Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. is a stockholder-owned, federally chartered corporation, which engages in the provision of a secondary market for agricultural real estate and rural housing mortgage loans, rural utilities loans, and loans guaranteed by the United States Department of Agriculture. It combines private capital and public sponsorship to serve a public purpose. The firm operates through the following segments: Farm and Ranch; USDA Guarantees; Rural Utilities; and Institutional Credit. The Farm and Ranch segment operates the mortgage loans secured by first liens on agricultural real estate, including part-time farms and rural housing. The USDA Guarantees segment provides agricultural and rural development loans guaranteed by the United States Department of Agriculture. The Rural Utilities segment engages in the business of loans made by lenders organized as cooperatives to finance electrification and telecommunications systems in rural areas. It provides liquidity and lending capacity to agricultural and rural utilities lenders by purchasing eligible loans directly from lenders; providing advances against eligible loans by purchasing obligations secured by those loans; securitizing assets and guaranteeing the payment of principal and interest on the resulting securities that represent interests in, or obligations secured by, pools of eligible loans; and issuing long-term standby purchase commitments for eligible loans. The Institutional Credit segment comprises the credit line of business. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Washington, DC.