UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 1047 
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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. 
Need of more complete data 
Nature and comparability of data 
Loans by life insurance companies 
Loans by Federal Land Bank System. 
Loans from State funds or agencies 
Loans by farm mortgage bankers 
Page, 
1 
2 
4 
4 
5 
Page. 
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 difficulties 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 
