A big round of applause from the Champaign County Farm Bureau to Farm Credit Services of Illinois, headquartered in Mahomet, IL, for their substantial support of Farm Bureau programs throughout the year!  This year, Farm Credit is supporting the Champaign County Farm Bureau’s 100^th Anniversary Celebration as a Platinum Sponsor.  Farm Credit team members, including Rick Swearingen, have also been serving Champaign County Farm Bureau (CCFB) farm families through work with the CCFB Foundation.  Since 2008, Farm Credit has hosted the CCFB Foundation’s annual gala which raises funds to provide scholarships to area youth interested in studying agriculture. 

Farm Credit has provided a regular presence at our legislative committee breakfasts and other Farm Bureau sponsored events. They have graciously opened their facilities to our Chamber of Commerce Agri-Business Committee for the annual Come Wine With Us event that is slated this year for Thursday evening, June 21.  This is an effort to help educate our urban business friends about agriculture and will also showcase 100 Years of Champaign County Farm Bureau this year with "Ask a Farmer" questions posed to our directors about Farm Bureau history.

In addition to serving Champaign County, Farm Credit Services of Illinois  provides support to Illinois Farm Bureau programs statewide.  In 2010, the Association established a unique, $50,000 endowed fund to provide income to the Illinois Farm Bureau Young Leaders program statewide.  The funding and manpower CCFB receives from Farm Credit is crucial to spreading the word about the importance of agriculture.  Rod Stoll, vice president of public relations, says, “Farm Credit Services of Illinois values the relationships it has with Farm Bureau members throughout our 60 county service area. We welcome opportunities to support and partner with Farm Bureau and appreciate the important work that Farm Bureau does as advocates for farm families and consumers throughout Illinois.”

Farm Credit Services of Illinois is a farmer-owned and farmer-directed cooperative dedicated to delivering competitive and flexible farm financing and crop insurance expertise. The Association serves more than 8,400 customer stockholders with $3 billion of farm and agribusiness loans in addition to crop insurance that covers more than 1.8 million acres. With a service area that includes the southern 60 counties of Illinois, the Association employs 195 full-time staff who provides farm families, rural landowners, and agribusinesses with a dependable and competitive source of financial capital and risk management services.

As a cooperative, Farm Credit’s customer stockholders elect twelve of their peers as directors to the board; two additional directors are appointed as outside directors. The Association is part of the national Farm Credit System created by the U.S. Congress in 1916 to provide a reliable source of credit for the nation's farmers. Today, the System is a network of cooperatives providing more than one-third of the credit needed by those who live and work in Rural America.  Although the System is a Government Sponsored Enterprise (G.S.E.), Farm Credit is completely self-sustaining and operates without financial support from the federal government. Farm Credit is committed to improving the quality of life for farmers and Rural America through its commitment to expert financial services and advice while developing partnership-based relationships with agricultural customers.