Farm Lenders, Financial Experts to Congress: Support U.S. Sugar Policy

Five dozen farm lenders and financial experts sent a letter today to House and Senate Agriculture Committee leadership urging Congress to strengthen U.S. sugar policy in the Farm Bill and oppose any efforts to weaken the farm safety net.

"An effective safety net is essential when lenders consider extending operating loans to farmers, given the high levels of investments necessary to run a successful sugarbeet or sugarcane operation and the financing necessary for processing those crops into raw and refined sugar," the letter states.

Improvements to U.S. sugar policy will help sustain a "stable financial framework for continued investment by family farmers at the farm and sugar processing levels," the experts assert.

This letter was signed by national lender CoBank, as well as 59 other financial institutions, Certified Public Accountants, and tax professionals collectively operating in more than a dozen states. These experts have an intimate understanding of the financial challenges facing America's farmers. The costs of growing sugarbeets and sugarcane have drastically increased by more than 30% since the 2018 Farm Bill.

Any efforts to undermine the effectiveness of our no-cost U.S. sugar policy would "increase the likelihood of farmers defaulting on their operation loans… and generally raise the financial risk associated with sugar production."

While opponents to U.S. sugar policy would rather open the U.S. sugar market to unlimited foreign subsidized sugar imports, the consequences would be dire:

• Multi-generational family farms and more than 151,000 jobs throughout the sugar supply chain - many of which are union jobs - would be threatened.
• Production of this critical food ingredient would be outsourced to foreign suppliers who may not meet the same sustainability, labor, and environmental standards as American sugar producers.
• Food and candy manufacturers would be left wholly dependent on unreliable foreign sugar supply chains, threatening our national food security.

U.S. sugar policy has garnered a broad coalition of bipartisan support as Congress considers a five-year Farm Bill. The Farm Bill must keep it sweet in America by delivering greater certainty and a strengthened safety net for America's farm and ranch families.