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                                                                    Exhibit 31.1

                        FARMERS & MERCHANTS BANCORP, INC

CERTIFICATION

I, Joe E. Crossgrove certify that:

     1.   I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Farmers & Merchants
          Bancorp, Inc.;

     2.   Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
          statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
          necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
          under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to
          the period covered by this annual report;

     3.   Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
          information included in this annual report, fairly present in all
          material respects the financial condition, results of operations and
          cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in
          this annual report;

     4.   The registrant's other certifying officers and I are responsible for
          establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
          defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15e and 15d-15e) for the registrant
          and have:

          a) designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
          disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
          supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
          registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
          us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in
          which this annual report is being prepared;

          b) This paragraph intentionally left blank

          c) evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls
          and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
          effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end
          of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

          d) disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal
          control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's
          most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in
          the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is
          reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal
          control over financial reporting; and

     5.   The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based
          on our most recent evaluation, to the registrant's auditors and the
          audit committee of registrant's board of directors (or persons
          performing the equivalent functions):

          a) all significant deficiencies in the design or operation of internal
          controls which could adversely affect the registrant's ability to
          record, process, summarize and report financial data and have
          identified for the registrant's auditors any material weaknesses in
          internal controls; and

          b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
          other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's
          internal controls.

   Date February 27, 2004

                                                       /s/ Joe E. Crossgrove
                                                       ---------------------
                                                       Joe E. Crossgrove
                                                       Chief Executive Officer