FCS Financial: One Hundred Years July 2016 | Page 46

Banquet attendees at the 1967 PCA Directors Conference held August 14-15 in St. Louis, Missouri.

By December 13, 1968, all the banks and associations within the
Farm Credit System had repaid all their government capital which
meant the member-borrowers now owned the capital of the entire
system. William Myers, who continued keeping a watchful eye on
the system, wrote: “It (repayment of Government capital) indicates
that the desire of farm leaders to have an independent credit system,
owned by them and operating for their benefit, was held for a long
time, not merely by one administration, and this was more than
sentiment. It was based on deeply felt principles.”
The boom years of the 1970s saw farmers borrow heavily
to expand their operations to meet the great demand for U.S.
agricultural exports to the Soviet Union where drought conditions
caused severe grain shortages. Double-digit inflation raised prices
on farm products and boosted the value of farmland. Established
farmers, who could see a trend developing, seized the opportunity
to expand. One such farmer was Jay Shipley whose longstanding
relationship with Farm Credit made it possible for him to accumulate

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Selected References