Farm Credit buys assets of crop insurance agency [Journal of Business (Spokane, WA)]

Northwest Farm Credit Services, the big Spokane-based ag-lending cooperative, has acquired the assets of Spokane Valley crop insurance provider Hermance Insurance Agency LLC.

Financial terms of the transaction, which became effective Jan. 2, weren't disclosed.

Northwest Farm Credit Services signs are now in place at the former Hermance Insurance Agency's office, at 221 S. Havana. Three employees at that location, including former Hermance insurance owner Tanaquil "Tanny" Clarkson, will continue to work there as Northwest Farm Credit Services staff, says Fred DePell, Northwest Farm Credit's executive vice president of financial services.

Hermance Insurance was founded 29 years ago, and Clarkson had owned it for 27 years.

Northwest Farm Credit provides financing, related services, and crop insurance to farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses, commercial fishermen, timber producers, and rural homeowners in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Alaska.

The cooperative leases a 61,400-square-foot office building at 1700 S. Assembly, where its headquarters is located, and it operates 45 branches in the five states it serves. Northwest Farm Credit employs about 635 people, including 57 who work full time in the crop insurance business, DePell says.

DePell says this is the 14th crop insurance agency acquisition for Northwest Farm Credit Services since 2003. Prior to this purchase, the most recent occurred about two years ago when the association bought an agency in the Quincy, Wash., area.

"When we looked at (Clarkson's) business, and the lending side of our business, there was a lot of crossover, so we thought it gives us an opportunity if she has some relationships with customers we don't have on the lending side," DePell says.

The relationship also gives Clarkson the opportunity to reach Northwest Farm Credit's lending customers and offer the office's expertise in crop insurance products, DePell adds.

"There is a strong marketplace for crop insurance on the Palouse and Lincoln County and north of here;' DePell says.

He adds that the former Hermance office has operated strictly as a crop insurance agency, providing federal crop insurance and private coverage, such as for hail insurance and fire. It will continue with those services, DePell says.