Farm Credit of Western Arkansas – Clarksville Branch
Location: Clarksville, Ark.
Manager: Anna Buck Lester, Assistant VP
History: Farm Credit was established in 1916 as a source of dependable credit for rural America. Farm Credit of Western Arkansas serves the western portion of the state, including Clarksville and Johnson County. The Clarksville branch office shares space in the Farm Bureau building on West Main Street. Anna has been with Farm Credit since 2010 and she transferred to the Johnson and Pope County area a year ago.
Business Philosophy: “Our mission is to enrich rural life. We want our customers to succeed, Anna said. “I think we understand agriculture better than other lenders. Like a number of Farm Credit employees, I grew up on a farm. My experience on my own family’s breeder hen farm in south Arkansas helps me understand and relate to the challenges that farmers routinely face. We can also tailor their loan terms and rates to help them succeed,” she added.
Services: “We finance agriculture, rural homes, agribusinesses and more. Farm Credit is a cooperative owned by its members. When a customer makes a loan with us, they purchase stock in our association which gives them ownership and entitles them to a number of membership benefits,” she explained.
Membership benefits include Patronage cash, Funds Held savings, appraisal services and flexible interest rate conversions. Farm and rural home appraisal services are offered in-house as a convenience to customers and to speed the lending process. Flexible interest rate conversion allows the member to adjust the interest rate of their loan as rates change. Because they are also owners of the association and share the profits, members receive Patronage cash when the association has a good year. More than $71 million has gone back into Western Arkansas members’ hands since 1997.
Story and Photo by Amber Parham
