Trump SBA Boosts Domestic Food Production with 90% Grocery Loan Guarantee

Over the past year, we have been working on ways to expand the role of the International Trade Loan program. The first phase of this initiative was just announced at the White House this afternoon. Stay tuned for more news next week.

This is worth understanding if you work anywhere near agriculture and the food supply chain. The SBA just expanded the International Trade Loan Program to include small businesses across the food supply chain. The details are in the post below, but the headline is simple: stronger capital access means more domestic food production, better logistics infrastructure, and a supply chain that holds up when conditions get difficult. The businesses eligible here are the backbone. Strengthening them strengthens every link downstream. Where do you see the biggest gap in America's food supply chain right now — production, logistics, or access to capital? At Pope Enterprises Continuum and Verity Federal, we work with organizations navigating exactly these kinds of federal ecosystems. If you are a small business in the food supply chain trying to understand how this program fits your growth strategy, let's connect. #SupplyChain #FoodSecurity #SmallBusiness #SBA #Agriculture #FarmersFirst #DomesticFood #Logistics #FederalPrograms #PopeEnterprise #VerityFederal

Profit Doesn’t Matter If Cash Doesn’t Flow. I’ve seen farms that were technically profitable — but still collapsed. Why? Because cash timing killed them. Inputs were purchased upfront. Labour was paid weekly. But buyers delayed payment 2–3 weeks after delivery. On paper: profit. In reality: cash pressure. Cash flow timing is survival strategy in agriculture. Ask yourself: • When does money go out? • When does money come in? • What happens if payment is delayed? Profit is theory. Cash flow is reality.

One of the most overlooked challenges in agricultural lending is policy navigation. Lenders constantly need answers to questions like: • What does policy say about this collateral structure? • How does this program affect loan eligibility? • What are the regulatory implications of this structure? Too often the answers require digging through hundreds of pages of policy documents. That process slows down decisions. And in agriculture, timing matters. This is exactly the problem FieldCounsel was built to solve. #FarmCredit #AgFinance #RuralBanking

You don’t need “more lenders" first. You need a lender-ready file: contracts that match the model, documentary terms that don’t invite disputes, and controls that survive stress. Agri exports: pre-export finance matched to season. Focus: inspection + document match. https://lnkd.in/eYRjd_rf #AgriTrade

A part of the market many investors never see. Banks tend to focus on larger agricultural loans. Smaller loans allow private investors to earn income through well-secured lending against farmland. Ecosse focuses on short-term loans where there is substantial equity beneath the loan. Conservative lending. Farmland security. Fixed income paid monthly. Curious how these loans are structured and what investors typically earn? Send me a message. #AgriculturalLending #PrivateCredit #Investment #PrivateLending

🔴 Groupe Crédit Agricole said its loans and profits rose in 2025, as it increased financing to the economy and attracted more savings. Outstanding loans stood at 129bn dirhams at the end of December, up 13% from 114bn a year earlier. The bank said it continued to support key sectors, particularly agriculture and socio-economic development. https://lnkd.in/dnzhUS4P

🚜📊 Reminder: You cannot manage what you don’t measure. Record your expenses, monitor your yields, and calculate your margins. A farmer without records is like a business without accounts. #Grandfarmer #AgriBusiness #FarmRecords

Former finance secretary Gary Teves emphasizes the role of civil society groups in ensuring that fuel subsidies will be received by the “right persons.” In an interview with One News’ Money Talks, Teves, who was finance chief from 2005 to 2010, says civil society groups are “helpful” in strictly monitoring the budget amid the global oil crisis brought about by the Middle East conflict. Agencies like Department of Transportation and Department of Agriculture are preparing guidelines to distribute fuel subsidies to the transport and agriculture sectors, as local pump prices are expected to spike in the coming weeks. | via Money Talks 📷: One News WATCH: https://lnkd.in/gcyGggdX

Why smallholder farmers are often most impacted & least catered to? 1. Structurally weak balance sheet 2. Dependency on informal credit leads to sub par quality inputs 3. Sub par quality inputs results in suboptimial yeilds. It is a tough cycle to be trapped in & financial institutions will have to develop financing models with practical underwriting structures to fund the smallholder farmers if the are serious.