U.S. Senate confirms Chet Culver for Farmer Mac board

Former Iowa Gov. Chet Culver is returning to his leadership position at the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, which boosts farmers’ access to loans and is better known as Farmer Mac.

Culver, a Democrat, was appointed to the 15-member board of directors by President Joe Biden in 2021. That appointment was approved by the U.S. Senate on Wednesday.

Culver was Iowa’s governor from 2007 to 2011, after which he founded the Chet Culver Group, a Des Moines-based renewable energy consulting firm. He was previously appointed to the Farmer Mac board by former President Barack Obama. His tenure on the board ended in 2019 when former President Donald Trump replaced him.

“The bottom line is we want to make sure capital is flowing to rural America, to farmers, to rural communities, to co-ops. Any rural-based business or industry can benefit from Farmer Mac,” Culver said at the time of his appointment. “I want to make sure that continues into the future and that’s another reason I’m privileged and honored to serve.”

Farmer Mac is a federally chartered corporation that was established in the wake of the 1980s farm crisis to create a secondary market for agricultural real estate, rural housing and rural cooperative loans.

Biden was complimentary of Culver’s governorship when he nominated Culver last year: “Under his leadership, Iowa successfully managed a $6 billion annual budget, earned a ‘Triple A’ bond rating, and built up one of the largest budget surpluses in the nation.”