Training for Farm Credit Employees

Orientation Courses

Ag 101: Industry Snapshots

Target Audience: New hires and all employees

Training Type: Online

Description: The Ag 101 Series is designed for any employee who is looking for an overview of the basics of agriculture, and the industries and commodities that Farm Credit finances. The series includes the basics of Dairy, Equine, Grains, Mushrooms, Nurseries and Greenhouses, Pork and Beef Production, Poultry, Sustainable Agriculture and Organic Farming, Tobacco, Tree Fruit Production, and Vegetables and Melons.

Objective: Gain awareness of basic industry information, terminology, equipment, and business practices for various commodities.

Register

Launch Pad

Target Audience: New employees

Training Type: Online

Description: This on-demand orientation covers Farm Credit’s history and strategy as a cooperative, the players in the ag lending marketplace and the types of borrowers Farm Credit serves. Launch Pad also provides training about customer service, business ethics and communicating the Farm Credit story to a variety of audiences.

Training modules can be completed at your own pace. Launch Pad is offered on-demand, allowing you to enroll any time.

Three versions are available: Core - only eLearning content; Lite – content and tests; or Full - content, tests, and application exercises.

Objectives:

• Understand the Farm Credit System’s formation, history, purpose and future.
• Be aware of the financial products and services available by customer segment.
• Learn to deliver a positive customer experience in an ethical manner.
• Be able to tell the Farm Credit story.
• Examine trends in agricultural debt financing and the players in the ag lending marketplace.
• Understand eligibility and scope of lending for Farm Credit.
• Comprehend global and domestic economic and industry trends impacting agriculture and ag lending.

Online Modules:

1. The Farm Credit System and Cooperatives
2. Customer Segmentation, Products, and Culture
3. Telling the Farm Credit Story
4. The Landscape of Ag Finance: A Competitive Assessment
5. Mega Trends of Agriculture and Ag Lending

Three versions are available:

• Core - only eLearning content
• Lite - content and tests
• Full - content, tests, and application exercises

Register for Launch Pad CORE 

Register for Launch Pad LITE

Register for Launch Pad FULL

Credit Academy Courses

Commercial Ag Lender

New Updated Curriculum for 2024!

Target Audience: Lenders with one to five years of experience, who are working on larger, commercial ag accounts.

Training Type: Blended

Instructors:

• Dr. David Kohl, Virginia Tech
• Ronnie Hucks, FCU Learning Liaison
• Association & external experts

Commercial Ag Lender focuses on all facets of differential credit analysis for commercial agricultural loans. Presented in the same format as the Lifestyle Lender Course featuring Dr. David Kohl as subject matter expert, the content for this curriculum has been reviewed and approved by experienced ag lenders and academics who served on the Farm Financial Standards Council. Training is presented in easily digestible OnDemand modules that include self-paced, interactive online presentations by Dr. David Kohl, objective tests, working with a local mentor, and peer interaction via discussion forum. The curriculum includes two live webinars and a final face-to-face session and is offered in the spring and fall each year.

Objectives:

• Learn how to construct and analyze basic financial statements for an agricultural business to evaluate risk and creditworthiness.
• Use tools such as burn rates on working capital and core equity, quickness to cash and liquidity, and true working capital, which are integrated into vignettes. 
• Explore issues related to expansion of businesses.
• Learn to properly structure different types of loans for ag businesses.
• Examine the Business IQ, which provides a format that can be used in the assessment of management and as a communication tool internally with regulators and externally with customers.
• Successfully identify distressed credits and learn processes to work with them.
• Learn to consolidate balance sheets of various business entities for analysis.
• Write an effective loan narrative, negotiate terms of a loan, and do so while maintaining integrity.
• A special emphasis on the art and science of agricultural lending based upon decades of institutional memory is integrated throughout the curriculum.

Register Course Dates & Schedule

Lifestyle Lender

Target Audience: New to intermediate lenders who will be making loans of $500,000 or less, and/or loans with non-farm income as a primary repayment source.

