Farm-Mortgage Credit Facilities in the United States

Report Introduction: For convenience of presentation the subject matter of this report is divided into three parts. Part I surveys broadly the major developments in farm-mortgage credit from the period before the World War down to the present. Throughout this historical section emphasis is placed upon the reaction of the total volume of mortgage debt, the distribution of outstanding farm mortgages by lender groups, and the interest rates charged, to the economic developments of this period. The final chapter of part I intensively reviews the mortgage-credit developments of the last decade. Part II reviews the development of existing Federal farm-mortgage credit institutions. It presents systematically factual information relating to the Federal institutions that is believed to be essential to an understanding of the major trends and developments in the participation of the Federal Government in the mortgage-credit field. Part III explores the major current issues and problems in farm-mortgage credit, primarily to lay bare the basic issues and problems involved and to indicate the interrelations between the several major groups of these issues and problems. This publication is intended to serve a principal purpose of providing a compact summary and analysis of factual material on farm-mortgage credit heretofore available only in scattered sources. At the same time it is intended to orient the major current problems and public issues in the farm-mortgage credit field. As regards the latter purpose, more emphasis is placed upon identification of problems and issues, and upon exploration of their interrelationships in the light of alternative public objectives than upon formulation of specific recommendations.