Indigo Ag and the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac) announced their collaboration for a program that will reward U.S. farmers for using new or existing sustainable practices according to a release. Indigo Ag is a sustainability partner in the agriculture industry and Farmer Mac helps to increase accessibility for financing in American agriculture and rural infrastructure. The Indigo & Farmer Mac Sustainable Agriculture Incentive Program will provide interest rate rebate payments to U.S. farmers that participate with eligible Farmer Mac farm mortgages if they use sustainable practices and provide annual agronomic data.
Accepted farmers will be eligible for access to “a three-year 0.25% interest rate rebate payment on the principal balance of qualifying Farmer Mac farm mortgages,” according to the release. The Indigo & Farmer Mac Sustainable Agriculture Incentive is available in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Nebraska with participating lenders for qualifying farm operations. This is available until the loan limit is reached in the program or spring planting is completed, whichever event happens first.
The program will allow farmers to increase their profits by using sustainable practices through Indigo Ag’s sustainability programs — including Carbon by Indigo. FieldFlex, by Indigo Ag — which gives farmers the opportunity to participate in carbon credit and sustainable crop programs in different years on the same field. Combining both programs helps farmers maximize their profitability with rebates and revenue through sustainable practices in agriculture.
“Farmer Mac is always exploring new and innovative opportunities to deliver added value to our network of lenders and their farm customers,” said Zack Carpenter, Farmer Mac chief business officer. “We are excited to collaborate with Indigo Ag on this new way to deploy financial incentives that support producers who have implemented or plan to implement these agricultural practices.”
“We are thrilled to collaborate with Farmer Mac to offer an incremental economic benefit to both farmers who are new to sustainable agriculture, and to those who’ve been performing practices that sequester carbon on their farms for years,” said John Frederick, Indigo Ag CFO. “Through this collaboration, Indigo Ag and Farmer Mac can support and accelerate sustainable practice adoption by offering growers the choice of enrolling in the program that best fits their operation and creating stackable incentives for sustainable farming practices. It is another way that we are enabling our agribusiness partners to help their growers through the transition to sustainable agriculture.”