Training Type: Blended

Instructors:

• Dr. David Kohl
• Dr. Alex White
• Ronnie Hucks
• Elizabeth Benefield
• Dr. Iwana Ridgill

Description: The Lifestyle Lender Course focuses on customer and financial product knowledge, portfolio segmentation, sales and marketing, tax return analysis, small loan analysis and much more. This eight-month training is presented in 10 online modules that include self-paced, interactive presentations by Dr. David Kohl, a live kickoff webinar, “halftime session” and a comprehensive final project.

Two weeks are allocated for each module and a halftime face-to-face training session will be held in Charlotte, NC. Offered spring and fall of each year.

Objectives:

• Learn basic, foundational principles needed as a new agricultural lender.
• Understand the difference between eligibility and scope of lending, and eligibility requirements for different groups of borrowers.
• Learn characteristics of the lifestyle segment of borrowers, and details on analyzing loans to these borrowers.
• Evaluate tax returns to find valuable information and ask informed questions.
• Discover the basics of a sales call and prospecting for new business.

Online Modules:

1. Lending to Lifestyle Borrowers: Eligibility, Scope of Lending, and Customer Knowledge
2. Lifestyle Portfolio Segmentation and Layering of Risk
3. Small Loan Analysis & Credit Evaluation
4. Tax Return Analysis
5. Legal Topics
6. Technology, Alliances in Marketing & Loan Pricing  
7. Sales & Marketing: Consultative Marketing
8. Sales & Marketing: Strategic Prospecting
9. Sales & Marketing: Call Preparation
10. Sales & Marketing: Sales Call Process

Register Course Dates & Schedule

Agribusiness Lending Workshop

Target Audience: Lenders, account officers, and credit analysts who focus on larger agribusiness credits, typically $5 million and above or with complex borrowing entities.

Training Type: Instructor-led

Description: This one-and-a-half day program provides an opportunity for lenders and analysts to hone their skills on lending to agribusinesses and complex entities. The program features presenters from both inside and outside of Farm Credit, and utilizes case studies and group exercises to help reinforce discussion topics.

Objectives:

• Learn about issues affecting agribusiness loans on a global, national, and regional scale.
• Understand common analysis tools for identifying risk and determining creditworthiness of agribusinesses.
• Understand legal issues that affect these types of loans.

Topics:

1. Agribusiness credit trends and issues
2. Complex credit analysis topics
3. Legal considerations with complex credits
4. Risk identification and mitigation case studies
5. Discussion and Q&A time with Association experts
6. Action Steps & Best Practices

Register

Credit Analyst Workshop: Basic

Target Audience: Commercial ag lenders and credit analysts with at least six months of credit analysis experience.

Training Type:  Instructor-led

Instructors:

• Ronnie Hucks, FCU Learning Liaison
• Dr. David Kohl, Virginia Tech
• Cole Heizer, Farm Credit of the Virginias
• Lisa Storm, AgGeorgia Farm Credit
• Harlan Hill, Hill Financial Education

Description: This three-day class focuses on basic credit analysis techniques relating to commercial agricultural and small agri-business lending. This is very much a “numbers crunching” workshop, and features AgFirst, Association, and outside presenters. Employees that have credit analysis duties as a major part of their job responsibilities will benefit most from this hands-on class. The session is held annually in September.

Topics:

• Economic update and lending risk case studies (Dr. David Kohl)
• Basics of balance sheet consolidation (Ronnie Hucks)
• Best practices in credit analysis (Lisa Storm & Cole Heizer)
• Income tax return analysis (Cole Heizer)
• Non-financial credit factors
• Cash flow and business risk analysis (Harlan Hill)
• Other topics and group exercises

Register

Credit Analysis: Fundamentals

Target Audience: Credit Analysts, Reviewers and Loan Officers

Training Type: Instructor-led

Instructor: Harlan Hill, Hill Financial Education, Inc.

