Farm Credit Seen Needing up to 4.5 Billion Dlrs

The Farm Credit System will need 3-4.5 billion dlrs in federal assistance to cover losses over the next three years, a member of the board of the System’s regulatory agency said.

Jim Billington, member of the three-person board of directors of the Farm Credit Administration, said he intended to ask the board on May 5 to vote to certify that the ailing farm lending network needs federal aid.

Billington, the sole Democrat on the board, said the System would need federal aid sooner than suggested by a FCA report, which said assistance would be required by the end of 1987.

“I would say the System will require outside financial assistance possibly by July 1 if System districts don’t lend unsecured credit to one another to meet collateral problems,” he said.

FCA officials today disclosed that efforts by the System’s districts to reach a collateral-sharing agreement has been suspended.