As rural populations continue shrinking in the U.S., banks and other financial institutions are leaving those areas. Banking services are becoming scarcer for U.S. smallholder farmers.
In fact, the situation is becoming so dire, that the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB – part of the Federal Reserve System) is undertaking an initiative to find creative ways to make more capital and financial services available to smallholder farmers in rural areas.
The CFPA refers to the lack of financial services in rural areas of the U.S. as “Financial Deserts.”
Source CFPA.gov