News Releases

Publications

Media Center

For Immediate Release
September 8, 2003

JACKSON, Miss. - John Michael Riley, a graduate student at Mississippi State University (MSU), has been awarded the 2003 Clarence R. Smith Academy of Honor in Agricultural Credit Scholarship from the Farm Credit Bank of Texas (FCBT). The award was presented Aug. 5 at a ceremony in the University Club in Jackson.

Riley, a native of Quitman, Miss., is pursuing a master's degree in agricultural economics. Currently he is working on a research project pertaining to the 2002 Farm Bill, analyzing the basis volatility of Mississippi feeder cattle and studying different risk management tools for aquaculture producers.

Riley received his bachelor's degree from MSU in 2002, with a major in agricultural economics and a minor in animal science. He was active in the Block and Bridle Club and served as president of the MSU Collegiate Cattlemen's Club. During the summers, he was an intern for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington, D.C.

Before attending MSU, he received his associate of arts degree in agriculture from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami, Okla., where he was a member of the acclaimed livestock judging team. He also represented the College of Agriculture on the student body government and was president of the Aggie Society. Riley is the son of John Gary and Libby Riley of Quitman, Miss.

The Academy of Honor in Agricultural Credit Scholarship is awarded through a college or university to a graduate student specializing in agricultural studies. The $5,000 scholarship bears the name of this year's inductee into the Academy of Honor in Agricultural Credit - Clarence R. Smith of Cleveland, Miss.

Smith previously served on the FCBT Board of Directors, including two terms as vice chairman. He was a key architect in the charter of six new Federal Land Bank Associations in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, after the FCBT began to serve the Farm Credit mortgage lending interests in those states. Today, Smith serves as director emeritus on the Land Bank of North Mississippi board, where his wisdom and experience continue to benefit local farmers.

The Farm Credit Bank of Texas presents the Academy of Honor award and scholarship on behalf of its affiliated Agricultural Credit Associations and Federal Land Credit Associations. The associations are borrower-owned lending cooperatives that collectively hold $6.9 billion in loans to farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses, and rural landowners and homeowners in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas.