Dairy Specialist Retires After 33-Year Tenure at Farm Credit
Farm Credit of the Virginias (FCV), a regional lending cooperative that serves Virginia, West Virginia and western Maryland, announced that Dairy Specialist, Patti Craun, will retire February 29, 2024 after 33 years with the Association.
During her tenure, Craun has been a major contributor to the Association and dairy industry, as a whole. After serving as an intern with the former Staunton Farm Credit during college, Craun began full-time as a loan officer following her graduation from Virginia Tech. Throughout Craun’s career with Farm Credit, she has taken on several roles in addition to loan officer, including relationship manager, regional sales and lending manager and finally the role of dairy specialist, which she assumed in 2021.
Craun shared that she would miss working with customer-owners most of all and said, “I sincerely enjoyed getting to know my customers and watching both their farming operations and their families grow over the years.” Reflecting on her time at Farm Credit, Craun shared that she also enjoyed her work on the Dairy Management Institute (DMI) program from 1999-2020. “It was rewarding to watch the program grow from fewer than a dozen participants to over 85 farm families participating during that time. My passion has always been to help farm operations improve their profitability and DMI helped many dairies do just that,” she said.
Chief Credit Officer, Brad Hewitt, remarked, “For more than three decades, Patti has made valuable contributions to Farm Credit and the agricultural communities we serve. Her knowledge and commitment have made a real difference in the lives of countless farmers and co-workers. I am grateful for her passion for agriculture and dedication to our mission. We will greatly miss Patti’s experience and expertise, and we wish her all the best as she moves into her well-earned retirement.”
About Farm Credit of the Virginias
Farm Credit of the Virginias provides over $2 billion dollars in financing to more than 12,000 farmers, agribusinesses and rural homeowners throughout Virginia, West Virginia and western Maryland. Farm Credit is a cooperative capitalized largely through investments made by farmers, ranchers and the rural homeowners and businesses that borrow from them. In fact, as part of a nationwide network they are the largest single provider of agricultural credit in the United States and have been for over 100 years. Farm Credit helps maintain and improve the quality of life in rural America and on the farm through its constant commitment to competitive lending, expert financial services and for facilitating and sharing knowledge and resources through the Farm Credit Knowledge Center.