Land Use
Understanding California's Williamson Act
The Williamson Act was established to curb the rapid loss of the state's ag land. The act offers property tax relief to agricultural landowners.
5 Trends Ag Lenders are Watching in 2025
Explore five trends ag lenders are monitoring in 2025 to effectively support farmers and manage risk in a rapidly evolving agricultural landscape.
Ben Maddox
Dec 3, 2024
Originally published by FCCS Consulting as an installment in the Passkey Take 5 series. To learn more about Acres' partnership with FCCS and the Passkey program, check out the official press release here.
The agricultural landscape is evolving rapidly, and ag lenders must stay ahead of emerging trends to effectively support farmers and manage risk. Interest rate changes, lower commodity prices, and regionally divergent land values have introduced new challenges. As we approach 2025, here are five key trends that ag lenders are tracking.
1. Efficiently Prospect for New Customers
With higher interest rates and increasing competition, finding the right leads is more critical than ever. By leveraging tools like mortgage lists, sales reports, and parcel data, lenders can quickly identify potential borrowers. For example, creating lists of landowners with upcoming loan maturities or high-interest loans allows for direct outreach with targeted offers.
2. Manage Risk Through Unpredictable Weather
Unpredictable weather patterns and natural hazards continue to pose risks to farmland and collateral. Enhanced risk management practices, such as mapping and visualizing impacted regions, are vital. Predictive modeling and access to historic imagery, crop health data, and regional factors enable informed lending decisions and help safeguard portfolios.
3. Keep Up with Shifting Land Values
Shifting land values demand up-to-date insights. Access to the latest land sales data and parcel-level insights is essential for accurate valuations. Lenders are closely monitoring loan declines to manage portfolio valuation and risk. Weekly and monthly sales reports filtered by land use, crop type, and region provide valuable foresight into market conditions.
4. Save Time with Automation and Artificial Intelligence
Automation and AI are transforming routine processes like underwriting and appraisal, allowing lenders to accomplish more with smaller teams. Technology is being utilized to streamline tasks, such as mapping legal deeds, enabling employees to focus on higher-value work.
5. Enhance Customer Experience
In a cautious market, exceptional customer service becomes a key differentiator. Technology plays a critical role in improving the customer experience by providing user-friendly online portals for loan applications, maintaining transparent communication channels, and utilizing data to personalize services. These initiatives instill confidence and attract tech-savvy customers.
Final Thoughts
Embracing data and technological innovation in 2025 will equip ag lenders to mitigate risks, seize opportunities, and provide tailored, data-driven solutions. Many Farm Credits are partnering with platforms like Acres.com to find leads, streamline valuations, and manage risk through secure, all-in-one data and mapping tools.
