A LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT Greetings, Roots run deep when you are raised on a Midwestern farm. Here I am, in this photograph in 2014, with my brother Scott and my father on our family farm. This is a cherished photo of mine as my father passed away shortly after. Although I left the successful farm operation that my brother runs to this day, I haven’t strayed far. After thirteen years in the Farm Credit System after college, the creation of the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation brought the concept of a secondary market for agriculture into focus. That concept, together with a desire to create something on our own, brought the original AgFi group together. In those early years at Farm Credit, we worked primarily with corn, soybeans, wheat, tobacco and some livestock. We never looked back, and one of the real blessings of what we do is exposure to ALL agriculture in the U.S. In addition to those Midwestern grains, our group has worked with cotton, rice, citrus, wineries, sugar, other fruits and vegetables, and large swine, beef, poultry and dairy operations. From day one, we have been focused on agriculture and rural America. I’m most proud of our people. We have always had extremely low turnover in the company, with several folks who’ve been with us for 20+ years. As a group, our team is very focused on personal service to customers, and that will never change. I’m humbled to think I had a hand in starting a company from scratch that is an active lender to farmers and ranchers from coast to coast, handling over $2 billion in mortgage loans, and supporting over fifty families with employment and great benefits.
The reason that we have grown as we have is because we value relationships above all, and we want those relationships to last. Our mission is to help you be more successful. As we monitor the markets, review reports from the USDA and work with industry experts all over the country, we began considering how to get that valuable information into producers’ hands in a format that was concise, easy to read, as well as engaging and fun. That’s the inspiration behind this new publication Seed, Feed and Field®. We hope you enjoy it.
Alan N. Singleton, President
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