Commodity Credit Corporation

The CCC was incorporated on October 17, 1933, under a Delaware charter pursuant to Executive Order 6340 issued the previous day by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It had a capitalization of $3 million subscribed by the secretary of agriculture and the governor of the Farm Credit Administration.

It was initially managed and operated in close affiliation with the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which funded its operations. On July 1, 1939, the CCC was transferred to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Secretary of Agriculture was granted the authority to exercise all rights of ownership of the corporation by Executive Order 8219 of 1939.

It was reincorporated on July 1, 1948, as a federal corporation within the USDA by the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act (62 Stat.1070; 15 U.S.C. 714).

During the 1948 presidential election campaign, Harry Truman criticized Republicans in the 80th Congress for supporting revisions to the CCC that were unpopular with farmers.

The CCC was created to stabilize, support and protect farm income and prices. The CCC is also the Federal government's primary financing arm for many domestic and international agricultural programs. The CCC helps maintain balanced and adequate supplies of agricultural commodities and aids in their orderly distribution.

The CCC helps America's agricultural producers through commodity and farm storage facility loans, purchases, and income support payments. The CCC also works to make available materials and facilities required in the production and marketing of agricultural commodities. In addition, the CCC provides incentives and payments to landowners to establish conservation practices on their land.

The CCC provides agricultural commodities to other Federal agencies and foreign governments. The CCC also donates commodities to domestic and international relief agencies as well as foreign countries. The CCC assists in the development of new domestic and foreign markets and marketing facilities for American agricultural commodities. The CCC operates numerous domestic programs such as income support, disaster, and conservation programs. It also extends direct credit and guarantees commodity sales to foreign countries throughout the world.

The CCC has its own disbursing authority and utilizes the Federal Reserve Bank system and United States Treasury to make payments. This disbursing authority allows the CCC to make payments quickly and to provide financial support to America's producers and farmers immediately. The CCC has multiple funding mechanisms. Most of the domestic programs are operated out of a revolving fund, in which the CCC has a permanent indefinite borrowing authority, as defined by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-11, Preparation, Submission, and Execution of the Budget. Borrowing authority permits the corporation to incur obligations and authorizes it to borrow funds to liquidate the obligations. This fund also receives money from appropriated funding for costs incurred (i.e., realized losses), loan repayments, inventory sales, interest income, and fees. Additionally, the CCC receives direct appropriations for specific programs such as its Credit Reform programs, foreign grant and donation programs, and disaster relief.

Commodity Operations and Food Aid

FSA personnel handle the procurement, acquisition, storage, disposition, and distribution of commodities, and the administration of the United States Warehouse Act (USWA). These programs help achieve domestic farm program price support objectives, produce a uniform regulatory system for storing agricultural products, and ensure the timely provision of food products for domestic and international food assistance programs and market development programs.

Foreign Market Development

Expanding markets for agricultural products is critical to the long-term health and prosperity of the U.S. agricultural sector. With 95% of the world's population not being U.S. citizens, future growth in demand for food and agricultural products will occur primarily in overseas markets. The CCC funds used in the market development programs play a critical role in helping to open new markets and in facilitating U.S. competitiveness and by doing so, help to secure a more prosperous future for American agriculture. Support for economic development and trade capacity building reinforces these efforts by helping developing countries to become economically stable and improve their prospects to participate in and benefit from expanding global trade in agricultural products. FAS administers the CCC foreign market development programs.

Income Support and Disaster Assistance

Income support and disaster assistance programs provide financial assistance to protect farmers and ranchers from fluctuations in market conditions and unexpected natural or man-made disasters. Assistance is provided through income support programs, disaster assistance programs, and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP). FSA is responsible for administering income support and disaster assistance programs.