TexasWaterFrontRanches

Lonesome Bayou Ranch

The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, or Farmer Mac, is a government sponsored enterprise providing a secondary market for agricultural real estate and rural housing mortgage loans. They were created by congress in 1987 (in response to the farm crisis of the 80’s) to improve the ability of agricultural lenders to provide credit to America’s farmers, ranchers, rural homeowners, agricultural businesses and communities.

They do this by primarily purchasing loans from lenders, replenishing their funds to make new loans. Farmer Mac then funds its loan purchases by issuing debts or securities backed by pools of loans and selling them into the capital markets. “In doing so, Farmer Mac facilitates the flow of money from Wall Street to rural America, providing a stable supply of mortgage credit to lenders and borrowers” (Farmer Mac).

Farmer Mac has two primary programs:

- Farmer Mac I purchases qualified loans from lenders who are approved sellers.

Organic Free Range Egg Operation

- Farmer Mac II purchases portions of qualified loans guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, providing secondary market funding to support the USDA loans.

A Farmer Mac III option combines Farmer Mac I and II.

Farmer Mac has proved to be a successful and stable program, earlier this summer posting a first quarter profit and 124% share increase.

If you are interested in learning more about farm credit services, you can visit www.farmcredit.com and click on your state. Or you can talk to your Realtor about finding a Farmer Mac approved lender.