Farm Credit Administration

Sustainability Report and Implementation Plan

July 30, 2021 
About Us

The Farm Credit Administration is an independent executive branch federal agency that regulates 

and examines the banks, associations, and related entities of the Farm Credit System (FCS or 

System), including the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac).

The FCS is the largest agricultural lender in the United States. It is a nationwide network of 

lending institutions that are owned by their borrowers. It serves all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

FCA’s mission is to ensure that Farm Credit System institutions and Farmer Mac are safe, sound, 

and dependable sources of credit and related services for all creditworthy and eligible persons in 

agriculture and rural America. We do this in two ways:

• We ensure that System institutions, including Farmer Mac, operate safely and soundly 

and comply with applicable laws and regulations.

• We issue policies and regulations governing how System institutions conduct their 

business and interact with borrowers.

The agency was created by a 1933 executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Today the 

agency derives its authority from the Farm Credit Act of 1971, as amended.

FCA’s headquarters is in McLean, Virginia. We also have field offices in Bloomington, 

Minnesota; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; and Sacramento, California.

The Farm Credit System Building Association (the Building Association) was established to 

provide the facilities and related services for FCA and its field offices. The Building Association

is owned by the banks of the Farm Credit System (banks) and is funded by assessments, rental 

income from commercial tenants, and other income.

The Building Association owns and operates the FCA headquarters’ building in McLean, 

Virginia, and holds the leases and provides certain services and furnishings for the FCA field 

offices.

The FCA board has sole discretionary authority to approve the plans and decisions for the 

building and facilities.

As of June 30, 2021, FCA had 345 full-time employees.

Executive Summary

This high-level summary describes FCA’s vision, leadership, achievements, and plans for its 

sustainability efforts.
Vision

FCA is committed to providing a flexible regulatory environment that recognizes market forces 

and enables FCS institutions to meet agriculture and rural America’s changing demands for 

credit and other financial services. Our primary focus is ensuring the safety and soundness of the 

FCS. Consistent with Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, 

we will continue our efforts to address sustainability challenges through procurement and 

collaboration with the Building Association.

Leadership

FCA’s senior leaders are committed to identifying meaningful and impactful ways to carry out 

the intent of the executive order. This includes identifying a senior executive as the agency’s 

sustainability officer. We have directed our chief human capital officer, who also leads our 

Office of Agency Services, to serve as our sustainability officer. 

As a member of the executive leadership team, our sustainability officer ensures the agency has a 

comprehensive approach for identifying and mitigating environmental challenges. The 

sustainability officer oversees the planning for, and implementation of, agency-specific 

mitigation efforts. 

Achievements in the Past Year

Follow is a list of our more noteworthy achievements over the past year:

• Installed a new energy-efficient cooling tower. We moved from having two 20-

horsepower motors to two 15-horsepower motors.

− Estimated annual energy savings: 54,349 kWh

− Estimated annual cost savings: $4,457.00

− Estimated carbon dioxide savings: 19.16 tons

• Installed state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly air filtration systems in all FCA 

offices

• Trained the contracting officer/building liaison on Green Procurement Compilation and 

collaborated with the FCS Building Association to maintain use of green products

• Deployed new laptops that maintain or improve energy efficiencies

• Donated or recycled end-of-life laptops

Planned Sustainability Activities 

Following is a list of the sustainability activities we are planning for 2022:

• Continue post-pandemic analyses of sustainability activities:
− Advancing a paperless environment by continuing to leverage technology and 

training staff on tools

− Enhancing virtual collaboration

− Delivering online training programs to reduce travel

• Launch a bike-to-work campaign as part of the National Bike to Work Day, which is held 

every year on the third Friday of May

• Continue supporting commuter subsidy programs to encourage carpooling and use of 

public transportation

• Continue supporting telecommuting by agency employees

• Review leases as they expire and collaborate with the FCS Building Association to 

adhere to initiatives and strategies set forth in Executive Order 14008

• Support Green Procurement through collaboration between the agency contracting

officer/building liaison and the Building Association

• Continue collaboration with the Building Association to find strategies for reducing

electricity consumption

• Promote the recycling of paper and plastic by, for example, providing collection 

receptacles in offices and high-traffic areas

• Collaborate with internal employee advocacy groups to solicit recommendations for new 

sustainability initiatives

• Participate in Earth Day on April 22, 2022, to raise awareness