Pub. 6 2011-2012 Issue 6

March/April 2012 25 Extraordinary Service for Extraordinary Members. The EFT You can TRUST NetWorks is the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) service provider that Nebraskans have used and learned to trust like family for over 30 years. Our highly experienced staff is extremely knowledgeable and resourceful when it comes to assisting your institution. Give us a call to learn more about our services, you’ll have the opportunity to talk to someone who truly cares about and understands your EFT service needs. www.netseft.com Toll Free 800-735-6833 Local 402-434-8202 Although thismergermoves Ameri- can AgCredit from eighth to sixth in size among the FCS associations, with about $5.6 billion in assets as of Sept. 30, 2011, the five larger as- sociations have essentially contiguous territories. For example, the largest association, Louisville, Ky.-based FCS of Mid-America, serves all of Indiana and Tennessee and almost all of Ohio and Kentucky. The second-largest as- sociation, Omaha, Neb.-based FCS of America serves all of Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming, but nothing else. Only the fourth-largest association, Farm Credit West, is somewhat disjointed, serving two different portions of California plus southern Nevada. The obvious question at this point: How can a board of directors and management team properly run an agricultural lending business spread across such widely divergent market areas—portions of northern Califor- nia, southern California, Nevada, the mountain plains of western Colorado, and western Kansas? More spe- cifically, how much understanding or knowledge can an American AgCredit director farming in western Kansas have about farming conditions in Mesa County, Colorado, or about a grape-growing and winery business in Sonoma County, California? Such geographical disparity and lack of ter- ritorial contiguousness is fraught with danger, for both American AgCredit and for the entire FCS should other disjointed FCS associations emerge through mergers and acquisitions. It will be interesting to see if the Farm Credit Administration (FCA), the FCS’ regulator, permits this type of territorial fragmentation to grow within the FCS. Report FCS Lending Abuses Bankers are continuing to send FCW reports of FCS lending abuses such as FCS loans for rural estates, weekend getaways, and hunting pre- serves. Email reports of similar lending abuses in your market to green-acres@ely-co.com. Please pro- vide as much detail as possible about any loan that violates the spirit, if not the law, governing FCS lending. Farm Credit Watch Free to ABA Members If your bankbelongs to theAmerican Bankers Association (ABA), you can en- joy a free email subscription to FCWor you can read it monthly online at www. aba.com . To receive FCW by email or to manage your subscription, visit ABA Email Bulletins at www.aba.com/ members+only/bulletin.htmand check or uncheck the appropriate boxes. For other inquiries, please contact Barbara McCoy at the ABA at 1-800-BANKERS or bmccoy@aba.com. Z To contact Bert Ely, email bert@ely-co.com ; fax (703) 836-1403; phone (703) 836-4101; or mail PO Box 320700, Alexandria, Va. 22320.