REACHING
COMMON GROUND
I remember the day in 1984 when I interviewed
for a job with the FDIC in Verdigee, Nebraska. An irate agricultural borrower
interrupted the interview with shouts that he had
never before been required to
complete a cash flow statement for the bank in order to borrow money. And, he
said, he didn’t know how he could since he hadn’t harvested his crops yet. On
top of that, he didn’t know how many calves and pigs he would sell that year.
Once the borrower left, the interviewer (who was the liquidator in charge)
asked me whether I knew how to handle such problems. I told him yes, that I did
routinely as a Farm and Ranch Management Coordinator with the University of
Nebraska. Following that interview, my career with the FDIC began. I jumped right
into the agricultural crisis. The situation between the FDIC and the farmers
and ranchers had become very tense. We were perceived as the enemy—there to
disrupt the agricultural life the farmers and ranchers had enjoyed; the
bankers, who had helped them spiral into serious debt, were considered their
friends. At first, the FDIC received violent threats. Later, we were
individually threatened and our office was firebombed. The FDIC had to educate
its employees in agriculture…fast. Another employee and I were detailed to
Washington to write an agriculture credit manual. I was also dispatched to
various sites throughout the Farm Belt to teach agricultural lending, financial
analysis, and crop and livestock identification to FDIC staff. One of my most
unusual tasks was explaining artificial insemination and defining a “gomer
bull.” The FDIC soon began hiring employees with agricultural backgrounds.
Eventually, the farmers and ranchers and the FDIC learned each other’s roles
and began communicating well. Borrowers began struggling with producing
financial and cash flow statements, and the FDIC began okaying settlement
offers, helping borrowers to establish business relationships with other banks.
We and the farmers and ranchers had reached common ground. --Michael Clark
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