Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 April 2015
Credit availability and use have been identified as crucial factors affecting success or failure for many farm operations [1, 2]. The increased level of uncertainty affecting agriculture in the 1970s has intensified the importance of credit use by farmers. Indeed, maintaining financial liquidity often is cited as a strategy to counter increasing farm risks [6, 12]. Farmers view credit as a crucial variable and, as shown by Barry and Baker [3], farmer borrowing patterns can be related to the level of unused credit those farmers maintain.