ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses farm finance policy with particular emphasis on the public credit institutions. It reviews the growth in public sector lending to agriculture since 1970, presents the causes for this growth, and focuses on the financial stresses of the 1980s. The chapter proposes some of the short term public policy responses and considers the long term policy issues affecting agricultural finance. The Farm Security Administration continued its activities through the remainder of the 1930s and during the World War II period, although changes in economic conditions were stimulating the need for new and improved credit programs for post-war agriculture. Housing loans for farmers were first authorized in 1949 and later extended to nonfarm residents. A major issue in farm credit markets has been the sharp growth in the level and market share of Farmers Home Administration loan volume from mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, especially in nonreal estate loans.
