Historical Highlights 

of FCA and the FCS
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

A committee formed by President William Howard Taft travels 

to Europe to explore agricultural credit systems there and 

publishes (in October) the “Preliminary Report on Land and 

Agricultural Credit in Europe.” It recommends a cooperative credit 

system to provide credit to farmers and ranchers.

Statements in favor of rural credit legislation appear on all three 

presidential party platforms.

1909

1912

President Theodore Roosevelt’s Country Life Commission 

recommends the following in its report: 

• A nationalized extension service, which was formalized by the 

passage of the Smith-Lever Act in 1914

• A continuation of fact-finding surveys, fostering the development of agricultural economics and rural sociology in universities and the federal government

• A campaign for rural progress

Chaired by Liberty Hyde Bailey, director of Cornell University’s 

College of Agriculture and a horticulturalist, the commission holds 

30 public hearings throughout the country, circulates over half a 

million brief questionnaires, and holds many meetings. 

1909 1912

1909 to 1912
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

Congress authorizes the president to appoint a Rural Credits 

Commission to study how ag credit delivery systems could be 

implemented in the United States.

President Woodrow Wilson appoints a Rural Credits Commission 

to investigate the state of rural credit in the United States. The 

commission travels to Europe to study cooperative land-mortgage 

banks, rural credit unions, and other institutions promoting 

agriculture and rural development. In its report, the Wilson 

commission recommends a system of agricultural banks to provide 

both long-term, or land-mortgage credit, and short-term credit to 

meet recurring needs. 

In his State of the Union address on Dec. 2, President Wilson 

endorses a system of rural credit.

Sen. Henry Hollis (D-NH) and Rep. Robert Bulkley (D-OH) introduce 

legislation to create 12 federal land banks, with the United States 

providing the initial capital of $500,000 for each bank.

1913

1914

1913 1914

1916

On July 17, President Wilson signs the Federal Farm Loan Act. This 

act seeks to rectify the scarcity of reliable credit at reasonable 

interest rates and terms for farmers. It establishes 12 federal land 

banks in 12 districts that make loans through hundreds of national 

farm loan associations across the country. These associations 

provide long-term mortgage credit to farmers to develop and 

expand their farms.

The act also establishes the Federal Farm Loan Board, a bureau 

in the Treasury Department to supervise and regulate the federal 

land banks. It provides government start-up capital for the 12 new 

federal land banks, and it requires national farm loan associations 

to raise capital by selling stock to its borrowers.

1916

1913 to 1916
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

By Nov. 30, farmers have organized 1,839 national farm loan 

associations, and 1,985 more are in process. Around 18,000 

farmers have received a total of $30 million in loans (out of $200 

million in requests). 

With the end of World War I and the decline in demand for farm 

goods, farm prices and land values fall, creating hardships for 

farmers. As farmers find it increasingly difficult to pay back their 

loans, the need for short-term credit for production needs 

becomes more apparent.

More than 4,000 national farm loan associations have been 

created nationwide.

1917

1920

1919

1917 1919 1920 1922

1917 to 1922

1922

The Capper-Volstead Act exempts farmer-owned cooperatives that 

comply with certain criteria from antitrust laws.

Around 74,000 farmers borrow a total of $234 million in current 

loans from the federal land banks.
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

Congress attempts to solve the lack of shorter-term credit for the 

nation’s farmers by passing the Agricultural Credits Act of 1923. 

This act creates 12 federal intermediate credit banks in each of 

the 12 federal land bank districts to discount loans to commercial 

banks and other specified lenders. This remedy is not successful in 

significantly increasing short-term credit to farmers.

The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929 creates a new government 

agency, the Federal Farm Board, to make loans to agricultural 

cooperatives that meet the criteria of the Capper-Volstead Act. 

The Federal Farm Board is the predecessor of the Farm Credit 

Administration; as a lender, it is the forerunner to the banks for 

cooperatives. Until the 1960s, the banks for cooperatives derive 

most of their authorities from the Agricultural Marketing Act of 

1929. In 1933, FCA will become the federal agency that administers 

and enforces this statute.

The Great Depression begins. Many farmers, unable to pay their 

expenses and loan payments, abandon their farms. The great 

number of nonperforming loans leads to dire financial instability 

for the land banks and farm loan associations.

