A survey of agricultural banks in New York State found that inability to compete with the low interest rates offered by the Farm Credit Service (FCS) rather than the unavailability of funds per se was limiting agricultural lending by commercial banks. A MASI-like intermediary would (1) be of...

Commercial bank loans to New York farmers are significantly overestimated in the reported USDA statistics due to out-of-state lending and reporting of some agribusiness loans as agricultural loans by New York State banks. Correcting for this distortion lowers the 1978-84 average New York...