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For Immediate Release
May 12, 2004

AUSTIN, Texas - The Tenth Farm Credit District, the largest rural lending network in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas, today reported solid financial results for the first quarter of 2004.

The Tenth District is composed of the cooperatively owned Farm Credit Bank of Texas (FCBT), 12 Agricultural Credit Associations and nine Federal Land Credit Associations in the five-state region.

District net income for the three months ended March 31, 2004, was $38.0 million, a 28 percent increase over the $29.7 million reported for the same period in 2003.

Gross loan volume for the district totaled $7.35 billion at March 31, 2004. This is a 1 percent increase from the $7.27 million loan volume reported at Dec. 31, 2003, and a 7.3 percent increase from the $6.85 billion reported a year earlier.

"Demand for rural real estate remained strong in most areas of the district throughout the winter. This demand, combined with improved crop prices, competitive loan pricing by our associations and increased loan participations with other lenders, contributed to the growth in the district's loan portfolio," said Larry Doyle, FCBT chief executive officer.

He said the strong credit quality of the portfolio further reflected the stability of the agricultural sector this winter. At the end of the first quarter, 97.6 percent of gross loan volume was rated acceptable, up slightly from 97.4 percent at year-end 2003.

The Farm Credit Bank of Texas and its 21 affiliated financing cooperatives are part of the nationwide Farm Credit System, which provides financing to farmers, ranchers, agribusiness operations, country homeowners and other rural landowners. Nationally, the System reported combined net income of $450 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2004. This compares with net income of $435 million for the same period last year.