1923

1929

1923 1929

1923 to 1929
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

Congress enacts statutes to address the deepening crisis in the 

agricultural sector of the economy. A statute enacted on Jan. 23, 

1932, enables the secretary of the treasury to recapitalize the 

federal land banks. Starting in 1932, Congress regularly enacts 

legislation that gives the predecessor agencies to FCA (and after 

1933, gives FCA) appropriations to make loans on easier terms 

directly to farmers who do not meet the credit standards of the 

Farm Credit System or other commercial lenders. Congress starts 

to phase out these direct loan programs in the late 1930s as the 

United States begins to recover from the Great Depression.

President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt immediately sets to work to 

relieve the hardship of the nation’s farmers. He orders his agriculture advisor, Henry Morgenthau Jr., to draw up an executive order 

that consolidates all federal agencies that extend farm credit. 

He also orders two bills to be drafted: one to offer emergency 

financing to farmers in danger of losing their farms and one to 

establish a comprehensive, reliable system of agricultural credit. 

Morgenthau charges his technical advisor, William I. Myers of 

Cornell University, with these tasks.

1932

1932

1932
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

1933

1933

1933

Nearly half of all national farm loan associations are failing, and 

farm foreclosures are common.

President Roosevelt issues an executive order, written by Myers 

and Rep. Marvin Jones, chairman of the House Committee on 

Agriculture, that consolidates all agricultural credit agencies into 

a new agency called the Farm Credit Administration. The two men 

also write the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act to provide emergency financing to save farms whose owners are delinquent on their 

loans. Under this statute, FCA uses appropriations from Congress 

to refinance loans on easier repayment terms.

Myers and Jones also draft the Farm Credit Act of 1933 to achieve 

the following:

• Expand the cooperative Farm Credit System to operate

throughout the United States and provide all types of credit to

farmers and ranchers

• Create production credit associations as part of the System to

make short-term operating loans to farmers

• Amend the Agricultural Marketing Act to create 1 central bank

for cooperatives and 12 regional banks for cooperatives, which

take over the responsibility of the Federal Farm Board to lend

to farmer-owned production cooperatives

Some 40,000 farmers apply for loan restructuring in the first few 

months of 1933 to save their farms. Within 18 months, FCA has 

refinanced a fifth of all farm mortgages. By December, land banks 

are loaning more money per month than they loaned during the 

entire year of 1932. The size of the FCA staff expands dramatically, 

with the number of appraisal staff alone growing from 200 to 

5,000 in 1933.

Morgenthau is named the first governor of FCA when Roosevelt 

takes office and the Farm Credit Act takes effect; Myers is named 

deputy governor. (See Morgenthau’s diary documenting the early 

days of FCA.) 
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

FCA is given the added responsibility of chartering, examining, and 

supervising the newly created federal credit unions. It charters 

and examines annually more than 4,000 credit unions until 1942 

when oversight is transferred to the Federal Deposit Insurance 

Corporation.

The Farm Credit Act of 1935 grants limited authority for certain 

farmer-owned corporations to borrow from the federal land 

banks. The act also authorizes supply and service cooperatives to 

borrow from the banks for cooperatives.

By the end of 1935, land banks hold 48% of the nation’s farm 

mortgage debt.

1934

1935

1933 1934 1935

1933 to 1935

When Henry Morgenthau Jr. becomes acting secretary and undersecretary of the treasury in late 1933, William I. Myers becomes 

governor and serves from Nov. 17, 1933, to Sept. 20, 1938.

Myers, considered the principal architect of the Farm Credit 

System, champions the ideal that FCA and the System should remain independent and free of partisan politics. He exhorts farmers 

and their cooperatives to strive to become free of government 

capital and subsidies as soon as possible.

1933
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

The Farm Credit Act of 1937 creates a permanent cooperative 

governance structure for the Farm Credit System. As a result, the 

voting system for System banks and associations evolves toward 

giving every borrower only one vote.

The statute also decentralizes power by establishing a seven

member board to govern each Farm Credit district, with borrowers 

of local national farm loan associations, production credit associations, and the banks for cooperatives electing their representatives. 

The district board serves as the board of directors for each bank 

in the district. As long as government capital remains in System 

institutions, the FCA governor appoints some of the members of the 

district board.

A separate statute authorizes the governor of FCA to make small 

crop and animal feed loans from annual appropriations to farmers 

who do not qualify for credit from private lenders. FCA operates 

this program through the remainder of the Great Depression and 

the Second World War.

