The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, commonly known as Farmer Mac, is a federally chartered instrumentality of the United States. The organization was created by the government in 1988 to establish a secondary market for agricultural real estate and to increase the availability of long-term credit at stable interest rates to American farmers, ranchers and rural homeowners. The Farmer Mac secondary market for agricultural mortgage loans provides liquidity and lending capacity to agricultural mortgage lenders. The organization issues long-term standby purchase commitments for eligible mortgage loans. It also purchases and guarantees mortgage-backed bonds. The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation is based in Washington, D.C.