Description: Utilizing two days of instruction, the session exposes participants to a rigorous course of study designed to improve an attendee’s credit risk identification and credit decision skills, consistent with Farm Credit lending principles. The program is designed to serve as a prequel to the more advanced Credit Analysis: Intermediate training. The session will establish fundamental principles encompassing the behavior, beliefs, philosophy, organization and policies as it pertains to fundamental credit risk management and embraces the most important fundamentals in credit risk and financial analysis training.

Topics:

• Credit Risk: General Overview
• Business Risk Analysis
• Income Statement Analysis
• Balance Sheet Analysis
• Working Capital Analysis
• Seasonal, Medium and Long Term Exposure in Credit Risk Analysis
• Secured Borrowing Base Underwriting
• Covenants
• Collateral & Guarantor Evaluation

Register

Credit Analysis: Intermediate

Target Audience: Credit Analysts, Reviewers and Loan Officers

Training Type: Instructor-led

Instructor: Harlan Hill, Hill Financial Education, Inc

Description: This session is designed specifically for Farm Credit, and delivers important credit risk management training in credit analytics, loan structuring and cash flow analysis. This course of study is designed for those possessing a fundamental credit background consisting of a minimum of 2 years of on the job credit experience as Credit Analysts, Reviewers, and Loan Officers with underwriting responsibilities, and who have completed Credit Analysis: Fundamentals training.

Objectives: Participants will:

• Understand the qualitative factors that can influence a borrower’s ability to repay.
• Grasp the art of “getting behind the numbers” in financial data point analysis, derived from accrual accounting based financial presentations.
• Gain an ability to understand how changes in liquidity, leverage, profitability, cash flow and asset management can impact credit risk management via a “DuPont” type analysis.
• Link ratio and cash flow analysis to management decisions regarding business events.
• Appreciate important loan structuring issues for credits more than $5 million in exposure.
• Learn to streamline “club” and/or “syndication” deal underwriting and appreciate the need for revised structures allowing a deal to be placed in the bank debt market.

Topics:

• Credit Risk: Overview of Industry, Business and Management Analysis
• Accrual Based Accounting: Cash Flow Analysis
• Credit Risk and Loan Structuring: General Principles
• Covenants and Intermediate Loan Structure: Specific Complex Principles
• Capital Structure
• Participation and Syndication Issues 

Register

Credit Analysis & Corporate Finance: Advanced

Target Audience: Credit Analysts, Reviewers and Loan Officers

Training Type: Instructor-led

Instructor: Harlan Hill, Hill Financial Education, Inc.

Description: This newly-designed program provides Farm Credit experienced senior professionals with an overview of the key elements of corporate finance disciplines experienced in the world of corporate finance and capital markets. This training is targeted to capital market officers, chief credit lending officers, and other agribusiness leaders.

Objectives:

• Understand the basics of time value of money and how these concepts underlie corporate finance principles.
• Gain a general knowledge of different corporate finance and capital markets instruments available to participants in the capital markets, including mezzanine finance, private equity and senior bank debt.
• Grasp the dynamics of the purchase and sale of a business.

Topics:

• Business Valuation Techniques
• Capital Structure
• Capital Markets Products
• Transfer of Ownership 

Register

Distressed Loan Workshop

Target Audience: Lenders, account officers, and credit analysts with 1-5 years of experience or who have not worked during an agricultural or economic downturn.

Training Type: Instructor-led/Virtual in Spring; In Person in Fall

Instructors: 

• Ronnie Hucks
• Dr. David Kohl
• Legal Panel
• Credit Panel

Description: This program provides an opportunity for lenders to learn and share best practices related to the early recognition, servicing, and resolution of distressed loans. The program features presenters from both inside and outside of Farm Credit, and utilizes case studies and group exercises to help reinforce discussion topics. 

Objectives:

• Learn early signs of a distressed credit from the experience of others.
• Apply a process to dealing with distressed loans.
• Learn proper servicing strategies to prevent distressed loans and address problems.
• Be exposed to the legal issues surrounding distressed credits.
• Understand interpersonal communications related to distressed situations.