1937

1937 1938

1937 to 1938

1938

Myers leaves his position as governor of FCA and returns to 

Cornell. His deputy governor and Cornell protégé, Forrest (“Frosty”) 

F. Hill, becomes governor and serves from Sept. 21, 1938, to March 

26, 1940.
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

1939 1940 1942

1939 to 1942

1939

Between 1933 and 1939, federal land banks loan a total of $2.5 

billion, and 71% of that goes to refinance mortgages that were 

initially held by private credit agencies.

Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace lobbies to have FCA 

placed under the control of his department and attempts to 

change the structure of the System from a farmer-owned stock 

cooperative to a membership cooperative under the control of 

the USDA. Hill mounts an effort to keep FCA as an independent 

agency. In the end, Wallace wins out, and President Roosevelt 

places FCA in the U.S. Department of Agriculture using authority 

granted to him by the Reorganization Act of 1939.

In response, national farmer organizations begin a long campaign 

to (1) turn System institutions into cooperatives that are owned 

and controlled by their farmer-borrowers, (2) pay off all government 

capital in the FCS, and (3) make FCA an independent agency again. 

1940

Forrest (“Frosty”) F. Hills resigns, and Albert G. Black, a director in 

the Department of Agriculture, is appointed governer. He serves 

from March 27, 1940, to June 21, 1944. 

1942

In May, FCA headquarters is transferred to Kansas City, Missouri, 

for the duration of the Second World War. FCA’s Farm Credit Club 

begins publication of the Grapevine newsletter in August. This 

bi-weekly newsletter shares news from the agency and from FCA 

troops serving overseas. Copies are sent with care packages to 

enlistees to lift their spirits.

All federal workers are excused from duty for two days after the 

surrender of Japan on Aug. 15, 1945.
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

1944 1946

1944 to 1947

1947

1944

Ivy W. Duggan is appointed governor and serves from June 22, 

1944, to June 30, 1953.

The Farmers’ Home Administration Act of 1946 transfers the FCA 

governor’s authority to use appropriated funds to make crop and 

emergency operating loans to farmers to USDA’s Farmers Home 

Administration. After the Second World War, Congress begins 

transferring Depression-era government loan programs out of FCA 

to USDA. As a result of this statute and subsequent legislation, the 

FCS becomes a cooperative that is owned and controlled by the 

farmers and ranchers who borrow from it.

1946

Rising prices for farm commodities and land after World War 

II raise the income of farmers and enable them to increase 

payments on their loans. The federal land banks pay back all the 

government capital invested in them.

1947
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

FCA becomes an independent agency again under the Farm Credit 

Act of 1953. The act creates a Federal Farm Credit Board with 

13 part-time members — one from each of the 12 agricultural 

districts and one appointed by the secretary of agriculture — to 

develop policy for FCA. From then on, it is this board — not the 

president — that appoints governors. The Farm Credit Act of 1953 

also increases farmer representation on each district board so that 

members elected by borrowers are the majority and appointed 

members are the minority. As government capital is retired, 

appointed directors are replaced with elected ones. The statute 

also requires FCA to provide recommendations for retiring all 

government stock in the banks for cooperatives, the federal 

intermediate credit banks, and the production credit associations.

More than half of the production credit associations have paid 

back their government capital, a credit to the vigorous efforts of 

Governor (and previous Production Credit Commissioner) Carl 

Arnold, who serves from July 16, 1953, to March 31, 1954.

1953

1953 1954

1953 to 1954

1954

Robert B. Tootell, the first governor appointed by the Federal Farm 

Credit Board, serves from April 1, 1954, to Feb. 28, 1969.
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

The Farm Credit Act of 1956 establishes a framework to retire all 

remaining government capital in the federal intermediate credit 

banks and production credit associations. As government capital 

is retired, the production credit associations elect board members 

in the federal intermediate credit banks that were previously 

appointed by the FCA governor. Other financing institutions, 

which fund and discount operating loans to farmers and ranchers 

in accordance with the Agricultural Credits Act of 1923, obtain 

nonvoting stock in the federal intermediate credit banks.

The Farm Credit Act of 1959 redesignates “national farm loan 

associations” as “federal land bank associations.” After Dec. 31, 

1959, employees of farm credit banks generally are no longer 

subject to civil service laws that apply to federal government 

employees. Acts of Congress enacted on or after Jan. 1, 1960, that 

apply to federal government agencies will no longer be applicable 

to farm credit banks and their directors, officers, and employees 

unless the statute explicitly states otherwise.

