The Farm Credit System

Our mission is to deliver highly competitive services, funding and relationships that empower our partners to support rural communities and American agriculture. Farm Credit has a rich history of providing support to these communities for more than 100 years.

Today, we support infrastructure providers and farmers by helping to keep American agriculture competitive in global markets and our rural communities viable and thriving.

Patronage

Our unique patronage program ultimately reduces borrowing costs for Farm Credit customers – America's farmers and ranchers, farmer-owned cooperatives and other agribusinesses.

Each Association’s (lender’s) board annually votes on returning a portion of their net income to borrowers based on the interest they’ve paid on their loans and the Association’s total interest earned.

Here’s how it works, explained in 90 seconds by AgFirst affiliated Association AgCredit:

Our Cooperative Structure

Farm Credit's cooperative structure helps it fulfill its critical mission of providing credit and financial services to rural communities and agriculture, now and in the future.

Farm Credit is a nationwide network of independent, privately-owned lending institutions in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. We are owned by our customers—farmers, ranchers, farmer-owned cooperatives and other agribusinesses, rural utilities, and others in rural America. This structure ensures that our customers' needs always come first, and that those customers also share in the institution’s success.