Alabama Cattleman Inducted Into Farm Credit Bank of Texas Academy of Honor

AUSTIN, Texas — Former Farm Credit Bank of Texas (FCBT) Director Joe Crawford was inducted into the bank's Academy of Honor at the 2016 FCBT Annual Stockholders Meeting in Austin, Texas, on March 31. The award establishes a $10,000 scholarship that will be presented in Crawford's name to a student attending a university of his choice. In his acceptance remarks, Crawford announced that the scholarship will go to a student attending the University of Alabama, his alma mater.

Established in 1968, the Academy of Honor recognizes outstanding individuals for their service and contributions to agriculture and to Farm Credit. To date, 58 people have been inducted into this prestigious group.

Crawford joined the bank board in 1998. During his 14-year tenure, he also served on the Tenth District Legislative Advisory Committee and was a member of the bank's audit and compensation committees. From 2004 to 2012, he served on the board of the Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation. Prior to his election to the FCBT board, he was a director of the Federal Land Bank Association of North Alabama, now known as Alabama Farm Credit.

"Armed with leadership experience, a positive attitude and an inquisitive nature, Joe never stopped looking for new strategies, great stories and different points of view as a board member for the bank," FCBT Board Chairman Jimmy Dodson said. "His absence has been felt not only in our boardroom but in boardrooms and coffee shops all over this district and in every city he visited during his tenure."

Crawford has owned and operated a cattle farm in southeastern Morgan County, Alabama, since 1968. He is a member and former president of the Alabama Cattlemen's Association and a member of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the Alabama Farm Bureau and Alabama Farmers Federation. A former engineer for the U.S. Air Force and NASA, Crawford has a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from the University of Alabama.

Headquartered in Austin, Farm Credit Bank of Texas is a $20 billion cooperatively owned wholesale bank that provides funding and operational support to 14 rural lending cooperatives in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. The bank also participates in capital markets loans to agribusinesses and rural infrastructure providers.

Farm Credit Bank of Texas and its affiliated lenders are part of the Farm Credit System, a nationwide network of cooperatives established in 1916. This year Farm Credit is celebrating its first century of supporting rural communities and agriculture.