The vision of Zach Ducheneaux, Retained Production Income (RPI) is a producer-centered approach to redesigning agricultural finance—one that measures success by what farmers keep, not how fast capital exits.

American agriculture is in a structural financial crisis. In agriculture financing, high leverage against appreciating collateral, seasonal operating credit, and contract structures that privatize debt serve lenders and investors while leaving producers and their businesses structurally exposed. Total sector debt now exceeds $590 billion, interest costs have doubled since 2021, and real liquidity is at a 40-year low (USDA Economic Research Service, 2025).

Fixed repayment schedules force farmers to absorb all price and weather volatility, extracting working capital before farms can stabilize or reinvest—eroding equity, accelerating succession failures, and draining value from rural economies. Financing terms, not interest rates, determine long-term viability.

RPI responds to these structural failures by restructuring capital to align with the rhythms of agricultural production. Retained Production Income represents the share of a producer's income that remains after operating costs and debt service—income that stays under the producer's control for family living, reinvestment, and working capital. RPI treats this retained income as both a financial metric and a design principle: capital should be structured so producers retain income, not just repay debt.

Rather than forcing fixed repayments or extracting value prematurely, RPI enables repayment at the producer's discretion—once operations are strong enough to support it. This approach allows producers to keep significantly more in working capital each year while investors still receive dependable returns. It is designed to be compatible with lenders, CDFIs, and public-sector partners, and built to be adopted beyond its initial context. 

RPI is the vision of Zach Ducheneaux, former Administrator of the USDA Farm Service Agency, whose career has been dedicated to producer-centered farm finance. To learn more about RPI or explore partnership opportunities, contact Zach directly at zach.ducheneaux@tifsinitiative.org.