The Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) Farm Business Plan was used to compare the characteristics of beginning farmers receiving direct Farm Ownership (FO) loans in fiscal 2005 by the type of delivery mechanism. Regular FO loans were commonly used by small and intermediate size family farming...

A binomial logit model was used to analyze relationships between financial characteristics and loan performance for FSA direct borrowers receiving direct FO or OL loans in fiscal 2005. Not surprisingly, the results indicate a strong and direct relationship between many key financial variables...

Regression models of Farm Service Agency borrower net worth, debt-to-asset ratio, and loan servicing actions over an average seven-year period following loan origination are estimated to identify determinants of borrower financial progress over time. Results show significantly increasing net...

We search for evidence consistent with the notion that endogenous credit constraints play a role in cattle cycles. Beef cow inventories are found to be more sensitive to credit constraints during periods of falling than rising asset values. Inventories of heifer replacements exhibit only weak...