Commodity Loans

About Commodity Loans

• Pulse Crop LDP Rates (Excel)
• Peanut LDP Rates (Excel)
• Wool and Mohair LDP Rates (Excel)
• Cotton LDP Rates (Excel)
• Rice LDP Rates (Excel)
• Monthly CCC Honey Survey Prices (pdf)

Marketing assistance loans provide producers interim financing at harvest time to meet cash flow needs without having to sell their commodities when market prices are typically at harvest-time lows. Allowing producers to store production at harvest facilitates more orderly marketing of commodities throughout the year.

Marketing assistance loans for covered commodities are non-recourse because the commodity is pledged as loan collateral and producers have the option of delivering the pledged collateral to the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) in satisfaction of the repayment of the outstanding loan for the loan at maturity. A settlement value is determined and applied to the outstanding loan principal and interest.

Market loan repayment provisions specify, under certain circumstances, that producers may repay loans at less than principal plus accrued interest and other charges. Alternatively, loan deficiency payment (LDP) provisions specify that, in lieu of securing a loan, producers may be eligible for an LDP. For ELS cotton, LDP provisions do not apply and ELS cotton marketing assistance loans must be repaid at the loan rate plus interest.

Read more on Non-Recourse Marketing Assistance Loans

Recourse Marketing Assistance Loans are loans for which the commodity offered as collateral does not meet the quality eligibility requirements according to U.S. grading standards.

Recourse loans must be repaid at principal plus interest. The recourse loan commodity cannot be delivered or forfeited in satisfaction of the outstanding loan.

Read more about Recourse Market Assistance Loans

For a commodity to be eligible for a marketing assistance loan or a loan deficiency payment (LDP), the producer must have beneficial interest in the commodity in addition to other eligibility requirements. For information, read the fact sheet Nonrecourse Marketing Assistance Loans and Loan Deficiency Payments.

Agricultural producers who have a commodity pledged as collateral for a marketing assistance loan can purchase a commodity certificate that can be immediately exchanged for their outstanding loan collateral. Commodity certificates are valid only in situations where the application loan rate exceeds the exchange rate.