Dr. David M. Kohl, Professor Emeritus, Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech

Country Banker’s recommended educational training involves Dr. David M. Kohl or use of his materials. As the original facilitator of the United States Farm Financial Standards Task Force and member of the Canadian Agricultural Financial Standards Task Force, Dr. Kohl was one of the leaders in establishing guidelines for the standardized reporting and analysis of agricultural producers' financial information on a national and international basis. Dr. Kohl is considered the top instructor in the nation on the subject of ag financial analysis. Learning directly from Dr. Kohl’s materials will provide immeasurable results. Upon completing one of the following trainings, you will learn the basic concepts that our software is based upon and have irreplaceable knowledge which will benefit you throughout your ag lending career.

Country Banker is a very user-friendly and intuitively based program. It is designed to maximize your time by having straight-forward data entry areas and easy to read reports. Country Banker is designed using the recommendations from the Farm Financial Standards Council (FFSC) with slight adjustments for practicality. For this reason it is strongly recommended that anyone using Country Banker complete one of the following:

1. The Schools of Banking Agricultural Lending School sponsored by the Kansas and Nebraska Bankers Associations. This is an intensive school designed for junior- to mid-level managers and lenders. Dr. David Kohl is the lead instructor for this school, which incorporates the FFSC recommendations in its curriculum.
   
   
2. Agricultural Lending is an online, ten-week course offered by the American Banker’s Association. The textbook for this course is Weighing the Variables by Dr. David Kohl. In this course students complete weekly quizzes and assignments pertaining to each chapter of the book. They also participate in lively discussion sessions with other ag lenders from across the country to expand their worldview with regard to ag lending, enhancing the ”hands on” aspects of the course.
   
   
3. If it is not possible for a sizable ag lending staff to complete one of the above-mentioned trainings, our training staff would be available for a 3-4 day in house agriculture lending seminar teaching the “standards” that our program is based on at an additional charge.

For further information on any of these options feel free to contact us.

*The complete text of Weighing the Variables, which has been updated for Country Banker by Dr. Kohl, is a part of the software system. The entire book, including worksheets and examples, is only a click away with direct links to related portions of the program.