Farmer Mac was created and given a federal charter and statutory mission to provide a secondary market for agricultural mortgage loans following the agricultural credit crisis of the 1980s. Farmer Mac, or the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp., as it is officially known, fulfills its mission directly, by purchasing and securitizing agricultural mortgage loans, and indirectly , by expanding the lending capacity and profitability of primary agricultural lenders and creating conditions favorable to lower interest rates for agricultural mortgage borrowers. Farmer Mac's recent growth and public relations problems have stimulated scrutiny from federal regulators, financial analysts, academics, and others. A discussion of the ways Farmer Mac achieves its statutory mission is provided along with a simple numerical example that highlights some of the key benefits to agricultural bankers of using the secondary mortgage market provided by Farmer Mac.