M E M B E R SC E N E
Heath & Judy Agerton with Shaun McKamie
In It Together Members who overcame the poultry industry’s 2008 economic downturn and how Farm Credit proved members’ needs are a priority. Any business can claim to put customers first. As a lender, Farm Credit of Western Arkansas (FCWA) had the opportunity to prove it in 2008 when the western Arkansas poultry industry faced a significant economic downturn.
structured accordingly. Fortunately, most poultry growers also had money in Funds Held that could be called on to make payments. Senior management prepared employees for possible customer impacts, as well.
Downturn may be too casual a term, especially to the more than 90 FCWA customers whose farms and livelihoods were financially impacted in varying degrees.
IMPACT ON THE FARM
A perfect storm of circumstances triggered the 2008 industry slump. Supply and demand flipped, the cost of corn jumped from $3 – $8 per bushel for a variety of reasons (including the increasing popularity of ethanol fuel), and less demand for poultry overseas. FCWA management recognized the impending impact and strategized as to how members might be affected. Current CEO Brandon Haberer was Chief Credit Officer at the time. He met with AgriBank (FCWA’s funding bank) senior managers who had experienced the 1980’s credit crisis. Brandon and fellow senior managers formed a plan of how to help affected customers and mitigate the association’s losses. FCWA’s board of directors firmly supported management’s plan and allowed them to manage the business risk associated with the poultry complex closures.
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According to Brandon, Farm Credit felt fortunate that poultry growers were coming off a strong year and that loans are stress-tested for financial strain up front, and
Economic ripples ran through the entire poultry industry. Western Arkansas integrators across more than 30 complexes felt the impact on some scale. In turn, poultry growers across western Arkansas experienced everything from extended time between batches (decreasing annual income) to loss of contracts, entirely.
HEATH AND JUDY AGERTON Heath and Judy Agerton of Strong, AR in Union County were both working full-time on the farm in 2008. They had ten years of poultry-growing experience and a four-house broiler operation when they received word they’d be out of a contract upon completion of their current batch of birds. They had seven days to reinvent their livelihood and make a plan for keeping their farm. “I’ll be honest,” Heath said, “that first meeting with Farm Credit was tense.” “We weren’t in our right minds,” Judy adds. “It almost felt like the kind of grief you would feel if you had lost a family member. We didn’t know what to do.”
