops
working to sustain those local farms and prioritize them. The sup-
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port of the government has been very valuable and obviously has
a knock-on effect in our rural communities. One key support has
been the interagency working group on cooperative development, as
you’re aware, which has representation from across various depart-
ments and agencies.
We’ve seen renewed efforts during this Congress for SBA and
USDA to better cooperate, which would make a big difference for
us particularly on programs like disaster assistance. And I think
that the lending programs coming through better collaboration
through USDA and Rural Business Cooperative Services would
make a world of difference for our region. Thank you.
Senator SHAHEEN. Thank you. And just to follow-up on that, Ms.
Spurgin, you’ve spoke eloquently about the challenges of what wait
times do for all small businesses, but I think it’s a particular prob-
lem for small family farms. And we’ve seen that, again, especially
with USDA and with some of the programs, the REAP program,
which helps with energy costs, which in New England, as we know,
is a big cost.
And we are very affected by climate change and what happens
to a business. We have four farms in New Hampshire that have
been waiting for more than a year for their REAP funding. What
happens to small businesses and farms when they have to wait
that long a time in order to know whether they’re going to get the
funding they need to go forward with the project?
Ms. SPURGIN. Thank you for the question, Senator. My experi-
ence is they give up, which is, I think, unfortunate.
Senator SHAHEEN. Sadly, what we see. And so, thinking about
how this committee can better work with, since I’m on Ag Approps,
I can talk about the agriculture side, but how can we better work
with the agriculture authorizing committee to look at some of the
challenges as we want to promote our small family farms? I hope
that we can think about ways to do that. Thank you, Madam
Chair.
CHAIR. Yes. Thank you, Senator Shaheen. Senator Young.
Senator YOUNG. Well, thank you, Chair, Ranking Member, for
holding this hearing. I think it’s been really important. I want to
thank our witnesses for your testimony today.
Great state of Indiana, we have a lot of farms of course associ-
ated with that. A lot of vibrant farm communities, and some that
have lost some of their vibrancy over the years. One of the many
challenges they’re facing right now is they’re dealing with a silver
tsunami. This is not unique to farm country or to farm operations.
But it can be especially acute in some of our rural communities.
In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, half of small busi-
nesses are owned by individuals who will reach retirement age
within the next 10 years. When these farmers exit agriculture
without a clear exit strategy, a clear succession plan, farms are
often sold or consolidated. Young and beginning farmers face espe-
cially high barriers to entry, and rural communities lose jobs, lose
population, and lose economic activity.
Ms. Spurgin, what are the biggest barriers that young or first-
generation entrepreneurs tend to face when trying to start a busi-
ness, or take over an existing farm, or rural small business?
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Ms. SPURGIN. Thank you for the question, Senator. From my ex-
perience, that has been the cash down payment requirements. Spe-
cifically, within the SBA programs, it’s at least a 10 percent cash
down payment. A lot of what we look at with portfolio lending is
the seller or however they’re transitioning out, that equity may be
held and would typically be land, buildings, other equipment. You
know, so giving the borrower value for that equity versus having
it be all cash.
Senator YOUNG. You have some related challenges in the housing
market that there’ve been some creative financial instruments that
I know are being structured to try and address that. It’s a little
outside the scope of what I intend to ask about, but thank you.
Is our existing SBA loan programs, in your mind, flexible enough
to help young farmers and entrepreneurs buy into established oper-
ations rather than starting from scratch?
Ms. SPURGIN. In lieu of the cash down payment requirements, if
it’s an established business, I would say yes just because the his-
torical financials are there. So, you’re able to have some data to
base your projections off of, but to start something from scratch, I
hate to know that the number of folks that wouldn’t qualify simply
from that.
Senator YOUNG. Yeah. Maybe that’s something we take a look at,
see if the SBA programs could accommodate that. I’m going to go
ahead and open this up to Mr. Funke or our other witnesses. Do
you have anything to add on this topic of succession planning and
ways Congress maybe can soften the impact to this challenge?
Mr. FUNKE. Yes, I do. In fact, if you noticed in my bio, I listed
that I’m only the sales manager there now. That says I promoted
my daughter to the general manager right before I left.
Senator YOUNG. I see.
Mr. FUNKE. So, yeah, that is a very important part. I am 67
years of age. I enjoy what I do. I’m not looking to get out just yet,
but I also know that we need to keep the younger generation in-
volved, and get them up there, and get them running.
We have a small farm, in today’s world. We are farming roughly
around 550 acres that my brother and I own. And then my two
sons, JC and Matt, help me and my brother with that farming op-
eration. And they just recently purchased 70 acres with help
through the USDA, the FSA program as beginning farmers.
