Exhibit 99

                                [FARMER MAC LOGO]



                                      NEWS


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                             CONTACT
June 2, 2004                                                      Jerome Oslick
                                                                  202-872-7700



              Farmer Mac Updates Congress on Mission Achievements,
                       Safe and Sound Financial Condition

     Washington,  D.C.-- The Federal  Agricultural  Mortgage Corporation (Farmer
Mac, NYSE: AGM and AGM.A) Chairman Fred L. Dailey and President Henry D. Edelman
today updated the U.S. House of Representative's Committee on Agriculture on its
progress as the  Congressionally  chartered  secondary  market for  agricultural
mortgages.

     In summary, Farmer Mac's Chairman and its President reported the following:

     Farmer Mac is  accomplishing  its  Congressional  mission of increasing the
availability  of  long-term  mortgage  credit to farmers and  ranchers at stable
interest  rates  by  providing   greater   liquidity  and  lending  capacity  to
agricultural lenders through a secondary market for qualified mortgages.
     o    Since the 1996 revision to its charter,  Farmer Mac's $10.7 billion of
          credit  enhancements and purchases have covered more than 33,500 loans
          that have helped farmers, ranchers and rural homeowners throughout all
          50 states, with cumulative charge-offs of only $11 million.
     o    On average, interest rates offered by lenders through the Farmer Mac I
          program are 85 basis points lower than rates on comparable  loans,  as
          reported by member banks to U.S. Federal Reserve Banks in agricultural
          lending states.
     o    Through  its Farmer Mac II  program,  Farmer Mac is helping  small and
          family farmers,  working through a USDA program that targets beginning
          farmers and minority  applicants,  who would not  otherwise be able to
          obtain  financing,  and to help finance  development of businesses and
          infrastructure in the Nation's rural communities.

     Farmer Mac is operating  safely and soundly,  consistent  with its enabling
legislation.
     o    Farmer  Mac always has been  subject to the rules and  regulations  of
          both the Farm Credit  Administration (FCA) and the U.S. Securities and
          Exchange Commission (SEC).
     o    By  conventional   measures  of  financial   management,   Farmer  Mac
          administers its risks conservatively:
          o    As of March 31, 2004,  Farmer Mac's regulatory  capital of $245.7
               million   was  almost  six  times  the  level   required  by  the
               Congressionally  mandated risk-based capital stress test, and its
               regulatory core capital was one and two-thirds times the required
               statutory minimum capital level.
          o    As of March 31,  2004,  Farmer  Mac's  90-day  delinquencies  had
               trended  down to 1.17  percent  of the  principal  balance of all
               post-1996 Act Farmer Mac I program loans, slightly lower than the
               average experience of agricultural  mortgage lenders for 2003, as
               reported by the USDA.
          o    The  Corporation's  assets and liabilities  were closely matched,
               with a low  sensitivity to shifts in interest rates, as reflected
               in a  duration  gap of minus 0.5  months  at March  31,  2004.

     Corporate governance at Farmer Mac is conducted under high standards.
     o    The Corporation's board and committee membership meet the independence
          requirements of the SEC rules and NYSE Listing Requirements.
     o    Farmer  Mac has a Board of  Directors  composed  entirely  of  outside
          directors; no member of management serves on the Board.
     o    The  Chairman  of the  Farmer  Mac  Board is not the  Chief  Executive
          Officer  of the  Corporation;  its  President  serves  in that  latter
          capacity.

     Farmer Mac is a  stockholder-owned  instrumentality  of the  United  States
chartered  by Congress to  establish a secondary  market for  agricultural  real
estate and rural housing mortgage loans and to facilitate capital market funding
for USDA-guaranteed farm program and rural development loans. Farmer Mac's Class
C non-voting  and Class A voting  common stocks are listed on the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbols AGM and AGM.A,  respectively.  Additional information
about Farmer Mac is available on Farmer Mac's website at www.farmermac.com.

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