FCS Financial: One Hundred Years July 2016 | Page 74

Close to the Land and
the People Who Work It
As of 1982, there were twelve Federal Land Bank
Association headquarter offices across Missouri
to serve farmers with long-term financing.
They included full-time offices in Carthage,
Caruthersville, Hannibal, Kirksville, Lee’s Summit,
Marshall, Montgomery City, Mountain Grove,
Poplar Bluff, St. Joseph, Sikeston, and Springfield.
In addition, there were branch offices in Albany,
Alton, Aurora, Bolivar, Boonville, Bowling Green,
Brookfield, Butler, Cameron, Columbia, Farmington,
Harrisonville, Jefferson City, Keytesville, Lebanon,
Lexington, Maryville, Memphis, Mexico, Mound
City, Neosho, Nevada, Platte City, Rolla, St. Charles,
Sedalia, Shelbina, Trenton, Union, Warrensburg,
and West Plains.

The 1985 act also created the Farm Credit System Capital
Corporation to develop standardized policies; set and enforce
financial, credit, and financial reporting standards; and oversee
system capital management. Its headquarters would be in Denver,
Colorado, and each of the twelve Farm Credit Districts was to elect
one of its board members to serve on the board.
Its first president, Alton Cook, was quoted in the January/
February 1986 issue of Farming magazine: “The need for central
direction and decision-making for the System was identified in
a major strategic planning study that began in the fall of 1983.
However, the worsening condition of the nation’s agricultural
economy and the resulting impact on many of our banks and
associations did influence the decision to create a central policy and
decision-making mechanism as soon as possible.” While the districts
and the three bank systems—Federal Land Bank, Intermediate Credit
Bank, and Bank of Cooperatives—had operated independently, they
would now function as a single nationwide system with uniform
standards in finance and credit.

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Selected References