I’ve had them working with us in the last 10 years to help build
up that, you know, ability to do something like that. It is not some-
thing that you can do overnight, and the ability to start into farm-
ing or any small business is going to require the help of somebody
that is willing to get them going, whether it’s, you know, in our
business. You said 25 years. Del Clay started in 1974, and it actu-
ally goes back to 1947 when it was started by another individual.
Senator YOUNG. So, Mr. Funke, having just gone through this ex-
perience and being, you know, fairly versed in it, you clearly took
away because you just shared it with us that you can’t start right
as you’re looking to retire, but were there program adjustments
that you feel like would make it easier on people like yourself try-
ing to make this transition to the next generation?
Mr. FUNKE. Absolutely. You know, for this next generation to get
going in the correct manner, they need to have some skin in the
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game, and they need to be able to go out and borrow some money.
If all their money is coming from dad, or mom, or their great uncle,
that makes it more difficult to get these things going.
But to Ms. Spurgin’s comment that six months is too long for
these things to take, I’ve put together a lot of financing for farmers,
and the urgency of getting these things done quickly through leas-
ing, through longer-term financing with other lenders is very im-
portant.
CHAIR. Yes. And we do have just a few minutes before we close,
if the rest of you would like to add comment as well, Mr. Crowell.
Mr. CROWELL. Sure. Thank you. Yeah, this is another area busi-
ness succession that co-ops can play a key difference. But there’s
not the technical support out there from SBA to communicate to
business owners that option, what it might look like, how to be-
come a cooperative.
We have examples of things like farm supply businesses hard-
ware stores that have converted to cooperative structures and
therefore remained in the community. And then on the food co-op
side, changing these personal guarantee requirements could free
food co-ops to expand their purchases of local goods.
As I mentioned, on average, food co-ops buy from 169 local pro-
ducers. They’re also often areas where new farmers can try new
products. They’re willing to experiment with new products and
services. And you see many examples of local farmers that started
just selling to their local food co-op and now are large businesses
distributing to major buyers.
Senator YOUNG. Great.
CHAIR. And, Ms. Moreira, did you have any comments?
Ms. MOREIRA. Yes. I just wanted before closing to focus on the
LFPA, and the need for the LFPA program for small farmers. And
during the last one year, we serviced 500—we purchased aggregate
from 500 farmers, small farmers in Massachusetts, in New Eng-
land.
And the effects of the cancellation in March was devastating. In
March, farmers had already purchased their seeds. They had al-
ready started their seedlings. All of the planning for the season has
already been done. They had already invested in all of the system
of doing their crops this season.
So, finding a market at that point, the food finding a market was
next to impossible. So, we did the best we could. All farmers that
were part of the program did the best they could, but crops were
left in the field unsold. So, that’s really, really, really important for
us to know how important that program is, still is, in how dev-
astating the cancellation of it was. I could go on, you know, but I
think my time is up. Thank you.
CHAIR. Thank you. Yes, we appreciate the comments today.
Senator MARKEY. Just ask one quick question, if I may.
CHAIR. Yeah, of course.
Senator MARKEY. Yeah. Thank you. I went to the farm in Ireland
that my grandmother had to leave because the succession program
in Ireland was the oldest gets the farm and everyone else moves
to America. So, I went to the farm just to see, and this woman is
like the twin of my mother, but my mother was—you know, that
part of the family, it was down the food chain.
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So, they all had to come to Boston. And a beautiful farm. You
know, I could see just that birth order might have changed my
whole history in terms of what the succession plan was. And then,
my father was a milkman, so he took us up to Beverly Farms to
see where the milk came from the cows, and then he would be de-
livering the milk. So, we moved to the retail side of farming in one
generation. And so, that’s my relationship with it.
And, Mr. Crowell, I’d just like to know what did the cuts in the
SNAP program’s supplemental nutrition program, what impact did
that have on small farmers across Massachusetts, but across New
England, and the country?
Mr. CROWELL. Yes. Thank you for the question. I think really
that the challenge around the cuts to SNAP benefits, obviously, it
has a deep impact on food security, particularly in rural areas. But
it also has a knock-on effect. What it meant was people with lim-
ited incomes had less money to spend on healthy food and gro-
ceries, which means sales would go down for the food co-op, which
meant that the co-op couldn’t buy as much product from, from local
farmers.
So, I think when we think about how these benefits impact not
just individuals, families on limited incomes, we have to think
about them more systemically as well and understand that they
are part of a more sustainable and fair food system that can keep
people well fed and healthy over time.
Senator MARKEY. Okay. Great. Thank you, Madam Chair.
CHAIR. Wonderful. Well, again, I do want to thank our witnesses
for being here today. I ask unanimous consent that the record of
today’s hearing remain open for two weeks for members to submit
questions, revise and extend their remarks, and submit additional
information into the record. Without objection, so ordered.
And again, thank you very much for this important committee
meeting today. And with that, the Committee on Small Business
and Entrepreneurship stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:42 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
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