Excerpts from the report: Farmers Home Administration (FmHA ) is the credit agency for agriculture and rural development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In 1987, the agency marked its 52nd anniversary of providing financial and technical assistance in rural America. This service has been performed under the successive names of Resettlement Administration, Farm Security Administration, and Farmers Home Administration. When it began in 1935, the agency's original function was to make loans and grants to Depression stricken families and help them regain self-sufficiency in making their living on family farms. Throughout more than half-a-century of operation, FmHA has been concerned primarily with credit and counseling services that have supplemented resources of the private sector for building stronger family farms.