The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (the 1996 FAIR Act) initiated a non-recourse marketing assistance loans and loan deficiency payments (LDP) programme for 16 crops, including corn and soybeans. The purpose of this programme is to provide producers a financial tool to help farmers market their crops throughout the year. The non-recourse loans allow farmers to store production and sell it when market conditions are favorable. The crop is employed as collateral for the loan. The loans are non-recourse in that the farmer has the option of repaying the loan by delivering the crop to the Commodity Credit Corporation at loan maturity.