- Industry: Government
- Number of terms: 41534
- Number of blossaries: 0
- Company Profile:
Institutions within the Farm Credit System (FCS) that make direct long-term agricultural loans secured by farm real estate through Federal Land Bank Associations. They provide wholesale loan funds to direct FCS lending associations — Production Credit Associations, Federal Land Credit Associations, and Agricultural Credit Associations.
Industry:Agriculture
A network of cooperatively owned lending institutions and related service organizations serving all 50 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The FCS specializes in providing farm real estate and rural homeowner loans, operating credit, and related services to farmers, ranchers, and producers or harvesters of aquatic products. The FCS may also finance the processing and marketing activities of these borrowers, certain farm-related businesses, and agricultural, aquatic, and public utility cooperatives. It is chartered under authorities in the Farm Credit Act of 1971, as amended, but does not receive any direct government funding. The System provides about one-fourth of the total credit used by U.S. farmers, ranchers, and cooperatives. Historically, the FCS consisted of a Federal Land Bank (FLB), a Federal Intermediate Credit Bank (FICB) and a Bank for Cooperatives (BC) in each of the 12 districts across the nation. Within each district, Federal Land Bank Associations (FLBA) and Production Credit Associations (PCA) served as local lenders for the FCS providing farm real estate and operating credit, respectively. A severe financial crisis led to the enactment of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987, which provided federal financial assistance to weak institutions in the FCS, but required the FCS to streamline its operations as a condition for assistance. As a result, each district was required to merge its FLB and FICB to form a Farm Credit Bank (FCB). For FLBAs and PCAs that share a similar geographical territory, stockholders were given the option of merging institutions to form an Agricultural Credit Association (ACA). The Central Bank for Cooperatives and 10 of the 12 BCs also agreed to a merger forming a National Bank for Cooperatives (CoBank).
Industry:Agriculture
A temporary board created by the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 and responsible for approving Farm Credit System lender requests for federal financial assistance. Members of the Board consisted of the Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Treasury (or their appointees), and an agricultural producer with financial experience.
Industry:Agriculture
An entity of the Farm Credit System (FCS), established by law in 1987, to insure the timely repayment of principal and interest on FCS debt securities.
Industry:Agriculture
The net worth of the farm sector’s assets (i.e., farmland, machinery, equipment, facilities, crop and livestock inventories) against which there is no debt. This represents all farm proprietors’ residual claims to farm assets. Increases in farm equity in the late 1970s became increasingly important for most agricultural producers as a source of additional collateral against which to obtain credit for operating and expansion purposes. The level of farm equity ranges widely from one farm to another. The overall debt-asset ratio is a measure of the farm sectors financial condition.
Industry:Agriculture
Several measures are used to gauge the earnings of a farming operation over a given period of time: Gross cash income is the sum of all receipts from the sale of crops, livestock, and farm related goods and services as well as all forms of direct payments from the government. Gross farm income is the same as gross cash income with the addition of nonmoney income, such as the value of home consumption of self-produced food and the imputed gross rental value of farm dwellings. Net cash income is gross cash income less all cash expenses such as for feed, seed, fertilizer, property taxes, interest on debt, wages to hired labor, contract labor and rent to nonoperator landlords. Net farm income is gross farm income less cash expenses and noncash expenses, such as capital consumption, perquisites to hired labor, and farm household expenses. Net farm income is a longer term measure of the ability of the farm to survive as a viable income-earning business, while net cash income is a shorter term measure of cash flow.
Industry:Agriculture
The income statement measures the profitability of a farm business for a particular period of time, usually one year. The balance sheet measures the wealth or financial position of the business at a particular point in time by reporting the farm’s assets, debt, and net worth. The Economic Research Service publishes the income statement and balance sheet of the Nation’s farm sector, and the farm sector financial statement each state.
Industry:Agriculture
The resources that are used in farm production, such as chemicals, equipment, feed, seed, and energy. Most farm inputs are purchased (a change from the days when animals powered most operations), making production costs susceptible to nonfarm economic conditions. Over time, prices of farm inputs have increased relative to commodity prices, creating what farmers describe as a cost-price squeeze. The relationship between prices paid for inputs compared to prices received for output is quantified in the parity ratio.
Industry:Agriculture
Section 516 grants are available through the Rural Housing Service to qualified nonprofit organizations to providing housing to farm workers.
Industry:Agriculture
Section 514 loans are available through the Rural Housing Service to qualified farm owners for the purpose of providing housing to domestic farm labor.
Industry:Agriculture
