UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 1047 



jTV-^'^-rt. 



Contribution from the Office of Farm Management and 

 Farm Economics 



G. W. FORSTER, Acting Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



December 28, 1921 



FARM MORTGAGE LOANS BY BANKS, INSURANCE 

 COMPANIES, AND OTHER AGENCIES. 



By V. N. Valgren, Associate Agricultural Economist, and Elmer E. Engelbert, 

 Junior Economist in Farm Finance. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Need of more complete data 1 



Nature and comparability of data 2 



Loans by life insurance companies 4 



Loans by Federal Land Bank System 4 



Loans from State funds or agencies 5 



Loans by farm mortgage bankers 5 



Other sources 5 



Basis of figures on loans by banks 6 



First and second mortgage loans by banks.. 9 



Interest rates on farm mortgage loans 10 



Term of loan and method of repayment 21 



Conclusion 21 



The financial difiiculties experienced by farmers during the year 

 1921 have led to renewed interest in the problems of rural credit, 

 and attempts have recently been made by the Department of Agri- 

 culture to gather significant data on this subject. The specific 

 object of the study, which was made by means of questionnaires and 

 correspondence, was to ascertain the amount of farm credit available 

 from various sources, the cost of such credit to the farmer, the term 

 for which loans are available, and the method of repayment provided 

 for. The facts relating to farm mortgage credit, as disclosed in this 

 study, will be found in condensed form on the following pages. 



NEED OF MORE COMPLETE DATA. 



The information available concerning the amount and sources of 

 farm mortgage loans in the United States is fragmentary. The cen- 

 suses of 1890, 1900, 1910, and 1920 in each case called for certain 

 information regarding mortgage loans on farms operated by full 

 owners. According to the final reports for the census of 1920, 

 mortgage indebtedness on farms so operated amounted to $4,003,- 

 767,192, as against $1,726,172,851 in 1910. The value of the farms 

 operated by full owners has also been made public, as well as the 



79294°— 22— Bull. 1047 1 



