Remarks by Glen R. Smith

Board Chairman and CEO

Farm Credit Administration

Farm Credit Council Annual Meeting

New Orleans, Louisiana

February 8, 2022 

Building on Success

It is so great to be here this morning (live not virtual), and I thank Todd Van Hoose and 

Chairman John Marthedal for the invitation.

It’s been two years since I spoke before this group in Washington, D.C. (Little rusty with 

public speaking). Two years, but it seems like a decade to me; so much stress, disruption, 

uncertainty, even chaos, due primarily to the pandemic. 

Two years ago at this conference, right before COVID broke, our concerns were primarily 

economic, following about six years of disappointing farm income, weakening land values, 

and the prospect of higher interest rates. Within a month, those economic concerns soon 

paled in comparison to losing loved ones, over-capacity hospitals, huge disruptions to our 

supply chains and businesses, and schools closing. I read last week in the Wall Street 

Journal that the mortality rate due to COVID in the U.S. has now exceeded the loss of life 

attributable to WWII as we approach 1 million lives lost in a shorter period of time. Pretty 

sobering statistic.

When we entered the early stages of the pandemic, it was no small comfort to know the 

System collectively was well prepared, with strong levels of capital and liquidity to deal with 

the unknown. That’s been your mission, to serve agriculture equally in good times as well as 

bad.
2 

FCS basis point spreads over Treasuries 

Throughout it all, the System barely missed a lick in funding — funding at historically 

narrow margins to Treasuries. Those narrow margins are a product of the good reputation

of the System with the investors in Farm Credit securities. That is a tremendous competitive 

advantage and means more money in the pockets of American farmers and ranchers. 

How do we preserve that good reputation? I’m going to quote Moody’s and Fitch, the rating 

agencies, on what they like about Farm Credit securities:

• The System has a strong regulator, which provides safety and soundness.

• The Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation protects investors by guaranteeing 

security performance.

• The System’s GSE (government-sponsored enterprise) status implies U.S. 

government backing.

• The System’s mission to serve agriculture appeals to investors. 
3 

Recent System accomplishments

Looking back to this conference two years ago, who would have predicted the impressive 

growth and success of the System in the following two years — especially given the 

challenges of COVID? Congratulations to everybody who contributed to this success. 

Beginning in early 2020, the healing benefits of the government’s Market Loss Payment 

program began to accumulate, which led to a dramatic improvement in commodity prices by 

late fall. This of course continued throughout 2021, resulting in record farm income. 

Prospects look good for 2022 but are hampered by rapidly increasing farm input costs. 

Two years ago, with a turnaround in fiscal direction, the Fed pumped trillions into our 

money supply to counter the effects of the pandemic, which resulted in a decreasing 

interest rate environment. Farm Credit loan pricing has been very competitive in this 

environment, resulting in a remarkable increase in market share.

It will be interesting to see how the System competes in the new rapidly increasing interest 

rate environment. 
4 

Market share of total U.S. farm debt

I remember looking at this graph four years ago when it showed the Farm Credit System 

within a fraction of a point of the commercial ag banking sector. A 5% growth in market 

share in four years, that is truly remarkable, but could be a double-edged sword which I’ll 

come back to later.

By the middle of March 2020, all government agencies, including the Farm Credit 

Administration, were ordered to shut down, and we quickly converted to a virtual, telework 

environment. All field offices, in addition to McLean, were shut down. About 60% of our 

workforce is in the Office of Examination, which was well-versed in telework due to the 

nature of their jobs. Our IT staff, led by Jerry Golley and his deputy, Jerry Versace, did an 

outstanding job of bringing the rest of us quickly up to the new-age technical world. Our 

chief operating officer, Robert Coleman, did a great job of keeping all the trains running.

We weren’t far into the pandemic when it became apparent we needed to closely track the 

health metrics in our home as well as field offices around the country. Transmission rates, 

positivity, hospitalization, vaccination, and mortality rates, among others, were all closely 

monitored by our data analytics people and were reported, first on a monthly, then shortly 

thereafter, on a weekly basis. This fact-based approach to developing our COVID policies 

became a model for other agencies. In fact, the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey 

ranked FCA #1 of all 86 federal agencies last year for our approach to COVID. 
5 

Chairman Smith with son and grandson: Social distancing Iowa style

Fauzan and I stuck around for a couple of weeks that March before heading west. One of 

the perks at that time was being able to regularly attend to FCA business while helping to 

plant the 2020 crop and seeing it off to a good start before returning to D.C. Since then, we 

have been traveling back and forth on a monthly basis. I found that, while teleworking is a 

useful tool, some issues just plain need to be handled in person, especially when it comes to 

human resources.

