Stockholders of Southern AgCredit recently re-elected Bryan “Scott” Bell of Lena, Miss., and Charles “Allen” Eubanks of Lucedale, Miss., to the lending cooperative’s board of directors. They will each serve three-year terms.

Scott Bell

Bell is the owner/operator of Bell Livestock Inc. and is general manager of Bell Farms Inc. Both corporations are cattle, poultry, row crop and trucking operations in Scott and Leake counties, Mississippi.

Allen Eubanks

Eubanks is the owner/operator of Eubanks Produce Inc., Melon Acres LLC, Eubanks Logistics LLC, Eubanks Land Company LLC, Double AJ Packers LLC, Charlie’s U-Pik LLC, and Farm Fresh Gourmet LLC, a vegetable growing and shipping operation.

“It is great to see the cooperative model in action, through the re-election of borrowers like Scott and Allen, who are voted into office by their fellow borrowers,” said Joe Hayman, chief executive officer. “These two directors are an integral part of a team that provides important direction to the institution and is dedicated to ensuring the safety and soundness of our operations.”

The Southern AgCredit 10-member board also includes Reggie Allen, of Brookhaven, Mississippi; John “Van” Bennett of Spearsville, Louisiana; Gene Boykin of Rolling Fork, Mississippi; T.C. Hall of Gloster, Louisiana; Larry Killebrew of Lexington, Mississippi; Kevin Rhodes of Pelahatchie, Mississippi; Emery Skelton of Winterville, Mississippi; and Linda Staniszewski of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

RIDGELAND, Miss. — The agricultural and rural financing cooperative Southern AgCredit recently hired three Mississippi State University (MSU) graduates.

Pate DeMuth, will serve as a loan officer in the Ridgeland branch office. DeMuth earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering, technology and business, and then went on to earn a master’s degree in agricultural business management. While a student at MSU, he worked with Crop Production Services as a sales and agronomy intern for two summers in the South Delta. He grew up in Raymond, Miss., where he helped raise sheep on the family farm.

Brandon Nicholson joins Southern AgCredit’s Greenwood branch office as a loan officer. A native of nearby Greenville, Nicholson most recently served as a research farmer for Monsanto, where he conducted crop and pesticide tests on a variety of crops. He holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural science.

Colton Thomas was hired to work as a loan officer in the Greenville branch office. He joins Southern AgCredit after working for Monsanto, where he was a field claims specialist for nine Mississippi counties. Thomas grew up working on his family’s corn and soybean farm in Hollandale, Miss., and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness.

“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome these three young men to our lending team,” said Joe Hayman, president and CEO of Southern AgCredit. “Their credentials from Mississippi State are impeccable, and they all exhibit a keen understanding of rural living and the business of farming. That’s important to what we do here at Southern AgCredit.”

RIDGELAND, MS — Stockholders of Southern AgCredit recently re-elected Reggie Allen of Brookhaven, MS; Gene Boykin of Rolling Fork, MS; and T.C. Hall of Gloster, LA, to the rural lending cooperative’s board of directors. All three directors will serve three-year terms.

“Our board of directors plays a very important role in guiding the policy of the association,” said Joe Hayman, Southern AgCredit chief executive officer. “These elections ensure that the policy and strategic direction will continue to be in local and qualified hands that represent the customer-owners we serve.”

The Southern AgCredit 10-member board also includes chairman Kevin Rhodes of Pelahatchie, MS; vice chairman Scott Bell of Lena, MS; Van Bennett of Spearsville, LA; Allen Eubanks of Lucedale, MS; Larry Killebrew of Lexington, MS; Emery Skelton of Winterville, MS; and Linda Staniszewski of Hattiesburg, MS.

With approximately $1.03 billion in assets, Southern AgCredit finances all aspects of life outside the city limits, including loans for real estate, country homes, livestock, equipment and agribusinesses. The cooperative provides financing in 50 counties in the lower half of Mississippi and 11 parishes in northwest Louisiana.

Southern AgCredit is headquartered in Ridgeland and has branch offices in the Mississippi cities of Brookhaven, Greenville, Greenwood, Gulfport, Hattiesburg, Newton and Ridgeland, and the Louisiana cities of Ruston and Shreveport. The 100-year-old lending co-op is a part of the nationwide Farm Credit System, which was established by Congress in 1916.

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.