The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has come out with a Proposed Strategic Plan for 2022–2026 proposing to assess loan risks to farmers and ranchers based on those producers’ climate scorecards.

North Dakota’s Senior Senator John Hoeven is pushing back against the NCUA because he says it handicaps our food producers.

“We’ve seen examples in a variety of places where they come out and they talk about cattle and methane, you know things like that, or confined feeding operations, but now they’re actually extending it to, you know, farming and ranching, and climate risks,” explained Hoeven.

North Dakota Senator John Hoeven says the National Credit Union Administration should not be limiting access to loans for farmers and ranchers based on climate regulations.

“That is just not something they should be doing because that makes it harder for farmers and ranchers to get credit. You know the financial institutions, whomever, should be looking at these loans on a financial basis – not on basis of environmental policies,” explained Hoeven.

Hoeven says it’s not only going to be detrimental to farmers and ranchers, but by principle, financial institutions should not be basing who gets credit on environmental or social policies but rather on financial analysis and risk.

“We’re now seeing more of these instances where the administration is trying to push environmental and social policy in these areas and that has adverse effects on our farmers and ranchers our energy industry small business and others and that’s why we have to push back,” said Hoeven.

So no social, no social agendas no environmental agendas should ever be considered?

“Well, first understand that Congress passes laws that deal with a lot of things that you brought up and that’s just a part of the regular process. But, you have to understand really nobody has better environmental standards than our farmers and ranchers. If you look globally ours are the best,” answered Hoeven.

Hoeven says U.S farmers, ranchers, and other industries lead the world in environmental standards so they should not be further hindered by the Biden Administration.

NCUA Chairman Todd Harper said in a statement about the Proposed Strategic Plan for 2022–2026 that NCUA will continue to work to ensure that the institutions it oversees remain resilient against all financial risks, including risks associated with climate-related national disasters and extreme weather events.