Topics:

• Early recognition of problems
• Case study facilitated by Dr. Dave Kohl 
• Servicing & Turnaround Strategies
• Legal Panel Discussion
• Discussion and Q&A time with Association experts
• Action Steps & Best Practices

Register for VirtualRegister for In Person

Mastering Sales Magnetism

Target Audience: Lenders who want to improve Sales Skills

Training Type: Blended

Instructor: Will Turner, Seeding Growth 

Description: The world is changing at a staggering pace — is your sales approach and process keeping up? Learn how to go beyond consultative selling and become a true sales magnet with this energizing program. Emphasis is on setting goals, working smarter instead of harder, time management, marketing to the right prospects, building and enhancing relationships with borrowers, and developing your expertise as a lender. Includes 10 OnDemand modules, webinars, a face-to-face training session in Charlotte, NC and monthly teleconferences. Offered in the spring and fall of each year.

Objectives:

• Set SMARTY goals for yourself and learn a process to attain them.
• Identify a bull’s eye market to focus on for new business development.
• Develop a detailed prospecting plan and learn which approaches to prospecting fit best for you
• Apply the testing for fit process in sales calls with prospects.
• Develop a plan for maintaining and building relationships with existing customer.

Online Modules:

1. Introduction to Sales Magnetism
2. Mastering Goal Achievement
3. Developing a Prospecting System
4. Bull’s Eye Marketing
5. Creating a Killer Positioning Statement
6. Warming Up Calls
7. Mastering Networking
8. Advanced Prospecting Methods
9. Testing for Fit
10. Maintaining and Building Relationships

Register Course Dates & Schedule

Leadership Academy Courses

Bud to Boss 

Target Audience: New supervisors and managers; those transitioning from an individual contributor to supervisor or manager with direct reports

Training Type: Instructor-led, virtual

Instructor: Guy Harris, The Kevin Eikenberry Group

Description: Becoming a leader for the first time is one of the most challenging and critical career transitions you’ll ever face. With this transition comes challenges and changes – some expected and some unexpected. This workshop will equip you with the interaction, content and tools you need to overcome the
challenges in your new role.

As part of this course, each participant will receive a complimentary copy of the book, From Bud to Boss, delivered directly to their home address.

Objectives: Participants will:

• Establish their new authority without coming off as “bossy.”
• Inspire and motivate employees who are former colleagues (and maybe even friends).
• Give difficult and uncomfortable feedback.
• Understand and manage the new expectations in your new role. You now need to get your work done through others.
• Manage high-risk decisions.
• Navigate company politics.
• Manage and even quiet the inevitable grapevine that you once could choose to participate in or ignore.

Register

Communicating With Savvy (Improving Interpersonal Skills)

Target Audience: All levels

Training Type: Instructor-led, Virtual

Instructor: Dr. Iwana Ridgill

Description: An employer survey by Hart Research Associates shows that 93% of employers consider good communication skills to be more important than a college degree. Effective communication is critical to getting work done and building better relationships between team members, which increases morale and productivity. This program reviews important skills for effective communicators and provides tips for clearer communication in the workplace.

Objectives: 

• Recognize the high cost of less effective communication on the job.
• Define communication and how we encode and decode messages.
• Choose words that build rapport and inclusion.
• Pay attention to body language signals and clues in conversations.
• Use appropriate questions to clarify information.
• Overcome barriers to good listening.
• Identify strengths and areas for improvement in communication skills.

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Critical Thinking & Problem Solving Skills

Target Audience: All levels

Training Type: Instructor-led, Virtual

Instructor: Renee Santos, Midlands Technical College

Description: Employers rank critical thinking as the most important skill for employees in the next five years. Critical thinking helps you step back, examine your thoughts, test assumptions, and process information more effectively.  This course helps you identify your thinking style and follow a process to think critically, solve problems and make informed decisions.

Objectives: You will be able to:

• Identify your thinking style
• Gather essential information
• Analyze, synthesize and evaluate information
• Apply sound reasoning techniques
• Avoid common illogical mistakes

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Crucial Conversations

Target Audience: Front-line supervisors, managers, team leaders, relationship managers and project managers.

