Agricultural Information Bulletin No. (AIB-724) 4 pp

August 1998

Issues in Agricultural and Rural Finance

The Food and Rural Economics Division of ERS designed the following series of policy-oriented, timely publications to provide background and analysis for decisionmakers and others. The Federal Government is heavily involved in both public and private finance in the rural and agricultural sectors. Such involvement takes the form of lending and loan guarantees from Federal agencies, chartering special purpose lenders, providing regulation and supervision, and financing rural development and poverty programs. This series of reports focuses on current and emerging issues in agricultural and rural finance. Each report is short, nontechnical, and policy oriented, providing decisionmakers and others with timely analyses of policy proposals and emerging issues and trends.

Keywords: rural finance, agricultural finance, farm credit, Farm Credit System, rural banks, government sponsored enterprises, rural development, rural poverty, Federal taxes

In this publication...