Figure 1.--This photograph shows the children of a FSA borrower on cut-over land. We think that means timberland thatbhas been cut down, but we are not positive. It was located in Itasca County, Minnesota (July 1941). Photographer: John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration.

The Resettlement Administration (RA) had begun to make loans to farmers for purchases of land, equipment, seed,and livestock. Certainly the loan program was the core of the FSA. Because if the farmers could get bavk on their feet, other assisance became less important. The loans were primarily used for actual farming activities, but were also used housing improvements anf for the sanitary or health programs. The basic objective was to give farmers the means to become self-sustaining. The family farmer who owned his land was the primarily focus of the FSA. Unlike the earlier Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), the FSA attempted to assisst tenant farmers (share cropers). AAA efforts had actually driven some tenant farmers' off the land. The FSA's primary appraoach to helping tennant farmers was to assist them to buy land. They used funds from the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937 and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The FSA set up a tenant-purchase loan program. By early 1941, 16,000 tenant families were participating in the program. They were proivided 40-year loans at 3 percent interest. The average loans were small, less than $5,000, although that was substantially mote in terms of modern dollars. FSA loans (1937 to mid-1941) totaled more than $473, most of which was repaid with interest. The FSA also dispursed $122 million in grants. The programs had a major impact on farm net worth. In assessing the cost of the FDA loan effort, one has to consider the impact of putting farmers back on their feet or helping tennant farmers become land oners. This meant that with increased income they not only led more productive lives, but began paying taxes.

Created: 11:41 PM 2/11/2023
Last updated: 11:41 PM 2/11/2023