Greenville native Clayton Davis always knew that he would have a hand in farming and be involved in the agriculture industry. As a boy and teenager, he spent his summers working on the family farm in Avon. Today, as the newly promoted senior relationship manager and branch manager of Southern AgCredit’s Greenville office, he is dedicated to helping meet the financial needs of farmers and rural Mississippians in the Delta region.

“Both my mother’s and father’s side of the family farm for a living, so farming has always been a way of life and a desire of mine,” Davis says. “However, seeing my folks go through hard times and knowing I had brothers and cousins who would stay on the farm made me realize early on that there were too many hands in the cookie jar and I needed to pursue another career path.”

Davis began his agricultural lending career in 2006 with Southern AgCredit, continuing a Farm Credit family legacy. His maternal grandfather, C.G. Steele Jr., was employed by the Federal Land Bank Association from which he retired in the early 1970s.

“Southern AgCredit has been an awesome opportunity for me,” says Davis. “My coworkers are some of the best and brightest in the industry, and I’ve had the privilege of helping people grow their farming operation, buy their weekend getaway in the hills, and even work through the tough times of the catfish industry. The ability to spend time with my customers and do business from the seat of a pickup, cab of a combine, or in a duck hole is pretty neat.”

Davis is a graduate of Mississippi State University (MSU), where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. While at MSU, he was an active member of the university’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity chapter.