U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE: Marketing Assistance Loan Program Should Better Reflect Market Conditions

Abstract

The marketing assistance loan program is designed to provide producers of certain crops with interim financial assistance at harvest, when prices are usually lower than at other times of the year. By doing so, the program effectively guarantees a minimum price for those crops. For 1998 crops, the program provided $6.7 billion in loans. It also provided $3.7 billion in cash payments, as of September 22,1999, up from $162 million for 1997 crops. This jump in cash payments occurred because of substantial declines in crop prices; payments are expected to grow to about $5.9 billion for 1999 crops.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1999
Accession Number
ADA370785

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accounting
  • Agriculture
  • California
  • Congress
  • Deficiencies
  • Economic Development
  • Electronic Mail
  • Forestry
  • Governments
  • Guarantees
  • Law
  • Marketing
  • Minnesota
  • North Dakota
  • Production
  • South Dakota
  • United States

Readers

  • Defense Financial Management and Audit.
  • Economics