Farm bank thrives amid crisis

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/harford/bal-ha.farm21dec21,0,6327261.story

Ted Shelby's article for the Baltimore Sun, (12/21/08) opens with the following sentence.

Our nation would not be in the midst of the greatest financial crisis since the Depression if we had more grain farmers, dairymen and poultry growers running our lending institutions.

and goes on to say

Farm Credit's balance sheet is the envy of the banking industry. Net income for the six months ended June 30 is up nearly 20 percent to $1.55 billion from the same period last year.

and

Conventional lenders reported nearly 8,000 foreclosures in Maryland during the three-month period ended Sept. 30, and that is with state programs aimed at keeping people in their homes.

By comparison, MidAtlantic Farm Credit, which serves most of Maryland and parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Delaware, has reported fewer than a dozen foreclosures over the past year.

While other banks have been cutting or completely eliminating dividend payments of shareholders, MidAtlantic paid out $28 million in patronage payments last year. This is a form of profit sharing with its borrowers who are also owners of the bank.

"Having farmers on our board of directors helps keep us focused on our mission," said Frazee. "They are fiscal conservatives and prone not to repeat mistakes of the past."

Sixteen of MidAtlantic's 18 directors are farmers.

Country folks can survive!

I think the key here is farmers don't typically repeat mistakes of the past. There are a few alive who lived through the Great Depression. My father just missed it, but my grandparents didn't and the stories were told and passed on to the next generation about how hard it was.