Farm Credit of Southern Colorado CEO Jeremy Anderson Discusses Tariffs, Rural Economies

Farm Credit of Southern Colorado has seen sustained growth of its lending portfolio of nearly 10% year-over-year for half a decade. The financial institution, founded in 1916, is a cooperative with a board of directors servicing Southern Colorado’s agricultural and rural areas. Farm Credit manages a portfolio of $1.7 billion in loans to farmers and ranchers across 31 counties. Jeremy Anderson has served as president and CEO for seven years and spoke with the Digest to discuss the institution’s growth and the impact economic factors have on its members.

What are your customers most concerned about in these changing economic conditions?

Uncertainty is the keyword. Southern Colorado is almost always in, or going to be in, a drought. [Our farmers and ranchers] are always worried about climate concerns and how drought might affect their crops. Will they have a crop this year? Then you add the uncertainty of tariff threats and things going on in our economy right now, along with the variability and cyclical nature of commodity prices. Right now, our cattle producers are doing really well. Cattle prices seem to be at all-time highs and sustaining at that level. But our corn and wheat growers in Eastern Colorado and our potato producers in the San Luis Valley are struggling and hoping for a break-even scenario because of commodity prices. They’re aware of the uncertainty of if [the government is] going to tariff [their products] or not. That has them concerned about what that does to the already cyclical nature of commodities.