A visit with Leo Speth, vice president and manager of Feather River State Bank's Farmer Mac Department and Daljit Bains of his staff revealed that 1998 had not been a good year for agricultural producers in the Sacramento Valley, California, area. Prunes are the leading crop in the Yuba City area, and they were a disaster because of a shortfall in both yield and quality. Some growers who were seriously impacted have received FSA guaranteed loans. The bank has sold the guaranteed portion of these loans to Farmer Mac. Both lenders say that they can now understand the problems of midwestern corn and soybean lenders. They no longer consider themselves isolated from the problems of surplus production and fluctuating prices experienced in the Cornbelt.