The Farm Service Agency

Paper Summary:

This paper provides an insight into the Farm Service Agency which was established in 1994, essentially as a continuation of the former Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS). It examines how the ASCS had long been administered by the Farmer's Home Administration (FmHA), a Depression-era agency which managed farm loans. It looks at how farm loan programs were created in response to well-established characteristics of agriculture-- the uncertainties of weather and other factors that influence crop prices, the need of farmers for operating loans and the tendency of farm commodities to come on the market all at one time (e.g., harvest time), with a resultant glut effect on prices.

Outline
Introduction
Overview of the Farm Service Agency
Mission of the FSA with Respect to Agriculture
Organization of the FSA
Sources of Loan Funds
Relationships to Funding Sources
Loans and Terms Offered
Purposes and Types of Loans
Example Loan Program
Amounts of Loans
Maturities of Loans
Repayment Terms
Loan Costs (Interest Rates, Fees, etc.)
Types of Loan Programs
What the Agriculture Industry Should Know about the FSA
The FSA in Oklahoma
References

From the Paper:

"The FSA is organized into and administered through so-called County Offices, though each office may be responsible for several adjacent counties. Individual County Offices are staffed primarily by employees who formerly served in the ASCS. In addition, however, some offices have an Agricultural Loan Officer attached, or have regular scheduled appointment hours with a visiting Agricultural Loan Officer. The Southwest Farm Advisor (1999) online fact sheet recommends that borrowers try to work directly with the Agricultural Loan Officer, since the ex-ASCS staff members at County Offices "simply are not up to speed" on current loan procedures."

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