FCS Financial: One Hundred Years July 2016 | Page 81

Setting themselves apart from ordinary lending institutions, President
Larry Burbank wrote, “We are the nation’s largest, customer-owned
agricultural services company, and we believe we offer the best value
in loans and services to rural homeowners, people in agribusiness,
and farmers who wish to remain successful and independent.”
Farm Credit Services first launched its online presence in 1996.
By the spring of 1999, Donna Patterson, then communications
specialist for FCS in Jefferson City, announced, “FCS is taking
interactive financing to new levels and expanding access to our
products and services. Our new site has been developed in response
to what our customers told us they want.” The redesigned website
saved the customers time and provided easier access to financial
information and services. In addition, farmers could now customize
the information based on their geography and the nature of their
business. Members could then go to one site, www.farmcredit.com
at the time, to get local weather, news, and commodity market
information. For farmers, like many others, time is a precious
commodity and instead of having to drive into town to talk to a loan
officer, they could now access their account information including
principal, interest, and funds available and find out when their next
loan payment was due and for what amount. The site also gave them
access to agricultural specialists and professionals they could look to
for guidance when making important decisions.
Nothing, it seems, is more constant than change and FCS was
evolving just like the farmers and other rural member/customers they
served. Both had made it through the perfect storm of the 1980s and
though not everyone survived, as a whole they emerged stronger than
ever to face the complexities of the Information Age.

The Perfect Storm

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