In 1959 and into the early 1970s we would have received an appropriation annually. In fact, as we started out, banks didn't offer farm mortgages, so we were the show in town to do farm mortgages. We never turned a profit, though, for that whole period of time. We were kind of living from hand to mouth, so to speak, as an agent of the government. There's no doubt about that.
Later on, as we got through the 1970s and into the 1980s, we became what was a complementary lender, really taking more risk than other lenders.
Then we hit the days of the mid-1980s, when interest rates became.... I started 30 years ago, and we were lending money at 16.5%. You can just imagine the interest expense. Of course there was a price to pay with that combination based in the agricultural community, and then failure.
We went through some really tough times in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. At the end of that period the government realized that we needed to operate like a commercial crown with a business structure that was sustainable. If we were going to serve the industry, we had to be around.
In 1993 we received new legislation and we were directed to enter the marketplace as a self-sustaining business. We have not received any more money from the federal government since that period, which is now about 20 years ago.
Today we operate as a self-sustaining crown, we pay a dividend back to the federal government annually, and we take on business of all shapes and sizes, all sectors, all enterprises, across the country. Now we actually have a good balance sheet and we're here to serve.