News
Rural America’s financial partner for 95 years — and counting
By Mark Parker
Farmers and the Farm Credit System have been sideby- side at the heart of America for 95 years. The seeds that grew into the nation’s oldest and largest financial cooperative were planted because of a critical need. Early in the 20th century, farmers made up 31 percent of the population — compared to less than 1 percent today — but they lacked access to fair, reliable credit to produce the food and fiber the nation needed.
In 1916, Congress passed the Federal Farm Loan Act establishing a cooperative credit structure based on 12 Federal Land Banks financed by private investor capital.
It was an important recognition of agriculture’s essential role in the American way of life. And just as agriculture itself has made huge strides forward in the past 95 years, so has its financial partner, the Farm Credit System. Today, the System has more than 500,000 farmer-borrowers in a network of customer-owned lending institutions. Its assets exceed $214 billion and the Farm Credit System provides more than one-third of the credit needs of rural America, along with important related business services.
System institutions, like Frontier Farm Credit, serve agriculture as dedicated, reliable and competitive sources of credit, providing more than $160 billion in loans to agriculture and rural America in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Today’s Farm Credit System is wholly farmer-owned and farmer-driven.
From a time when less than 10 percent of farms had electricity to an era of awesome technological sophistication, the financial requirements of farmers and ranchers have evolved dramatically. And yet, that basic need for reliable credit, upon which the Farm Credit System is based, is more critical than ever before. The soaring productivity of today’s farmers and ranchers takes place in an increasingly complex business environment marked by a challenging volatility in both cost and income.
It is a scenario that demands high-level business savvy as well
as capital.
“As a customer, I’m not out here on an island,” says Council Grove rancher Bill Miller who chairs the Frontier Farm Credit Board of Directors. “The people of Frontier Farm Credit have the expertise to provide me with good advice because they have an excellent knowledge of agriculture in general and of my operation in particular. I think that’s the key to Frontier Farm Credit’s success — providing access to a very high level of dependable expertise. That has been extremely beneficial to so many people, including me.”
The business services package offered by Frontier Farm Credit, Miller believes, is an integral part of focusing on customer needs. Record keeping, business and estate planning, online banking, tax planning, crop insurance and other services reflect a rising level of sophistication in today’s agriculture, he says.
And as member-borrowers face new business challenges, Frontier Farm Credit has stepped forward to provide the financial products they need. Miller is particularly proud of Frontier Farm Credit’s dedication to helping young and beginning farm and ranch families through programs like AgStart. “As we look at the next generation, it will be more important than ever to understand business and to have access to effective financial products and competitive rate financing. As a board, we always take a long-term view of our customer base and the growth potential for that next generation,” he says.
With all of the financial and business sophistication, however, Miller believes that Frontier Farm Credit’s greatest asset is a simple human understanding of farm and ranch families and the environment in which they live and work. “Knowing the challenges farmers face and understanding the nature of agriculture is the most important thing the people of Frontier Farm Credit bring to the table,” he asserts.
Noting that volatility, weather risk and other factors can expose farmers to financial adversity even when interest rates are low and prices are favorable, Miller says a commitment to the success of its customers is fundamental to Frontier Farm Credit’s mission.
“In the best of times or the most challenging of times, the Frontier Farm Credit focus has always been on the needs of its customers — that’s the foundation of everything we do,” he concludes. “For so many Kansas farms and ranches, Frontier Farm Credit has been, and continues to be, an important partner. Our motto really says it all — “Side-By- Side. Season-By-Season.’”
For more information about the history of the Farm Credit System, access the web site, www.farmcredit.com and go to “About Farm Credit.” To learn more about the lending and financial services provided by Frontier Farm Credit, log onto www.frontierfarmcredit.com or visit with one of the professionals at your local Frontier Farm Credit office.
877.744.7144 | Copyright © 2012 — Frontier Farm Credit
