LMMMAlower middle market M&A

NAICS sector 11 · 390 financed acquisitions

$494MCapital deployed

Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting

Since FY2019, 390 businesses in this sector were bought using an SBA 7(a) acquisition loan, together carrying $494M of bank debt. The median deal was financed with $999,000 over 15 years at 6.70%.

§1

Volume and price

What businesses in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting financed by an SBA 7(a) acquisition loan actually cost, and how many of them there were.

Financed acquisitions390Disbursed loans, FY2019 to date
Capital deployed$494MGross approval, all years
Median loan$999,000Half above, half below
Interquartile range$486k - $1.7MMiddle half of deals
Median rate6.70%390 loans with a recorded rate
Median term15 years390 loans with a recorded term

Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA loan-level extract, change-of-ownership approvals, FY2019 onward. Data as of 30 June 2026. n = 390 financed acquisitions.

Loan size distribution
Size bandAcquisitionsShare
Under $250k4611.8%
$250k to $500k5514.1%
$500k to $1M9424.1%
$1M to $2M11228.7%
$2M to $3.5M6316.2%
$3.5M to $5M184.6%
$5M and above20.5%
All390100.0%

The 7(a) programme caps a single loan at $5M, so the top band is a ceiling of the instrument, not of the market. Deals above it are financed conventionally and do not appear in this file at all.

§2

How the paper was structured

Loan terms here are not spread smoothly. They spike at exactly ten years and again at exactly twenty-five, with very little in between. Those two points are the programme's maturity ceilings, and which one applies depends on what secures the loan, so a term running past ten years indicates real property was financed alongside the business.

Term structure
TermWhat it indicatesAcquisitionsShare
Under 10 yearsShorter than the goodwill maximum369.2%
Exactly 10 yearsThe standard goodwill-only note7619.5%
10 to 20 yearsMixed collateral16642.6%
20 years and overReal property financed with the business11228.7%

19.5% of loans here run exactly ten years and 28.7% run twenty years or more. n = 390 loans with a recorded term.

§3

What happened next

Two outcomes are visible in the file: approvals that never funded, and funded loans that later charged off. Both are facts about deals, not forecasts.

Approvals cancelled7.8%33 of 423 approvals never disbursed
Charged off, FY2019-FY2021 cohort1.41%2 of 142 funded loans
Jobs recorded1,923Jobs supported, as reported by the lender at approval
Franchised0.3%Share of acquisitions carrying a franchise name

The charge-off share is cumulative as of 30 June 2026 for loans approved in FY2019-FY2021. Those loans are five to seven years into terms that are usually ten years, so the figure is a floor and the lifetime rate will be higher. It is not comparable to a rate computed over a fully matured cohort, and the site does not publish one for later years for that reason.

§4

By fiscal year

FY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24FY25FY26*

* FY2026 is incomplete. The extract closes 30 June 2026, nine months into a fiscal year that ends 30 September, and some FY2026 approvals have not yet disbursed. Do not read the last column as a decline.

§5

Industry groups inside this sector

A sector median hides a lot. These are the four-digit groups within it that clear the reporting floor on their own.

Industry groups within Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting
Industry groupAcquisitionsCapitalMedian loanMedian rateMedian termCancelled
1123 Poultry and Egg Production282$401M$1,126,2006.50%15 years7.2%
1114 Greenhouse, Nursery, and Floriculture Production26$28.7M$609,6507.25%10 years13.3%
§6

Where this sector changes hands

States with enough deals in this sector to report on their own.

Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting acquisitions by state
StateAcquisitionsCapitalMedian loanMedian rateMedian termCancelled
GA Georgia57$91.5M$1,380,0006.00%20 years10.9%
MS Mississippi55$53.1M$895,0006.50%14.9 years0.0%
AR Arkansas39$68.6M$1,323,0007.30%15 years7.1%
TX Texas34$58.6M$1,388,6507.35%15 years20.9%
NC North Carolina30$36.4M$947,5005.43%12.5 years3.2%
§7

Concentration

Most active states
StateAcquisitionsShare
GA Georgia5714.6%
MS Mississippi5514.1%
AR Arkansas3910.0%
TX Texas348.7%
NC North Carolina307.7%
AL Alabama287.2%
TN Tennessee184.6%
OK Oklahoma164.1%
CA California133.3%
MO Missouri133.3%
LA Louisiana102.6%
PA Pennsylvania71.8%
Most active lenders
LenderAcquisitionsShare
First Financial Bank12231.3%
Live Oak Banking Company4812.3%
Metro City Bank338.5%
BankPlus297.4%
Trustmark Bank235.9%
The Huntington National Bank71.8%
Arvest Bank51.3%
PromiseOne Bank51.3%
BankFirst Financial Services51.3%
Renasant Bank51.3%

A lender without a link wrote fewer acquisition loans than the reporting floor and has no page of its own. Shares are of the 390 financed acquisitions in this sector.

§8

What to read next

If you are selling

Thinking about selling

The figures above describe agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting businesses at the size the 7(a) programme reaches. They describe a market, not your business. FIH advises owners of privately held companies on sale processes, and the first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Speak to an adviser

If you are buying

Register what you are looking for

FIH is an advisory firm that generally acts for sellers, so registering here does not make you a client and no business is listed or offered for sale on this site. It records what you buy, where, at what price you can transact and how a purchase would be funded. It is free, it commits you to nothing, and no deal flow is promised in return.

Register your criteria

Figures on this page are SBA loan amounts, not sale prices. Nothing on this site is an offer, a solicitation, a valuation of any business, or investment advice, and no statement here promises a transaction, a price or a result.