The USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) serves as the nation's lender of last resort by providing direct loans to farmers unable to obtain credit at reasonable rates and terms. Annual loan losses have been substantial, averaging $576 million for fiscal 1994-2004. An econometric model using survey...

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) direct farm loan programs provide credit to family-sized farms including beginning farmers and socially disadvantaged applicants. Approximately 37 percent of all U.S. farms are estimated to be eligible for FSA direct loans when farm size, credit needs, years of...

The three primary objectives of the Effectiveness Study are to: (1) identify groups being served by FSA direct farm loan programs, (2) examine the length of time borrowers remain in the programs and the proportion of borrowers who exit or 'graduate' from the programs, and (3) measure and...

Farm Service Agency (FSA) direct loans are intended to provide transitory credit to creditworthy borrowers unable to obtain conventional credit at reasonable terms. Farm loan program (FLP) effectiveness is measured in part by how readily direct loan borrowers graduate to conventional credit. A...

The 1996 Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform (FAIR) Act dramatically affects the decision-making environment of farms by introducing provisions for reducing farm income support payments. These program changes are likely to affect not only farm incomes, but also farm capital asset markets....

More farmers and fishermen in the United States are facing global competition than in the last decade. The Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers and Fishermen program is made available to support the impact of declining domestic prices due to agricultural importation. As the program nears...

Stricter immigration policies that affect an estimated 12 million unauthorized immigrants, 40% of whom are hired as farm workers, can potentially leave the highly labor-dependent organic farms more economically vulnerable. The displacement of unauthorized immigrants will expectedly create labor...

Recent increases in commodity prices have led to calls for the regulation of speculators. These calls have come from many reputable quarters including leading agricultural and food policy institutions such as International Food Policy Research Institute as well as different members of the U.S....

Cotton price relationships between major cotton producers and New York cotton December future price are investigated by the regression model, the VAR model and the error-correction model, the error-correction model generates the hedge ratios that display the largest value in size in most of the...

With the production and cropping efficiency gains from adoption of Genetically Modified (GM) corn, the number of acres planted has increased steadily over the past decade. Also, the adoption of GM crops in general has an impact on the labor allocation decisions of farm operators. Using a large...