Lone Star Ag Credit is part of the nationwide Farm Credit System, which was established by Congress in 1916 to provide farmers and ranchers with a reliable source of credit during good times and bad. The $150-billion System is a network of rural lending cooperatives. Together, they form the largest single source of rural financing in the country.

Lone Star Ag Credit receives funds and services from the Austin-based Farm Credit Bank of Texas, which is one of four wholesale banks in the Farm Credit System. The $13-billion Farm Credit Bank of Texas obtains its funding from the sale of AAA-rated Farm Credit securities in the nation's money markets.

It is owned by Lone Star Ag Credit and 19 other rural financing cooperatives in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. These retail lenders, in turn, make loans to farmers, ranchers, country homeowners, agribusiness firms and other rural landowners.

For more information about the Farm Credit Bank of Texas, visit www.farmcreditbank.com.