Farm Emergency Credit Act of 1985

(Measure passed House, amended, roll call #18 (318-103))

Farm Emergency Credit Act of 1985- Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to require the Secretary of Agriculture, in implementing the debt adjustment program, to: (1) consider a borrower to have a positive cash flow (for Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) loan purposes) if anticipated annual cash inflows are 100 percent of anticipated outflows; (2) guarantee 90 percent of principal and interest indebtedness; (3) make guarantees available without fee charges for refinancing existing indebtedness, and for 1985 operating expenses including supplies, rent, and family subsistence; and (4) permit a lender to qualify for a guarantee by establishing an interest rate (not to exceed a specified ceiling) that will provide the borrower with a positive cash flow.

Authorizes additional appropriations for FY 1985 loan guarantees.

Establishes a 100 percent positive cash flow requirement for purposes of loan deferral under the special debt set-aside program.

Directs the Secretary to make reduced interest operating loans available through 1987 to those borrowers engaged primarily and directly in farming or ranching in the United States whose farms or ranches were eligible for specified disaster emergency loans in three of the previous five years, and who are unable to obtain sufficient credit elsewhere.

Directs the Secretary to ensure that: (1) lender applications are reviewed by FmHA within 14 days; and (2) "approved lender" designations are reviewed by FmHA within 15 days. Includes farm credit banks with adequate reserves in such program.

Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Secretary should: (1) take administrative action within 15 days to make FmHA loan guarantee programs more responsive to borrower and lender needs; and (2) take immediate steps to make personnel and other resources available to facilitate the administration of such program.

Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) current and future interest rates facing borrowers affect the cost of producing farm and ranch commodities, the demand for these commodities, and the costs of related family farm needs; (2) current and future interest rates paid by borrowers under this Act are directly related to credit market conditions, particularly the availability of credit; (3) borrowers under this Act need timely information about the current and future availability of credit in order to decide when and whether to apply for loan and debt adjustment guarantees and insured operating loans; and (4) the Secretary should consult with those Government agencies, including the Federal Reserve System, who supply credit, to indicate the current and future availability of credit.

Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to require the Secretary to make advance recourse loans available for 1985 crop production.

Provides that: (1) such loans shall be made available only to producers who are unable to obtain sufficient credit elsewhere, and at the prevailing nonrecourse loan rate applicable for each commodity; (2) producers must obtain crop insurance if available, and provide a first lien on the crop or other security as loan collateral; and (3) producers unable to get full advance financing must obtain certification from a lender that additional financing will be made available.

Limits aggregate individual loans to $50,000.

Directs the Secretary to carry out the program through the Commodity Credit Corporation, using the services of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service and the county committees.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) issue implementing regulations and make loans available within 15 days; and (2) extend for 30 days the program sign-up date for the 1985 crops of wheat, feed grains, cotton, and rice.

Permits farmers to hay and graze set-aside acres until June 1, 1985.

Amends the Biomass Energy and Alcohol Fuels Acts of 1980 to extend existing loan guarantee commitments through FY 1985.