Farm Finance

Financial Condition of American Agriculture as of December 31, 1986 Gao ID: RCED-88-26BR October 20, 1987

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the financial condition of American agriculture as of December 31, 1986.

GAO found that, in 1986: (1) adverse economic conditions continued to affect the agricultural sector; (2) the agricultural industry produced an increased surplus in many key commodities; (3) agricultural exports declined; (4) the value of total farm assets declined by an estimated 8 percent; (5) net farm cash income increased by about 10 percent from 1985; (6) many farmers continued to maintain high debt-to-asset ratios; (7) farm lenders continued to exhibit financial stress because of the declining quality of their loan portfolios; (8) farm prices and the value of the dollar declined; and (9) federal outlays for agricultural assistance increased by about 23 percent over 1985.



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