The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 made permanent the interest assistance program for the Farm Service Agency's guaranteed loans, authorized a significant increase in funding for the program, and targeted funding for beginning farmers and ranchers. The research presented here...

Past research on agricultural loan pricing is not extensive and has been hampered by a lack of suitable data. The Farm Service Agency (FSA) has guaranteed approximately 5 percent of farm debt of the Farm Credit System (FCS) and banks, the primary lenders to agriculture. As a requirement of the...

An analysis of the characteristics of farm businesses by size of FCS direct lending association suggests that further consolidation of FCS lending should have limited negative impacts on credit availability. Commercial-sized farm businesses with FCS real estate debt appeared similar to those who...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture provides subsidized credit to high-risk farm borrowers unable to obtain credit from commercial sources. To boost incomes and to relieve financial stress, Farm Service Agency programs can provide additional interest rate subsidies to borrowers. However, when...

Government programs to assist beginning farmers enjoy strong political support. Current Federal programs use credit enhancements to help beginning farmers purchase commercial farms; but higher debt loads increase financial risk. Future Federal policy may need to go beyond traditional credit...

Risks associated with guarantees of land contracts are expected to be greater than guarantees of loans made by commercial lenders. Farmers utilizing seller-financing have greater debts, less cash flow, less equity in real estate, and less solvency than farmers utilizing regular FSA guarantees....