About Us
Supporting Lifelong Learning
FCU has been creating success stories in the lives of agriculture professionals for more than 15 years. Our ability to offer a variety of professional development opportunities that appeal to many types of professionals sets us apart.
Farm Credit University offers many learning methods including instructor led workshops, eLearning, and blended courses combining online and traditional training media. FCU is owned and maintained by AgFirst Farm Credit Bank. With courses developed in direct response to Association training needs, FCU will position you to capitalize on leadership development and agricultural industry aspects for a more successful and fulfilling career.
Our Mission
The Mission of FCU is to be the high-tech, high-touch learning and development solution for Farm Credit employees, farmer/producers, and other agricultural lenders.
Our History
From its start in 2004, Farm Credit University (FCU) is university research that has paid dividends to an agricultural lending industry in which loan officers and staff are in transition from one generation to another in need of training with 21st Century learning environment. It all started in 2002 as Alicia Morris’ Masters Research work at Virginia Tech with Dr. Dave Kohl, sponsored by Farm Credit of the Virginias. FCU was established as a district-wide training program upon purchase by AgFirst Farm Credit Bank in 2004. Since then, FCU has grown and evolved with updated content and technology, and by expanding course delivery methods from eLearning to blended training to face-to-face workshops.
Course content has also expanded from strictly credit topics, to include leadership training, operations systems training and financial literacy and management training for ag producers. This expansion has been driven by feedback and input from local Farm Credit associations. FCU has impacted ag lenders and staff by broadening its reach nationwide, and has even had some international participants. So far, FCU has enrolled over 5,000 participants from over 100 agricultural finance organizations nationwide.
How FCU Works
FCU Courses are divided into four distinct academies depending on audience and topics.
- Credit Academy - Designed for employees of ag lending organizations to enhance knowledge of the agriculture industry, the ag lending environment, credit analysis, and relationship lending skills.
- Leadership Academy – Provides a framework for developing the leader in every employee by encouraging employees to acquire new skills and pursue professional development opportunities.
- Operations Systems Academy – Provides employees training on applications and systems used in loan origination and servicing.
- Producer Academy - Designed for agriculture producers to enhance their business management and planning skills.
Course Delivery Methods
eLearning
Includes online courses consisting of customized on-demand content with objective testing.
Blended courses
Contain a combination of eLearning content, objective tests, application exercises, discussion board postings, webcasts, instructor-led face-to-face components, and mentor relationship.
Instructor-led workshops
Consist of half-day to multi-day face-to-face training sessions to facilitate networking and group dynamics.
Meet the Team
Our Team has decades of combined experience in agricultural business, agricultural lending, and eLearning. They're considered the best in their field and you'll be able to benefit from their experience and expertise.