1956

1959

1955 1956

1955 to 1959

1959

The Farm Credit Act of 1955 establishes a framework to retire 

all government capital in the banks for cooperatives. When this 

retirement reaches a prescribed threshold, elected board 

members will replace appointed board members at the next 

scheduled election. Federal land banks and production credit 

associations are authorized to finance the nonagricultural needs 

of part-time farmers. Restrictions to keep corporations from 

borrowing from the federal land banks are repealed.

1955
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

The country is in a recession until 1970.

Edwin A. Jaenke is appointed governor and serves from March 1, 

1969, to Oct. 31, 1974.

Governor Jaenke seeks to broaden the authorities of FCA and the 

System to serve the needs of modern farmers and rural communities. The Commission on Agricultural Credit, formed by the 

Federal Farm Credit Board on Governor Jaenke’s recommendation, 

comes up with 12 objectives for the System, including objectives to 

increase credit for young, beginning, and small farmers.

The commission also recommends granting the System new 

authority to finance nonfarm rural homes and certain farm-related 

businesses. Another objective is to expand the System’s authority 

to finance rural utilities and processing and marketing operations.

To stem inflation and reduce unemployment, the federal government 

imposes wage and price controls. It also devalues the dollar and 

removes the gold standard. These actions lead to shortages, curtailed 

foreign investment, and rising inflation.

Great demand for U.S. agricultural exports, particularly in the 

Soviet Union, which is experiencing severe grain shortages from 

years of drought, causes farmers to expand their assets and 

produce more to meet the demand.

1968

1969

1970

System institutions have repaid all government capital and are now 

wholly owned by their farmer-borrowers. This great accomplishment 

is the capstone of Mr. Tootell’s 15 years as FCA governor.

1968 1969 1970

1968 to 1970
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

1971 1974 1977

1971 to 1979

Total farm debt is $54 billion.

The Farm Credit Act of 1971 repeals and replaces previous farm 

credit laws dating back to 1916. It consolidates and simplifies 

the laws governing the FCS and expands and modernizes the 

System’s authorities. The System is granted new authorities 

to lend to commercial fishermen, nonfarm rural homeowners, 

and farm-related businesses. The System, for the first time, can 

provide financially related services to its customers. The law also 

makes credit terms for System borrowers more flexible.

1971

1974

Wage and price controls imposed in 1970 are considered 

ineffective and are lifted. An oil embargo by Arab nations from 

October 1973 until the spring of 1974 affects farm production by 

quadrupling oil prices.

Agricultural exports to the Soviet Union have continued to grow 

and are soaring by the mid-1970s.

W. Malcolm Harding is appointed governor and serves from Nov. 1, 

1974, to Feb. 28, 1977.

Donald E. Wilkinson is the last governor of FCA. He serves from March 

1, 1977, until changes to the agency’s governing structure become 

effective on Jan. 23, 1986. He is then named acting chairman and 

serves in that capacity until March 28, 1986. (See article written by 

Wilkinson about the Farm Credit System.)

1977

The Federal Reserve tightens currency to rein in inflation. Interest 

rates soar and foreign demand for U.S. farm exports falls. A variety 

of policies combine to produce large U.S. farm surpluses, lower 

prices, and lower incomes, all of which affect farmers’ ability to 

repay loans.

1979

1979
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

Double-digit inflation in the early ’80s raises the price of farm goods and 

farmland.

The Farm Credit Act Amendments of 1980 expand the System’s authorities so that System lenders can now provide credit and other financial 

services to additional types of borrowers. The highlights of this law are as 

follows:

• Federal land banks and production credit associations are granted 

authority to finance the processing and marketing operations of 

eligible farmers, ranchers, and aquatic producers and harvesters.

• Federal land banks and production credit associations are granted 

new authority to participate in loans with System institutions operating under other titles of the act and with non-System lenders.

• Other financing institutions obtain easier access to the funding and 

discount services of federal intermediate credit banks.

• The banks for cooperatives receive authority to finance the export 

and import of agricultural and aquatic products and commodities for 

cooperatives, and farmer membership requirements for eligible rural 

utility cooperatives and supply cooperatives are reduced because 

nonfarm rural residents are increasingly customers of these 

cooperatives.

• New authorities to lease facilities and equipment to System 

borrowers are established.

• Federal land banks and production credit associations are required 

to develop programs to furnish sound and constructive credit and 

related services to young, beginning, and small farmers and ranchers.

