12 U.S.C. § 2001 : US Code - Section 2001: Congressional declaration of policy and objectives

Search 12 U.S.C. § 2001 : US Code - Section 2001: Congressional declaration of policy and objectives

(a) It is declared to be the policy of the Congress, recognizing
that a prosperous, productive agriculture is essential to a free
nation and recognizing the growing need for credit in rural areas,
that the farmer-owned cooperative Farm Credit System be designed to
accomplish the objective of improving the income and well-being of
American farmers and ranchers by furnishing sound, adequate, and
constructive credit and closely related services to them, their
cooperatives, and to selected farm-related businesses necessary for
efficient farm operations.
(b) It is the objective of this chapter to continue to encourage
farmer- and rancher-borrowers participation in the management,
control, and ownership of a permanent system of credit for
agriculture which will be responsive to the credit needs of all
types of agricultural producers having a basis for credit, and to
modernize and improve the authorizations and means for furnishing
such credit and credit for housing in rural areas made available
through the institutions constituting the Farm Credit System as
herein provided.
(c) It is declared to be the policy of Congress that the credit
needs of farmers, ranchers, and their cooperatives are best served
if the institutions of the Farm Credit System provide equitable and
competitive interest rates to eligible borrowers, taking into
consideration the creditworthiness and access to alternative
sources of credit for borrowers, the cost of funds, including any
costs of defeasance under section 2159(b) of this title, the
operating costs of the institution, including the costs of any loan
loss amortization under section 2254(b) of this title, the cost of
servicing loans, the need to retain earnings to protect borrowers'
stock, and the volume of net new borrowing. Further, it is declared
to be the policy of Congress that Farm Credit System institutions
take action in accordance with the Farm Credit Act Amendments of
1986 in such manner that borrowers from the institutions derive the
greatest benefit practicable from that Act: Provided, That in no
case is any borrower to be charged a rate of interest that is below
competitive market rates for similar loans made by private lenders
to borrowers of equivalent creditworthiness and access to
alternative credit.