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News Briefs, Winter 2012

Get the latest news updates for Winter 2012.

Landscapes Winter 2012

National Website Showcases Farm Credit Customers

Farm Credit finances agricultural operations in all 50 states, and now you can read about the different types of farming, ranching and agribusiness enterprises and the people who own them.

Nearly 100 Farm Credit customer profiles have been posted on the “Producing Excellence” section of the national Farm Credit website during the past year. The stories reflect the diversity of U.S. agriculture and together present a snapshot of the ingenuity, spirit and values of the nation’s farmers and ranchers.

From a banana producer in Puerto Rico to a dairy farmer in Vermont to a timber grower in Wyoming, the customers and their stories are as varied as the areas they represent. Among them are 19 customer profiles from the Texas Farm Credit District, which includes Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas.

The Producing Excellence program was launched one year ago on the Farm Credit System’s 95th anniversary to illustrate the diversity of agricultural products and commodities that are financed by Farm Credit cooperatives and to educate the public about the nation’s farming and ranching sector at the grassroots level. The feature articles will be published in a book commemorating the anniversary.

Response to the project has been so positive that it will be continued in 2013, with more borrower profiles added throughout the year.

To view Farm Credit customer stories from across the country, visit the website.

Farm Credit Reports on Loans to Young, Beginning, Small Producers

When the Farm Credit System was created by Congress in 1916, its mission was to provide dependable credit to American agriculture. Proud of its history, Farm Credit also looks to the future with special loan programs and financing methods that serve young, beginning and small (YBS) farmers and ranchers.

In a report released this summer, the Farm Credit Administration revealed that loans to YBS borrowers made up a significant portion of the System’s 333,932 new farm loans in 2011.

YBS Loans in 2011
  No. of Loans % of All New Loans Average Loan Size Loan Volume
Y farmers/ranchers 52,800 15.8% $141,360 $7.5 billion
B farmers/ranchers 61,995 18.6% $155,406 $9.6 billion
S farmers/ranchers 137,529 41.2% $81,413 $11.2 billion

 

Farm Credit’s lending cooperatives provide credit to YBS producers in a safe and sound manner through reduced interest rates, reduced loan fees, specially designed underwriting standards and government loan guarantees.

For borrowers, the benefits don’t stop with financing. Many associations also offer training or mentoring, and support scholarships, fairs, workshops, cooperative leadership programs and agriculture organizations that benefit YBS producers.

See the Farm Credit Administration’s report on the annual results and other YBS resources at www.fca.gov/info/ybs.html.

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Bank Reports Growth in Loan Volume, Strong Credit Quality

Farm Credit Bank of Texas reported increased loan volume and strong credit quality for the third quarter of 2012. The cooperatively owned wholesale funding bank is the source of funds for 17 rural lending cooperatives in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. They in turn provide financing for farmers, ranchers, agribusiness firms, rural landowners and country homeowners.

The bank’s gross loan volume at Sept. 30, 2012, totaled $11.11 billion, an increase of 8.0 percent from Dec. 31, 2011. Average earning assets increased $1.04 billion in the third quarter of 2012, compared with the same quarter of 2011.

Credit quality was strong, with 97.5 percent of the bank’s loan portfolio classified as “acceptable” or “other assets especially mentioned” at Sept. 30, 2012, compared with 91.2 percent at Dec. 31, 2011, and 90.3 percent at Sept. 30, 2011.

“The efforts of the bank’s management and the positioning of the bank’s loan portfolio have put us in a good credit quality position,” said Larry Doyle, the bank’s chief executive officer. “We have a strong base for our earnings engine in the coming year.”

The bank and its affiliated lending cooperatives had $16.59 billion in outstanding loan volume at the end of the third quarter. The lenders’ combined net income for the three and nine months ended Sept. 30, 2012, was $98.2 million and $320.7 million, respectively, up 2.4 percent and 12 percent over the same periods a year earlier.

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