Rural Development: Availability of Capital for Agriculture, Business, andInfrastructure

摘要

Because access to capital is a prerequesite for economic growth, you asked us toexamine the availability of capital in rural America for agriculture, business, and community infrastructure. Specifically, you asked that we describe the primary financial institutions that are used to finance agriculture, rural businesses, and rural communities' infrastructure, and obtain the views of rural officials on (1) whether rural borrowers have difficulty in obtaining access to capital, (2) whether rural borrowers have adequate knowledge of the availability of financial assistance, and (3) what potential alternatives may be used to improve the availability of capital. To address these questions, we spoke with officials of federal, state, regional, local rural development, and lending institutions in four states--Alabama, Maine, Minnesota, and Washington.