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Farm Credit Administration

 
Hoover's Profile: Farm Credit Administration
Contact Information
Farm Credit Administration
1501 Farm Credit Dr.
McLean, VA 22102-5090
VA Tel. 703-883-4056
Fax 703-790-3260

Type: Government Agency
On the web: http://www.fca.gov

Because money doesn't grow on trees, there's the Farm Credit Administration (FCA). The FCA is responsible for regulating the banks and associations of the Farm Credit System, which is a nationwide network of borrower-owned institutions that lend money to farmers, ranchers, cooperatives, and other agricultural workers. Formed in 1933, the FCA ensures a dependable source of credit America's famers and ranchers by making sure the banking activities of the Farm Credit System are in compliance with the Farm Credit Act of 1971. Although the FCA is a federal agency in the executive branch of the US government, it is not supported by federal money, but rather by assessments paid by Farm Credit System institutions.

Officers:
Chairman and CEO: Leland A. Strom
COO: William J. Hoffman
CFO and Director Office of Management Services: Stephen G. Smith

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Columbia Encyclopedia: Farm Credit Administration
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Farm Credit Administration (FCA), an independent agency of the executive branch of the federal government that supervises and regulates the Farm Credit System (FCS) for American agriculture. The Farm Credit Act of 1971, which superseded all previous legislation, authorizes the FCS to provide long-term and short-term credit to farmers and their cooperatives. Long-term mortgage loans help farmers acquire property or refinance existing debts; short-term loans are needed to finance crop and livestock production and marketing. In addition, the FCS makes emergency crop and feed loans to farmers who cannot obtain funds from other sources. Legislation in 1985 separated the FCA from the FCS and made the FCA a regulatory body with respect to the FCS.

Credit used by farmers and cooperatives is provided in the FCS through a network of farm credit banks, federal land bank associations, production credit associations, and banks for cooperatives. The farm credit banks make loans to agricultural cooperatives for periods ranging from six months to three years. The loans are secured by warehouse receipts for crops or by liens on livestock. The land banks function as credit wholesalers, raising funds in the investment markets through the sale of bonds and lending the money to farmers at low interest rates. Production credit associations finance short-term credit associations, and banks for cooperatives finance cooperative marketing. Other components of the FCS include the Agricultural Credit Bank, agricultural credit associations, and federal land credit associations.

History

The origins of FCA and FCS date to 1916, when the Federal Farm Loan Bureau, the Federal Farm Loan Board, and Federal Land Banks were established in response to farmer requests for liberal credit facilities and low interest rates. A system for mortgage credit was created; 12 regional farm land banks were set up, with most of the original capital supplied by the government. It was intended that the farmer-borrowers should ultimately own the banks. An act of 1923 further extended federal aid to farmers, establishing 12 intermediate credit banks (one in the district of each land bank), with capital supplied by the government.

Six years later the whole structure of the land banks was severely hit by the Great Depression, with falling prices of farm products, increased debt delinquencies, and decline in the value of farms. In 1932 the government invested $125 million in the bonds of the land banks to bolster them and thus again became the majority stockholder. All then existing federal agricultural-credit organizations were unified into one agency, the FCA, by executive order in 1933. Congress authorized that agency to extend the system of farm-mortgage credit. Funds were made available for loans on easy terms for first or second mortgages-the so-called land bank commissioner loans-to debtors whose collateral was so low in value or so encumbered by debt as to make refinancing by the land banks unfeasible. The FCA was also authorized to establish 12 production credit corporations and banks for cooperatives. The result was a centralized source of farm credit.

A part of the Dept. of Agriculture after 1939, the FCA again became an independent agency in 1953. During the farm crisis of the 1980s, the Farm Credit Amendments Act (1985) gave the FCA more regulatory authority over the farm credit system and established a full-time FCA board of three persons, who are appointed for six-year terms. The Agricultural Credit Act (1987) established the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation, the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac), and other institutions to strengthen the FCS.


Law Encyclopedia: Farm Credit Administration
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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

The Farm Credit Administration (FCA) is an independent agency of the executive branch of the federal government. It supervises and coordinates the Farm Credit System, which is a centralized banking system designed to serve U.S. agricultural interests by granting short- and long-term credit through regional banks and local associations. Although initially capitalized by the federal government, the banks and associations that make up the Farm Credit System are now financed entirely through stock that is owned by members, borrowers, or the associations. The FCA ensures the safe operation of these lending institutions and protects the interests of their borrowers.

The Farm Credit System was established in 1916 in response to the unique credit needs of farmers. Federal land banks were established to provide adequate and dependable credit to farmers, ranchers, producers or harvesters of aquatic products, providers of farm services, rural homeowners, and agricultural associations. During the 1930s, the Depression and falling farm prices increased debt delinquencies and led to a serious decline in farm values. Many loan companies and credit institutions failed. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt directed Congress to create the FCA to oversee the entities that grant credit to farmers and ranchers. All government farm credit programs, including the land banks and intermediate credit banks, were unified under the new agency, which was established by the Farm Credit Act of 1933 (U.S. Pub. Law 73-76, 48 Stat. 257).

The modern FCA derives its authority from the Farm Credit Act of 1971 (12 U.S.C.A. § 2241 et seq.), which superseded all prior authorizing legislation. The FCA examines the lending institutions that constitute the Farm Credit System to certify that they are sound. It also ensures compliance with the regulations under which the Farm Credit institutions operate. To that end, it is authorized to issue cease and desist orders, levy civil monetary penalties, remove officers and directors, and impose financial and operating reporting requirements. It may directly intervene in the management of an institution whose practices violate the Farm Credit Act or its regulations. It may also step in to correct an unsafe practice or to assume formal conservatorship over an institution.

The FCA is managed by the Farm Credit Administration Board, whose three full-time members are appointed to six-year terms by the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The board meets monthly to set policy objectives and approve the rules and regulations that govern the FCA's responsibilities.

See: agricultural law.

Wikipedia: Farm Credit Administration
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The Farm Credit Administration is an independent agency of the Executive Branch of the United States Government. It regulates and examines the banks, associations, and related entities of the Farm Credit System, a network of borrower-owned financial institutions that provide credit to farmers, ranchers, and agricultural and rural utility cooperatives. It derives its authority from the Farm Credit Act of 1971.[1]

It was established by the Farm Credit Act of 1933, a part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, to help farmers refinance mortgages over a longer time at below-market interest rates at regional and national banks. This helped farmers recover from the Dustbowl. The Emergency Farm Mortgage Act loaned funds to farmers in danger of losing their properties. The campaign refinanced 20% of farmer's mortgages.

An Executive order by Roosevelt in 1933 placed all existing agricultural credit organizations under the supervision of a new agency, the Farm Credit Administration. The Farm Credit Administration was independent until 1939, when it became part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but became an independent agency again under the Farm Credit Act of 1953. This Act created a Federal Farm Credit Board with 13 members (one from each of the 12 agricultural districts and one appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture) to develop policy for the Farm Credit Administration.

References

  1. ^ About FCA

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Hoover's Profile. ©2008 Hoover's, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more
Law Encyclopedia. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Farm Credit Administration" Read more