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...

Federal farm credit programs currently administered by the USDA were initiated in the early 1900s to help the farm sector cope with natural disasters, and these programs have continued to evolve. There has been a rich history of research analyzing USDA farm credit programs and the effects they...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to estimate a three-equation model of US commercial bank usage of the Farm Service Agency's (FSA) guaranteed operating loan and interest assistance programs. Also, to identify the key farm and banking variables that affect the decision to use loan...

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...

Purpose – An established paradigm in small business lending is segmented by bank size with large banks more likely to lend to large informationally transparent firms while small banks are more likely to lend to small informationally opaque firms. In light of banking consolidation, this market...

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...