CoBank is a national cooperative bank and a member of the U.S. Farm Credit System, founded in 1989 to provide financing to businesses that sustain rural America. It is one of the largest private providers of credit to the U.S. rural economy and supports customers in all 50 states. The bank operates under a cooperative ownership structure, with its borrowers also serving as its customer-owners.
Its lending and service lines cover a broad set of needs across the rural economy: loans for agribusinesses, cooperatives, utilities and other rural businesses; leasing for rural businesses and infrastructure providers; capital-markets access and debt-placement support; export financing; treasury and cash management services; and CoBank Knowledge Exchange, which publishes industry research and insights for customers and stakeholders.
CoBank's customers span agriculture and agribusiness, grain cooperatives, food and beverage, electric distribution, communications and broadband, water utilities, energy, rural infrastructure and rural community investments. The bank states a mission focused on strengthening rural economies through economic cycles and on the long-term prosperity of the communities it serves, with an emphasis on partnership and sustainable rural development.
