Revised Estimates of Non-Real-Estate Farm Debt Owed to Nonreporting Creditors, and of Total Non-Real- Estate Farm Debt, 1949-64

Excerpts from the report: At the beginning of 1964, farm operators and landlords owed $16.2 billion in loans not secured by farm real estate. Over 40 percent of this amount was owed to merchants, dealers, and other creditors who do not report to regulatory agencies the amount of the loans they hold. These debts totaled $6.7 billion on January 1, 1964, according to revised estimates--$2. 2 billion above the earlier estimate. These revised estimates, covering the period 1949-64, were based on benchmark estimates of farm debt for January 1, 1961. The benchmark estimates were prepared by the authors following the 1960 Sample Survey of Agriculture by the Bureau of the Census, and were included in an earlier report. The 1960 Sample Survey of Agriculture provided the first data ever available on a nationwide basis on the non-real-estate farm debt held by these nonreporting lenders. Through careful analysis of these data, in conjunction with census and agency data for the reporting lenders, we developed the benchmark estimates of farm debt and its components reported in ERS-167. As will be shown, the benchmark estimate for nonreporting creditors seemed to be in reasonable relationship to earlier estimates for the years 1940-57, but necessitated substantial revision of estimates for the years 1958-64