Training Type: Instructor-led, Virtual

Instructor: Jeannie Clinkenbeard, Senior Leadership Consultant, FCC Services

Description: This two-day highly interactive program teaches skills for creating alignment and agreement by fostering open dialogue around high-stakes, emotional or risky topics – at all levels of your organization. By learning how to speak and be heard (and encouraging others to do the same), you’ll surface the best ideas, make the highest-quality decisions, and then act on your decisions with unity and commitment. These conversations – when handled poorly or ignored – lead to strained relationships and dismal results.

Objectives: 

• Speak persuasively, not abrasively.
• Foster teamwork and better decision making.
• Build acceptance rather than resistance.
• Resolve individual and group disagreements.

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Dealing with Conflict

Target Audience: All Levels

Training Type: Instructor-led, Virtual

Instructor: Buffy Smith, Midlands Technical College

Description: This course will help you learn how to work through situations and avoid the traps that damage relationships and negatively impact productivity and results.

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Executive Presentation Skills

Target Audience: Middle and Senior Leadership, Relationship Managers and Loan Officers

Training Type: Instructor-led

Instructor: Karen Kalutz, The Buckley School of Public Speaking

Description: This intense one-and-a-half day program focuses on speaking with clarity and wit, conquering bad habits and playing to your strengths to become an effective speaker. This program has been customized for Farm Credit Leaders. Participants will complete pre-work prior to the start of the program.

Objective:

• Intensive public speaking and presentation skills training with on-your-feet work, immediate feedback, and personal coaching.
• Exercises that address impromptu speaking, formal speeches, and PowerPoint presentations.
• Practice handling tough questions and staying on point when presenting to Boards, President's Committee and Executives.

Register

Getting Things Done Under Pressure

Target Audience: All levels

Training Type: Instructor-led, Virtual

Instructor: Sylvia Aull-Holcombe, Midlands Technical College

Description: Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your to-do list? Interruptions keeping you from getting things done? In this course, participants will gain knowledge in how to separate the urgent from not urgent and the important from not important, while establishing good organizational skills.

Objectives: 

• Identify the rewards of managing time better
• Identify techniques to set work priorities
• Identify "Time Robbers" and solutions to them
• Articulate basic organizational principles to deal with work priorities

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Leading in a Changing Environment

Target Audience: All levels

Training Type: Instructor-led, Virtual

Instructor: Sylvia Aull-Holcombe, Midlands Technical College

Description: This class will help you learn strategies to introduce and cope with change in the workplace. You’ll define your roles and responsibilities and explore the dynamics of change. Participants will practice using a Change Model to introduce and involve others in the effort.

Objectives: 

• Define your roles and responsibilities in leading a change effort
• Develop strategies for coping with and leading change
• Identify ways to involve others in the change process
• Use a model to introduce change to others

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Little Things Mean A Lot (Excellence in Customer Service)

Target Audience: All levels

Training Type: Instructor-led, Virtual

Instructor: Dr. Iwana Ridgill

Description: Anyone who deals with others knows how difficult it can be to maintain a professional attitude and focus on meeting the needs of the customer, association, department, etc. This program focuses on the skills needed to provide excellent customer service to the external and internal customers that employees interact with in the workplace. Suggestions and tips will be given that can be used right away on the job!

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Personal Accountability & Professionalism

Target Audience: All levels

Training Type: Instructor-led, Virtual

Instructor: Buffy Smith, Midlands Technical College

Description: When you take on an attitude of accountability, you empower yourself to be responsible, accomplish your goals, and demonstrate professionalism. You will gain strategies to avoid the blame game, overcome obstacles, manage expectations, and achieve your highest potential.

Objectives:

• Define responsibility, empowerment, accountability and professionalism.
• Describe how you contribute to the success of your organization.
• Discuss guidelines for managing agreements and expectations.
• Set goals for personal accountability.

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Planning for Results

Target Audience: All levels

Training Type: Instructor-led, Virtual

Instructor: Buffy Smith, Midlands Technical College

Description: This course will help participants discover the benefits of planning, as well as help them identify various types of planning tools.

