DECEMBER 2020
Message from the President Though our daily routines are still not back to normal, I hope you and your family are doing well and experiencing some progress towards normalcy. From a personal standpoint, I have found comfort in recognizing some normalcy within my own family. Having our children attend school in-person, five days a week, was a significant step in getting things back on the path to normal. Extracurricular activities like sports, band, piano, scouting, horseback riding BRIAN RICKER and dance have helped us to get back on the path to normal. Having Ohio State football return in October was another milestone that helped bring some additional normalcy to our lives. Of course, we all hope and pray in the days ahead we do not experience any regression on the progress made. Here at AgCredit, we continue to see things return to normal from a business perspective. Perseverance, patience, teamwork and hard work describe how we have managed the year so far. Those in agriculture know very well the meaning of hard work and the phrase “Make Hay While the Sun Shines.” This phrase served us well in 2020 as the AgCredit team worked hard to make the most of the situation at hand. Our team seized on many opportunities that helped our borrowers and area communities during the year. I want to highlight some of the opportunities that developed during the year and, through hard work, what was accomplished. Note re-pricings – With interest rates declining at the onset of the pandemic and continuing over the ensuing weeks, our team worked feverishly to serve our members by re-pricing over 5,500 loans and lowering loan rates. This equated to interest savings of over $9.5 million to our borrowers. Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program loans – Our team acted with a sense of urgency and gained approval to complete
these special program loans. Despite the need to understand and follow the ever-changing rules around these loans, our team persevered and navigated through the program’s complexity. During a two-month period, 345 loan requests totaling $15.2 million were closed, which helped many businesses through an uncertain time. Growth – AgCredit experienced robust growth in the number of new borrowers and loan volume in 2020. The growth occurred in all segments of our portfolio, including the residential, farm and agribusiness segments. As of November, loan volume had increased by over $170 million, or 10%, compared to the same period a year ago. Despite the heavy workload, our AgCredit team found time to also serve and give back to our area communities. In October, our team shared the harvest and helped to distribute nearly four tons of canned food products to area food banks across the 18 counties we serve. We all know area food banks continue to have a need for food due to the pandemic, especially as we near the holiday season. Also, $95,000 in grants and scholarships were distributed through our Mission Fund. The grants were given to eight outstanding organizations. These grants will help our rural communities in a variety of ways, and additional details on the grants and scholarships can be found within this Leader. We’re looking forward to sharing details about our association patronage and financial results in early 2021. Despite the challenges over the course of the year, many opportunities to grow our business and serve our customers were experienced and executed. I am looking forward to sharing more detailed numbers on our financial results and patronage return in early 2021. We’ve been fortunate to return, on average, 31.2% of accrued interest in cash over the past five years and are looking forward to another very successful year. Until then, we would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!