Editing Federal Farm Loan Act (section)

==Background==
[[File:President Woodrow Wilson Signing Federal Farm Loan Act.jpg|thumb|alt=President Woodrow Wilson Signing Federal Farm Loan Act|President [[Woodrow Wilson]] Signing Federal Farm Loan Act]]
In 1908, the Administration of [[Theodore Roosevelt]] commissioned a study on the problems facing rural families. At this point in U.S. history, these families made up the largest demographic of Americans. The commission concluded that access to credit was one of the most serious problems facing rural farmers and recommended the introduction of a cooperative credit system.

Four years later, Presidents [[William Howard Taft]] and [[Woodrow Wilson]] sent a commission of Americans to study cooperative credit systems for farmers in Europe. Components of such European programs at the time included cooperative land-mortgage banks and rural credit unions. This commission concluded that the best form of cooperative credit system would include both long-term credit to cover land mortgages and short-term credit to cover regular business needs.<ref>Farm Credit Administration: History of FCA and FCS http://www.fca.gov/about/history/historyFCA_FCS.html</ref>
[[File:Better fruit BHL5152947.jpg|thumb|right|230px|1918 advertisement for Federal Farm Loan Bonds]]