As a member-owned cooperative, FCS Financial has been providing financial products and services since 1916 to those who call rural Missouri home. We are the trusted lending source to thousands of Missouri farms and farm-related businesses because we understand agriculture, know what it takes to build and keep an agricultural business on solid financial footing and have experienced the ins and outs as well as the ups and downs of the ag industry. But don’t just take our word for it. Read what our customers have to say about their experiences.
By Mark Parker
FUELING A FARM BUSINESS The corn and soybeans Dale Samp and his son, Kyle, raise near Cairo help fuel America as well as Samp Family Farms. The corn goes up the road to Macon to POET Biorefining while soybeans are hauled to the Mid-America Biofuels facility in Mexico. “I went to FCS Financial to help buy my first ethanol plant shares,” says Dale who has been involved with agriculturally renewable energy as an investor and board member as well as a grower. “I guess we’re energy farmers — we believe in renewable energy and I’ve been very happy with our involvement. Ethanol has faced some challenges but it’s a good, solid energy source with a good future.” Kyle was a grain buyer in the ethanol industry prior to entering into a partnership with Dale in 2010. The Samps use precision ag technology along with intensive agronomic management to push the envelope for profitable production. They grid sample all of their fields and rely on variable rate nutrient application to optimize their fertilizer investment. “We try to be early adopters and stay ahead of the curve technologically,” Dale explains. “Farming is a very dynamic industry and we don’t like to play catch-up.” FCS Financial has been a part of their operation, not only for land and equipment credit strategies, but also as a source of business expertise. “Joe Abbott (assistant vice president in FCS Financial’s Columbia office) introduced us to GrainBridge risk management software and helped us get started,” explains Kyle who handles most of the grain marketing. “It’s a great decision-making tool. You can plug in ‘what if’ scenarios, it tells you the breakevens and helps you make good business decisions.” For Dale, FCS Financial’s customer service orientation has been another big asset. “That’s what has attracted me to them over the years,” he says. “Most transactions are very simple and take place over the phone. There is trust both ways, and I appreciate that. “I got my first loan from FCS Financial in 1981 for the first property I bought,” Dale says. “I’ve been with them ever since — and probably always will be.”
BUILDING ON A FARM HERITAGE When Jason Plunkett returned to the family farming operation in 1997, Crane Family Farms near Philadelphia was a 900-acre enterprise. Joining his uncle, Randy Crane, Jason wanted to build on the hard work of four previous generations. His brother, Justyn, also had his heart set on coming back to farm. “Farming is in our blood — I believe it is what we were meant to do,” Jason says. Both brothers had gone away to college and had careers of their own. When their grandfather retired, though, they were presented with an opportunity as golden as July wheat — but the farm wasn’t large enough to support three families. Today, Crane Family Farms operates 5,300 acres of row crops as well as a 250-head cowherd and two contract swine finishing facilities. “Including employees, we’re now able to sustain five families — that’s something I take a lot of pride in,” Jason says. It’s the result of good decisions and a lot of hard work. And one of those decisions was to look to FCS Financial for assistance in growing the operation. “FCS Financial has been with us through the entire expansion process,” says Jason who is also a seedsman with Channel Seed. “Real estate and equipment loans, a line of operating credit and crop insurance — the rates are competitive and the service is excellent. “We work with Kelby Oetting and he has a real feel for our operation — he knows how we think — and he’s been a tremendous asset to us. It’s the same on crop insurance with Shane Albertson. He’s extremely knowledgeable. Both of them go out of their way to be helpful. They make that side of the operation easy for us.” Jason and the rest of the crew at Crane Family Farms have plenty on their plates raising corn, soybeans, wheat, hogs and cattle. On top of all that they’re also very family oriented and making time to spend with their families is a major priority. Having a lender they can count on for sound advice and good service means a lot. “I don’t know why I’d look anywhere else for financial help,” Jason concludes.
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