Consolidation and restructuring of the financial services industry is changing the delivery of credit to rural borrowers. A major concern is that continued consolidation may lead to a decline in rural banks and ultimately to a reduction in the availability of credit to farmers, small businesses, and local communities. More than 2,500 bank acquisitions worth approximately $120 billion occurred in the United States between 1979 and 1993. The number of commercial banks declined from 14,496 in 1984 to 10,432 in 1994, a notable decrease of 28%. The passage of the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 is likely to accelerate consolidation. In Vision 2000: The Transformation of Banking, Anderson Consulting and the Bank Administration Institute forecast that there will be less