USDA Announces February 2025 Lending Rates for Agricultural Producers

Feb 05, 2025

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced loan interest rates for February 2025, which are effective Feb. 3, 2025. USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans provide important access to capital to help agricultural producers start or expand their farming operation, purchase equipment and storage structures or meet cash flow needs.

Operating, Ownership and Emergency Loans
FSA offers farm ownership, operating and emergency loans with favorable interest rates and terms to help eligible agricultural producers obtain financing needed to start, expand or maintain a family agricultural operation.

Interest rates for Operating and Ownership loans for February 2025 are as follows:      

Farm Operating Loans (Direct): 5.125%
Farm Ownership Loans (Direct): 5.500%
Farm Ownership Loans (Direct, Joint Financing): 3.500%
Farm Ownership Loans (Down Payment): 1.500%
Emergency Loan (Amount of Actual Loss): 3.750%

FSA also offers guaranteed loans through commercial lenders at rates set by those lenders. To access an interactive online, step-by-step guide through the farm loan process, visit the Loan Assistance Toolon farmers.gov.       

Commodity and Storage Facility Loans
Additionally, FSA provides low-interest financing to producers to build or upgrade on-farm storage facilities and purchase handling equipment and loans that provide interim financing to help producers meet cash flow needs without having to sell their commodities when market prices are low.  Funds for these loans are provided through the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) and are administered by FSA.  

Commodity Loans(less than one year disbursed):5.250%
Farm Storage Facility Loans:
Three-year loan terms: 4.375%
Five-year loan terms: 4.500%
Seven-year loan terms: 4.500%
Ten-year loan terms: 4.625%
Twelve-year loan terms: 4.750%
Sugar Storage Facility Loans (15 years): 4.875%

Source : usda.gov

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.