The Farm Credit Administration is an

independent agency A regulatory agency (regulatory body, regulator) or independent agency (independent regulatory agency) is a government authority that is responsible for exercising autonomous dominion over some area of human activity in a licensing and regulati ...

of the

federal government of the United States The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

. Its function is to regulate the financial institutions that provide credit to farmers.

Authority

The Farm Credit Administration is an

of the Executive Branch of the

. It regulates and examines the banks, associations, and related entities of the

Farm Credit System The Farm Credit System (FCS) in the United States is a nationwide network of borrower-owned lending institutions and specialized service organizations. The Farm Credit System provides more than $304 billion in loans, leases, and related services t ...

, a network of borrower-owned financial institutions that provide credit to farmers, ranchers, and agricultural and rural

utility cooperative A utility cooperative is a type of cooperative that is tasked with the delivery of a public utility such as electricity, water or telecommunications to its members. Profit (accounting), Profits are either reinvested for infrastructure or distrib ...

s, as well as provides oversight for

Farmer Mac The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, also known as Farmer Mac, is a stockholder-owned, publicly traded company that was chartered by the United States federal government in 1988 to serve as a secondary market in agricultural loans suc ...

. It derives its authority from the Farm Credit Act of 1971. The FCA is headquartered in

McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proxim ...

, near

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

History

The Farm Credit Administration was established by Executive Order 6084, which transferred most of the functions of the

Federal Farm Board The Federal Farm Board was established by the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929 from the Federal Farm Loan Board established by the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916, with a revolving fund of half a billion dollars Agricultural Adjustment Administration The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was a United States federal law of the New Deal era designed to boost agricultural prices by reducing surpluses. The government bought livestock for slaughter and paid farmers subsidies not to plant on part ...

. The Federal Farm Board was then renamed the Farm Credit Administration. The

Farm Credit Act of 1933 The Farm Credit Act of 1933 () established the Farm Credit System (FCS) as a group of cooperative lending institutions to provide short-, intermediate-, and long-term loans for agricultural purposes. Specifically, it authorized the Farm Credit Ad ...

provides for organizations within the Farm Credit Administration. The Farm Credit Act of 1933 was part of President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

, 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

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) an ...

. 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. This included the

Federal Farm Board The Federal Farm Board was established by the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929 from the Federal Farm Loan Board established by the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916, with a revolving fund of half a billion dollars U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

, 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. The Farm Credit Act of 1971 recodified all previous acts governing the Farm Credit System.

List of Chairpersons

References

External links

*
Farm Credit Administration
in the

Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on feder ...

{{Authority control Independent agencies of the United States government Financial regulatory authorities of the United States McLean, Virginia 1933 in the United States Farm Credit System

Authority

History

List of Chairpersons

See also

References

External links