• System banks can now establish service corporations to provide 

support services to the parent organization, with the caveat that 

these corporations cannot extend credit or provide insurance 

services to borrowers.

• System lenders are granted authority to sell to borrowers, on an 

optional basis, credit life, crop, hail, and multiperil insurance, which 

protects both borrowers and System lenders.

• FCA is authorized to move its headquarters from Washington 

to a suburb.

1980

1980

1980
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

The FCS holds $69.8 billion in outstanding loans, and national 

farm debt is $212 billion. Hundreds of thousands of farmers are at 

risk of losing their farms, and many FCS institutions are financially 

unstable as a result of nonperforming loans and poor loan policies. 

During 1985, Farm Credit System institutions altogether lose $2.7 

billion.

Congress passes the Farm Credit Amendments Act of 1985 to 

separate FCA from the FCS, making FCA an “arm’s length” regulator. 

The act gives FCA increased regulatory, oversight, and enforcement 

powers and responsibilities to restore safety and soundness to the 

System. It also eliminates the policy-making structure of the parttime Federal Farm Credit Board, replacing it with a presidentially 

appointed board of three full-time members.

FCA is required to examine each direct-lending institution at least 

annually. (In 1996, legislation changed this examination requirement to at least once every 18 months.) Also, FCA can use its new 

enforcement authority to instill safe and sound banking practices 

in troubled institutions and to correct any regulatory violations.

Kenneth Auberger serves as acting chairman from March 29 to 

May 21, 1986.

Frank W. Naylor Jr. is appointed chairman and chief executive 

officer and serves from May 22, 1986, until Nov. 11, 1988.

1984

1985

1986

In April, FCA moves its headquarters from L’Enfant Plaza in downtown Washington to a new building in McLean, Virginia.

1984 1985 1986

1984 to 1986
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

Congress, recognizing the need for financial assistance for failing 

FCS institutions, passes the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987. The 

act creates the FCS Financial Assistance Corporation and the FCS 

Assistance Board to provide financial and technical assistance to 

weak institutions, authorizing up to $4 billion in total. (Ultimately, 

only about $1.3 billion of the $4 billion is used.)

The act also creates the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation 

(FCSIC) to insure timely payment of interest and principal on 

Systemwide and consolidated bonds and other obligations issued 

by FCS banks. In addition, the act strengthens borrower rights and 

creates the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer 

Mac) to establish a secondary market for agricultural real estate 

and rural home mortgages.

The act also restructures the FCS banks and associations in the 

following ways:

• Requires the federal land bank and the federal intermediate 

credit bank in each district to merge to form a farm credit bank.

• Allows the farm credit banks to transfer their direct-lending 

authority to their agent federal land bank associations in specific geographical territories. These associations then become 

known as federal land credit associations.

• Allows the voluntary merger of federal land bank associations 

and production credit associations to create agricultural credit 

associations, which have both mortgage lending and production credit lending authority.

• Allows the voluntary mergers of central banks for cooperatives 

with regional banks for cooperatives.

• Allows banks for cooperatives to merge with farm credit banks 

to form agricultural credit banks.

As a result of the corporate restructuring provisions in the 1987 

act, mergers eventually reduce the number of System banks from 

37 in 1988 to 4 in 2021 and the number of associations from 

almost 300 to 67.

1987

1987

1987
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

Harold B. Steele is appointed chairman and chief executive officer 

and serves from Oct. 10, 1989, until Sept. 8, 1993.

According to the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987, if the Central 

Bank for Cooperatives merges with nine or more regional banks 

for cooperatives, the resulting bank — the National Bank for 

Cooperatives — and any remaining regional banks automatically 

receive nationwide charters. In 1989, the Central Bank and 10 

banks merge to create the National Bank Cooperative, which 

then operates under the trade name of CoBank. (The regional 

banks for cooperatives in Springfield, Massachusetts, and St. Paul, 

Minnesota, remain independent until they merge into CoBank in 

1995 and 1998, respectively.)

The increased oversight, regulatory, and enforcement powers 

granted to FCA help the System rebound. Falling interest rates and 

record-high farm income, boosted by large government subsidies, 

also facilitate the System’s recovery. FCS institutions start posting 

profits instead of losses, and loan quality significantly improves. 

Both mandatory and voluntary mergers of institutions bolster their 

financial strength and services.

The Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act Amendments

create the Office of Secondary Market Oversight within FCA to 

supervise and regulate Farmer Mac.

