Troup resident takes part in young farmers program

Chad and Tobie Pond of Troup, center, recently participated in the Farm Credit Young Leaders Program on behalf of Heritage Land Bank. They are pictured here with Tenth District Farm Credit Council chairman Jimmy Dodson, left, and Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation president Jamie B. Stewart.

Chad Pond of Troup recently traveled to Washington, D.C., and New York City as part of the Farm Credit Young Leaders Program, a weeklong event sponsored by the Tenth District Farm Credit Council.

The Young Leaders Program is designed to give young Farm Credit stockholders an overview of the Farm Credit System and an opportunity to interact with System leaders and decision-makers in Washington, D.C. Each lending co-op in the district was invited to select a participant for the program.

The trip included meetings with legislators, officials of the Farm Credit Council and congressional leaders in Washington, D.C. The group also traveled to Newark, N.J., for a briefing at the Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation and spent an afternoon in New York City touring the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

"We put this program together to help support our young stockholders and the important role they play in the agriculture industry and their rural communities," said Jimmy Dodson, chairman of the Tenth District Farm Credit Council. "We hope this event not only expressed our appreciation to them, but also gave them an inside look at the Farm Credit System, how their loans are funded and how their voices can be heard in Washington."

Pond is a stockholder of Heritage Land Bank, one of 20 rural financing cooperatives that make up the district. He works on his family farm, where they run about 1,300 commercial cows, raise their own hay and mix their own range meal. Pond runs 350 head of his own cattle and raises quarter horses. In addition to taking care of the cattle, he also has a custom hay planting, hay baling and fencing business.

Pond graduated from Texas A&M University in 2001, with a degree in agricultural development with an emphasis in animal science. He and his wife, Tobie, reside in Troup.

The Tenth District Farm Credit Council is the trade association of the Tenth Farm Credit District and represents the district's legislative and regulatory interests.