Human resources have been a challenge at FCA, almost entirely due to baby boomer 

retirements. It is a phenomenon that’s occurring throughout the country. So far in my 

tenure as chairman, the board will have placed 7 new people on our 11-member senior 

management staff. Many of you board members are going through the same generational 

changes in your home operations as I did with my son 41⁄2 years ago before I came to D.C.
6 

Senior leadership at FCA

But, as I told the agency examiners at their conference in Phoenix last December, new faces 

are good. They offer a fresh look — an openness to change and improve on past practices 

and to re-invent new ones. It also gives us an opportunity to enhance the diversity of our 

workforce, something we encourage all System institutions to emulate. This slide details our 

current senior leadership, which Board Member Hall and I are working very well with. The 

newest member is long-time examiner Mike Duffy who was recently promoted to chief 

examiner, replacing Roger Paulsen, who retired after 33 years with FCA.

Speaking of Board Member Hall, he is entering his seventh year of service on the FCA board 

and as chairman of the Farm Credit Service Insurance Corp. Jeff and I think very much 

alike, which is probably why we’ve accomplished so much in our time together. We’re not 

sure how long his tenure on the board will last, we’re just very grateful for his experience 

and commonsense approach to decision-making while he remains on the board.

At this time, I’d like to introduce the staff who accompanied me on this trip: Longtime OCPA 

[Office of Congressional and Public Affairs] director Mike Stokke; special assistant to my 

office, Barbara Lewandrowski, who came to us the first of the year from her prior position as 

public affairs director for Arlington National Cemetery; ORP [Office of Regulatory Policy] 

director Kevin Kramp, who was previously Board Member Hall’s executive assistant; and 

Kevin’s deputy in ORP, Autumn Agans.
7 

Market share of total U.S. farm debt

I’m going to go back now to that slide on market share with a warning: When you are the 

industry leader with enviable rapid growth, expect to have a big bull’s eye painted on you. 

Expect to be a target of renewed scrutiny and criticism from your competitors, especially 

powerful groups like the ABA and the community bankers. My guess is the council’s CEO 

had this thought in mind when he made this statement at the RISK 360 Conference last 

September.

”The Farm Credit System should not take its GSE status for granted.”

Todd, I think I just made history with a hard-nosed, arms-length regulator quoting the 

lobbyist. But I believe we share the same belief: The System has to be prepared to defend 

its GSE status and prove it’s fulfilling its mission of service to agriculture. Without GSE 

status, your shareholders lose the benefits of that competitive advantage, period. 
8 

Serving young, beginning, and small farmers and ranchers

From the very beginning of my board tenure, it has been my profound belief that 

advancement and growth of the Farm Credit System’s young, beginning, and small farmer 

and rancher programs offers the best evidence that the System is fulfilling its mission as

stated in section 4.19 of the Farm Credit Act.

Strong support for YBS transcends generations. It transcends agricultural enterprises and 

regions of the country. It also transcends party lines. In my hearings and meetings, if I 

want to bring a smile to a congressman’s face, I talk about the progress we’re making in 

advancing YBS.

We all know the urgency is there; we all know the average age of the American farmer is 

advancing rapidly. In my home state of Iowa, Iowa State University estimates that 60% of 

the state’s farmland is owned by people over the age of 65, one-third is owned by those 

over 75. The urgency is there. 
9 

YBS initiatives update

I’d be lying if I said that the pandemic hasn’t hampered our efforts, especially with inperson meetings to share best practices. However, we’ve remained committed to our three

steps in achieving program success.
10

YBS new loan volume

Our midsummer report on System YBS metrics shows good progress, and we fully intend to 

share this in our congressional hearing this spring. Congratulations, Farm Credit! We’re 

getting there. 
11

The National YBS Forum

Now it is my distinct pleasure and primary goal of these remarks to invite you to a National 

Forum on serving YBS borrowers. It’s co-sponsored by the Farm Credit Administration and 

Colorado State University. Invitations went out last week to Farm Credit CEOs, board chairs, 

and individuals known to be active in their respective YBS programs.

In sharing best practices, we have found a high correlation of program success with good 

FSA guarantee/commercial lender collaboration. We have enlisted the support of FSA at the 

highest national level, with FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux and Finance Director Bill 

Cobb as part of the program in helping to streamline the lending process. Of special interest 

to Farm Credit institutions, we will also have a closed session for a discussion on the 

upcoming proposed rule on YBS ratings. A full complement of FCA staff will be available for 

this Q&A workshop.

CSU has been a wonderful partner in this venture, which should be of interest to anybody 

interested in advancing their institution’s YBS efforts. 
12

Teleworking with Grandpa!

I couldn’t close without this slide. One of the perks of COVID was the chance to really get to 

know this young lady, our youngest grandchild, Layla, who turns two in another 10 days. 

This will likely be the last time I address this group as chairman. It has been a privilege and 

an honor to serve. I’d like to say that the first 16 months as a new board member — 

learning how a federal agency operates — was like drinking from a firehose and sometimes 

hard to swallow. And becoming chairman was like swallowing the whole damned fire 

hydrant. But I caught on quickly, surrounded myself with good people, and kinda figured 

out how this whole thing works. For a farmer from Iowa who only occasionally crossed state

lines, I guess I’ve done all right. My best advice for the next people in line is this...... Never 

forget what’s best for the American farmer and rancher. 

Thank you and have a great conference.