1988

1989

1990

1991

Marvin Duncan serves as acting chairman and chief executive 

officer from Nov. 12, 1988, to Oct. 9, 1989.

1988 1989 1990

1988 to 1991

1991
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

Billy Ross Brown is appointed chairman and chief executive officer 

of FCA. He serves from Aug. 31, 1993, until Oct. 17, 1994.

Marsha Pyle Martin is appointed chair and chief executive officer. 

The first woman to lead the agency, she serves from Oct. 17, 1994, 

until her death on Jan. 9, 2000.

The Farm Credit System Agricultural Export and Risk Management 

Act authorizes, under certain conditions, banks for cooperatives 

to finance agricultural exports for borrowers that are not cooperatives. This statute also extends similar-entity authority to farm 

credit banks and associations operating under titles I and II of the 

Farm Credit Act of 1971.

1992

1993

1994

Banks for cooperatives are granted authority to lend to water and 

wastewater disposal facilities in rural communities of 20,000 or 

fewer inhabitants. They are also granted authority to participate 

in loans that non-System lenders make to “similar entities” — that 

is, entities that are ineligible to borrow directly from the FCS but 

need credit for activities that the System finances for its eligible 

borrowers.

The Farm Credit Banks of St. Louis and St. Paul merge to form 

AgriBank, FCB. This merger is the first in a wave of farm credit bank 

mergers. In 1992, there are 12 farm credit banks; by 2021, there 

will be only 3 farm credit banks (and 1 agricultural credit bank).

1992 1993 1994

1992 to 1994
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

The System continues to build capital reserves and enjoys the 

strongest financial position in its history. Loan growth increases at 

impressive rates.

Michael M. Reyna is appointed chairman and chief executive 

officer and serves from Jan. 13, 2000, to May 22, 2004. Chairman 

Reyna is the agency’s first Hispanic chairman. Under his leadership, 

FCA increases work-life balance benefits for its employees, and the 

Office of Personnel Management recognizes the agency’s efforts 

with an OPM Award for Outstanding Work-Life Programs.

1996

2000

The Farm Credit System Reform Act of 1996 gives Farmer Mac 

authority, similar to that of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to buy 

and pool loans. The statute also achieves the following:

• Establishes new statutory capital standards and provisions for 

conservatorship or receivership for Farmer Mac

• Amends the borrower stock and borrower rights provisions to 

make it easier for System lenders to sell loans into the secondary markets

• Grants associations the same authority as System banks to 

form service corporations

In June, the FCA board adopts a rule that creates new minimum 

capital standards for all System institutions. The provisions also 

update and simplify the rules governing who can borrow money 

from the System. The rule strengthens the System’s financial base 

and helps ensure it can weather future economic downturns.

1995 1996 2000

1995 to 2000

CoBank merges with the Springfield Bank for Cooperatives and the 

Farm Credit Bank of Springfield (Massachusetts) to form an agricultural credit bank. Over time, the St. Paul Bank for Cooperatives and 

three former farm credit banks also merge into CoBank.

1995
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

2002 2004 2005

2002 to 2005

Congress passes the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 

2002, which grants FCS banks and associations new authority to 

invest in rural business investment companies.

Nancy C. Pellett is appointed chairman and chief executive officer 

and serves from May 22, 2004, to May 21, 2008. Under her leadership, FCA introduces a pilot program to allow System institutions 

to use their authority to invest in rural community facilities (health 

care and elder care) to improve the quality of life for many rural 

residents.

In 2004, one FCS association, which does not have a patronage 

program to disburse surplus earnings to its members, announces 

its plans to terminate System status and become a subsidiary of 

Rabobank International. Although termination of System status is 

allowed under the Farm Credit Act, the association ultimately does 

not leave the Farm Credit System.

2002

2004

2005

The percentage of associations with patronage programs increases from 43% in 2000 to 81% in 2005. In 2005, total patronage paid 

out by both banks and associations is $874 million, up from just 

$391 million in 2000.

All federal assistance received by FCS institutions during and 

after the agricultural credit crisis of the mid-1980s is repaid, with 

interest, by June 2005.
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

FCA celebrates its 75th anniversary on March 27. 

Leland A. Strom is appointed chair and chief executive officer 

and serves from May 22, 2008, to Nov. 26, 2012. Chairman Strom 

successfully guides FCA and the System through the 2008 financial 

crisis. He also oversees the agency’s work with Congress and other 

agencies on the regulations implementing Title VII of the DoddFrank Act to ensure that those regulations take into account the 

System’s unique cooperative structure.

