(a) General.

(1) The Agency establishes target participation rates for providing FO, CL, and OL loans to members of socially disadvantaged groups.

(2) The Agency sets the target participation rates for State and County levels annually.

(3) When distributing loan funds in counties within Indian reservations, the Agency will allocate the funds on a reservation-wide basis.

(4) The Agency reserves and allocates sufficient loan funds to achieve these target participation rates. The Agency may also use funds that are not reserved and allocated for socially disadvantaged groups to make or guarantee loans to members of socially disadvantaged groups.

(b) FO and CL, loans based on ethnicity or race. The FO and CL, loan target participation rate based on ethnicity or race in each:

(1) State is equal to the percent of the total rural population in the State who are members of such socially disadvantaged groups.

(2) County is equal to the percent of rural population in the county who are members of such socially disadvantaged groups.

(c) OL loans based on ethnicity or race. The OL loan target participation rate based on ethnicity or race in each:

(1) State is equal to the percent of the total number of farmers in the State who are members of such socially disadvantaged groups.

(2) County is equal to the percent of the total number of farmers in the county who are members of socially disadvantaged ethnic groups.

(d) Women farmers.

(1) The target participation rate for women farmers in each:

(i) State is equal to the percent of farmers in the State who are women.

(ii) County is equal to the percent of farmers in the county who are women.

(2) In developing target participation rates for women, the Agency will consider the number of women who are current farmers and potential farmers.

[72 FR 63285, Nov. 8, 2007, as amended at 75 FR 54013, Sept. 3, 2010]