Central Kentucky Ag Credit Turns 80-Years Old; Major Lender Serves 17 Counties in the Bluegrass Region

Release date: 3/24/2014

Lexington, KY - Central Kentucky Ag Credit turned 80-years-old on February 5, 2014.  The association was founded February 5, 1934, during an organizational meeting at the Lafayette Hotel in Lexington.

Humble Beginning

When the association was incorporated in 1934, the occasion signaled a humble start for the financial cooperative during a time when all of America was struggling to recover from an economic crisis, and when money for rural property and farming was rarely available. Rural people were desperate to find lenders for rural properties, equipment, and farm production.

Central Kentucky Ag Credit is the re-named successor to the Production Credit Association with financial business conducted continually since the institution was formed 80 years ago.

The 1934 organizational meeting in Lexington was attended by 34 people, all of whom became leaders who developed the Bluegrass Region’s farming and economic stability. From that group, the original Board of Directors was elected, and their descendants still rank as prominent farmers and leaders throughout central Kentucky.  Original incorporators included:

• H. T. Asbury – Lexington  
• Dr. C. G. Stevenson – Winchester
• Frank B. Kiser – Paris   
• R. F. Curd – Wilmore
• F. L. Duffy – Cynthiana        
• C. K. Chenault – Georgetown
• Ray Brown – Frankfort  
• Earnest McWilliams – Versailles
• W. K. Prewitt – Mt. Sterling 
• Luther B. Caldwell – Secretary-Treasurer

Long-Term Solution

As part of the nationwide Farm Credit System, Ag Credit has become the “go to” lender for farmers and rural residents throughout central Kentucky.

Today, Ag Credit operates as a large financial cooperative in the Bluegrass Region, with assets approaching $400 million in the 17-county Ag Credit service area. 

Ag Credit has offices in six locations, a far cry from the humble location that was rented in downtown Lexington 80 years ago.  Full-service offices today are located in Lexington, Paris, Richmond, Danville, Lebanon, and Stanford.

In his annual meeting address this year, President & CEO Jim Caldwell, confirmed that record-setting association earnings, loan volume, patronage, and financial reserves were achieved last year (ending December 31, 2013).  “What a way to turn 80!” Caldwell said, as he commented on Ag Credit’s eight decades of service.

Ag Credit (and its predecessor PCA), as part of the nationwide Farm Credit System, proved to be a solution to providing needed financial services in rural areas.  The federated cooperative business structure which is inherent to Ag Credit continues to be a financial resource for American farmers and a model for cooperative structures throughout the world. 

History now documents that Ag Credit and the Farm Credit System have become the economic backbone of farm and rural financial services in America.

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Central Kentucky Ag Credit’s Administrative Office is located at 640 South Broadway in Lexington, KY.  Ag Credit is a member-owned cooperative, with a 7-person Board of Directors who are elected by Ag Credit’s membership.  Ag Credit is part of the nationwide Farm Credit System, and part-owner of the AgFirst Farm Credit Bank in Columbia, South Carolina.

Full-service Ag Credit offices in Central Kentucky are located in Lexington, Danville, Richmond, Stanford, Lebanon and Paris.