keeping agriculture profitable.

keeping agriculture profitable.

“To fill their needs for capital, farmers have turned mostly to the hanks throughout the state,” Mr. Brown said. Quoting from the 11th annual national survey of agricultural lending by the Agricultural Commission of the American Bankers Association, he noted that "the vast majority of farm loans made by banks are for production and operating requirements. In 1951, the last full year of operation, Virginia banks— serving agricultural communities , - loaned $62,840,000 to 29,776, farmers_ for all types of financial needs. Of this amount, $51,092,000 was borrowed by 26,963 farmers to finance production and operating needs. This compares with 28,656 production loans, totaling $45,554,000, during 1950. These production loans were quickly repaid, too, and only $31,189,(500 were outstanding at the end of 1951.

“The year 1951 was marked by a decrease in the total of 'hank-held farm mortgage debt, indicating that this type of borrowing is being kept to a minimum. At the beginning of the year, the total agricultural mortgage debt held by Virginia banks was $29,351,000. During the year, banks made 2,813 additional farm real estate loans in an aggregate of $11,748,000. Yet, so much of the mortgage debt was paid off during the year that, on December 31, 1951, the total amount of this long term debt outstanding had fallen $443,000 to a total of $28,908,000. “The fact that the state’s banks are serving particularly the operators of small and moderate-sized farms is shown by the size of the average loan made by banks during the year. The average production loan was $1,895, during 1951, and the average farm real estate loan was $4,176. “The total of bank-held agricultural debt outstanding in Virginia on January 1 of this year was $60,097,009, excluding C.C.C. loans,” Mr. Brown said.