Jill Long Thompson is appointed chair and chief executive officer 

and serves from Nov. 27, 2012, to March 12, 2015. Chair Long 

Thompson promotes diversity and inclusion in Farm Credit System 

lending and employee recruitment. She oversees the development 

of FCA’s diversity and inclusion regulations.

Kenneth A. Spearman is appointed chairman and chief executive 

officer and serves from March 13, 2015, to Nov. 21, 2016. 

Chairman Spearman is the first African American to serve on the 

FCA board and as board chairman and CEO. Under his leadership, 

FCA issues a new rule governing Farm Credit System capital. The 

new capital rule reflects Basel III requirements while recognizing 

the System’s unique cooperative structure. Basel III is a 2009 

international regulatory accord designed to mitigate risk in the 

banking sector.

In June 2015, FCA establishes an independent Office of Information 

Technology to manage and deliver the agency’s increasingly complex IT infrastructure, data analysis, and cybersecurity activities. 

Before this, FCA’s IT functions were located in the agency’s Office of 

Management Services.

2008

2012

2015

2008 2012 2015

2008 to 2015
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

On Jan. 1, 2017, the final capital rule takes effect. The primary 

objective of this rule is to modernize the System’s capital requirements while ensuring that its banks and associations continue to 

hold sufficient regulatory capital to fulfill the System’s mission as a 

government-sponsored enterprise.

Congress passes the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, which 

achieves the following:

• Enhances FCA’s enforcement powers to more closely align 

them with those of the federal banking regulatory agencies.

• Grants FCSIC similar conservatorship and receivership authorities as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

• Repeals title VI of the Farm Credit Act. Title VI governed the 

Farm Credit System Financial Assistance Corporation and the 

Farm Credit System Assistance Board that provided financial 

and technical assistance to distressed System institutions.

• Repeals most of the Agricultural Marketing Act, old Depression-era laws, and obsolete provisions of the Farm Credit Act.

2016

2017

2018

Dallas P. Tonsager is appointed chairman and chief executive 

officer and serves from Nov. 22, 2016, until his death on May 21, 

2019. Chairman Tonsager returns to FCA after serving as USDA 

undersecretary for Rural Development. As chairman, he forges 

a strong working relationship between the agency and USDA on 

programs and investments to better serve rural America and its 

residents.

In April 2016, FCA eliminates the Office of Management Services 

and divides its responsibilities between two new offices: the Office 

of Agency Services, which manages human resources, travel, 

contracting, and other administrative functions, and the Office 

of the Chief Financial Officer, which manages and delivers timely, 

accurate, and reliable financial services to the agency.

2016 2017 2018

2016 to 2018
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

2020

FCA takes several steps to respond to the challenges presented by 

the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning March 16, it directs most of its 

workforce to telework, and the agency holds its first virtual board 

meeting on April 16. Throughout the pandemic, it has provided 

numerous guidance documents to System institutions to help 

them continue to meet their mission to serve the credit needs of 

farmers, ranchers, and others eligible to borrow from the Farm 

Credit System.

2020

2019 to 2020

Jeffery S. Hall is delegated acting chief executive officer from May 

20, 2019, to July 16, 2019.

2019

2019

Glen R. Smith is designated chairman and chief executive officer 

on July 17, 2019, and will serve until May 21, 2022.

In November, FCA announces the creation of a new Office of Data 

Analytics and Economics to help the agency move toward a more 

objective, data-driven approach to policymaking.

2019
Farm Credit Administration View an interactive version online at FCA.gov

2021 to 2022

The Farm Credit Administration hosts the first National Forum 

on Serving Young, Beginning, and Small Farmers and Ranchers in 

March. Cosponsored by FCA and Colorado State University, the 

forum is held on CSU’s Fort Collins campus and brings together 

lenders, regulators, producers, and stakeholders to share best 

practices, identify resources and tools, and expand YBS programs 

in the Farm Credit System.

2022

2021

Out of 71 agencies surveyed, the Farm Credit Administration 

receives the highest score in the overall response to the COVID-19 

pandemic in the 2020 rankings for Best Places to Work in the 

Federal Government. It also places fifth among small agencies in 

the overall rankings for best places to work and first in work-life 

balance, effective leadership by supervisors, and employee 

recognition.

2021

2022