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Principles of Teamwork, Collaboration & Trust

Target Audience: All levels

Training Type: Instructor-led, Virtual

Instructor: Sharon Givens, Midlands Technical College

Description: In almost every job, success depends on working together to achieve shared goals. Your ability to collaborate and learn from others is essential to getting the job done. This course will help you identify the key principles for being a team player and developing trusting relationships.

Objectives:

• Tap the power of cooperation and collaboration
• Demonstrate respect for your team members
• Be accountable
• Communicate effectively with others
• Learn from others
• Establish trusting relationships

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Professional Presentation Skills

Target Audience: Individual contributors and front-line supervisors

Training Type: Instructor-led

Instructor: Christie James, Midlands Technical College

Description: This one-and-a-half day program is designed to help employees learn how to speak confidently to groups. Provides simple, easy to use, and fear-fighting techniques for presenting yourself with greater effectiveness. Maximum class size is eight.

Objectives: 

• Analyze their audience to meet their needs and achieve your goals.
• Plan and organize their presentation to be clear and convincing.
• Use audio visual aids to enhance their main points.
• Overcome fear and anxiety.
• Deliver their message to engage the audience and inspire commitment.

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Professional Writing Skills

Target Audience: All levels

Training Type: Instructor-led, Virtual

Instructor: Dr. Nancy Tuten

Description: Three-day program focused on improving professional writing skills. During this highly interactive program, participants will learn key points and practice their writing skills. Special emphasis is placed on writing issue papers.

Objectives: Identify "best practices" for email that ensure readability, such as:

• Creating appropriate and helpful subject lines.
• Formatting emails in such a way that they are readable in any browser.
• Breaking information into logical, readable paragraphs.
• Understanding on-line readers' habits in order to write documents that maximize on-line readability.
• Ensuring an appropriate tone in emails, letters, and other documents.
• Organizing information into logical and coherent paragraphs in documents, such as emails and issue paper.

Follow a five-step process for revising difficult-to-read paragraphs.

Achieve greater clarity in writing by focusing on:

• Parallel structure
• Agreement issues
• Active and passive voice
• Punctuation and mechanics
• Word choice

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Vibrant Change Management

Target Audience: All levels

Instructor: Nicole Greer

Description: Change is inevitable! Today’s VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world places professionals in a position to lead change initiatives that set organizations up for success. The Harvard Business Review suggests 60-70% of all the change initiatives undertaken in organizations fail!

Could this be because organizations fail to fully embrace the concept of change management that is so crucial to the successful implementation of any project?

The answer is: YES!  Without people, process fails!  Today’s professionals need the theory, the tools, and the techniques to make change happen.

Objectives:

• Explain the Fundamentals of Change Management
• Uncover why Change Management Initiatives Fail
• Explore Change Management Models that Work
• Apply Experientials to Real Time Issues at Your Place of Work

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Vibrant Powerful Questions

Target Audience: All levels

Instructor: Nicole Greer

Description: Powerful Questions are a key tool in your leadership/communication/personal development and problem solving toolbox. This program aims to provide you with strategies, systems, and smarts to tap into the art of curiosity.  Learning to ask Powerful Questions creates movement in your life and organization...serious movement. Powerful Questions create direction, opportunity and save us time. Powerful Questions generate money. And, Powerful Questions generate tons of energy. Powerful Questions create clarification and build relationships full of trust. Knowing how to ask a Powerful Question is at the heart of curiosity, innovation and progress.  

Objectives:

• Learn and gain insights into asking Vibrant Powerful Questions
• Understand the Application of Powerful Questions
• Learn and Apply the Proper Construction of Powerful Questions
• Practice Asking Powerful Questions
• Take away Strategies, Systems and Smarts to Enhance your Communication Skills of Listening

In collaboration with the AgFirst values of professional development, being progressive, reliable and
innovative this course will follow this active learning format:
• share the knowledge
• apply the knowledge
• and debrief the knowledge.

Register