2024 Farm Bank Performance Report

Key Findings

• The banking industry is the nation’s most important supplier of credit to agriculture, providing over a third (37.8%) of all farm loans in the U.S. — $205 billion outstanding as of December 2024. 
• Small loans continue to make up over a third (34.9%) of banks’ farm and ranch lending, with $72 billion in small and micro farm and ranch loans on the books at the end of 2024.
• The nation’s 1,398 farm banks recorded strong asset quality and capital levels in 2024 from serving their communities and sticking to traditional banking practices: a focus on the fundamentals of credit, solid underwriting standards and knowledge of the customer’s business. 
• Farm banks have deep roots in their communities. The median farm bank was 114 years old in 2024. 
• Farm banks’ asset quality improved in 2024, as measures of loan delinquency remained low by historical standards. Noncurrent agricultural loans as a share of total agricultural lending (loans 90 days or more past due or in nonaccrual status) dropped by 7 basis points to 0.32% in 2024.
• Equity capital — a more conservative form of capital — grew 8.1% or by $3.7 billion in 2024 for farm banks as a group.
• Employment at farm banks grew by 0.8% in 2024, adding 576 jobs and employing more than 74,000 rural Americans. Since 2010, employment at farm banks has risen 35.7%.
• In 2024, 97.1% of farm banks were profitable, with 57.4% reporting an increase in earnings. 

The ABA definition of “farm bank” for the purposes of this report has changed over time. In 2012, ABA made the decision to include institutions with more than $1 billion in assets, which were previously excluded, as these institutions grew in number and importance to our country’s farmers and ranchers. In addition, due to changing reporting requirements and improved availability of data, ABA began to include savings and loan associations in this report.