Ken Ballard, right, relationship manager at Northwest Farm Credit Services, consults with a vineyard customer. The financial cooperative’s board of directors is composed primarily of its customer-members with local advisory committees in the various regions it serves.

Northwest Farm Credit Services is part of the Farm Credit System founded by the federal government in 1916 that has since grown into a nationwide network of about 70 borrower-owned lending institutions.

“As a financial cooperative, we provide competitive, reliable and consistent credit to farmers,” said Todd Hatley, relationship manager at Northwest Farm Credit’s Salem branch. “We also provide crop insurance, another great tool to help farmers.”

Hatley signed on with Northwest Farm Credit two years ago after several years helping to manage ag portfolios at a bank. Recently, he and the Northwest Farm Credit team moved into a new Salem branch built to accommodate customer growth in the Willamette Valley.

Transition is in the air, both at their Salem office with its influx of young, enthusiastic staff and in the agricultural sector, where many farms are transitioning to the next generation as baby boomers reach retirement age.

“There are a lot of exciting things happening in the farm world,” Hatley said. “We’ve come off some really good crop years and are now facing a little more economic uncertainty and so we’re watching to see what that looks like and strategizing on how to help customers during the coming years.”

The pandemic was accompanied by a large influx of government liquidity in the agriculture space that kept many farms profitable and, in some cases, allowed for expansion. Now, with the Federal Reserve increasing interest rates, such real estate purchases are slowing down.

“This is a relationship-driven business and one of the things we pride ourselves on at Northwest Farm Credit is being trusted advisers to our customers, so really understanding each client’s business and educating them on their options is big to us,” Hatley said. “We’re also involved in various commodity organizations and collaborate frequently, including internally, to make sure we’re on top of what’s going on in the market and on how to best help our customers to become even better at what they do.”

The sizable percentage of farms without  family members who want to take over the operation is providing opportunities for new and up-and-coming farmers to purchase or expand their land base and to create strong, viable operations going forward.

“We see an increasing number of women becoming farmers and ranchers and having a stronger presence in related businesses and organizations,” said Randi Bural, Salem branch manager. “That’s why I’m especially proud that Northwest Farm Credit is again sponsoring the Women in Ag reception at this year’s Northwest Ag Show.

“Our plan for this year’s Ag Show is to continue to show up and reaffirm the fact that we are committed to the ag industry,” she added. “Our mission hasn’t changed; our goal is to support farmers.”

Northwest Farm Credit Services is an agricultural cooperative operating in Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Montana and Alaska.

“Our board of directors is composed primarily of our customer-members — farmers — with local advisory committees in the various regions we serve,” Hatley said. “This allows our farmers to really keep us up to date on what’s going on with their particular commodities and on their big issues.”

Northwest Farm Credit invests heavily in the industry by using a significant percentage of its profits to support universities, colleges, nonprofit organizations and the concerns of rural communities in general. In 2021 Northwest Farm Credit Services donated $4.46 million to such causes across the Northwest.

“While Farm Credit may have some younger faces now, we remain just as committed to improving the lives of our customers and employees in the communities where we work and live,” Hatley said.