Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp (AGM) 2021 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Farmer Mac Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note today's event is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎來到 Farmer Mac 第四季度和 2021 年全年收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意今天的活動正在錄製中。

I'd now like to turn the conference over to Jalpa Nazareth, Director of Investor Relations and Finance Strategy. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議轉交給投資者關係和財務戰略總監 Jalpa Nazareth。請繼續。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for our fourth quarter and full year 2021 earnings conference call. I'm Jalpa Nazareth, Director of Investor Relations and Finance Strategy here at Farmer Mac.

下午好，感謝您加入我們的第四季度和 2021 年全年收益電話會議。我是 Farmer Mac 的投資者關係和財務策略總監 Jalpa Nazareth。

As we begin, please note that the information provided during this call may contain forward-looking statements about the company's business strategies and prospects, which are based on management's current expectations and assumptions. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to the risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected. Please refer to Farmer Mac's 2021 annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC earlier today for a full discussion of the company's risk factors.

在我們開始時，請注意，本次電話會議中提供的信息可能包含有關公司業務戰略和前景的前瞻性陳述，這些陳述基於管理層當前的預期和假設。這些陳述不是未來業績的保證，並受可能導致我們的實際結果與預期結果大不相同的風險和不確定性的影響。請參閱 Farmer Mac 今天早些時候向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K 表格 2021 年年度報告，以全面討論公司的風險因素。

On today's call, we will also be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. Disclosures and reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures can be found in the 2021 Form 10-K and earnings release posted on Farmer Mac's website, farmermac.com under the Financial Information portion of the Investors section.

在今天的電話會議上，我們還將討論某些非 GAAP 財務指標。這些非 GAAP 措施的披露和對賬可在 2021 年 10-K 表格和 Farmer Mac 網站 farmermac.com 上“投資者”部分的“財務信息”部分下發布的收益發布中找到。

Joining us from management this afternoon are President and Chief Executive Officer, Brad Nordholm, who will discuss fourth quarter business and financial highlights and strategic objectives; and our Chief Financial Officer, Aparna Ramesh, who will provide greater detail on our financial performance. Select members of our management team will also be joining us for the question-and-answer period.

今天下午從管理層加入我們的是總裁兼首席執行官 Brad Nordholm，他將討論第四季度的業務和財務亮點以及戰略目標；以及我們的首席財務官 Aparna Ramesh，他將提供有關我們財務業績的更多詳細信息。我們管理團隊的部分成員也將加入我們的問答環節。

At this time, I'll turn the call over to President and CEO, Brad Nordholm. Brad?

此時，我會將電話轉給總裁兼首席執行官 Brad Nordholm。布拉德？

Well, thank you, Jalpa, and good afternoon, everyone. I really want to thank you for joining us today. 2021 was a transformative year for Farmer Mac. I'm extremely proud of our team, our continuing strong performance and our new initiatives that we launched over the last year. Two of the more notable initiatives were the expansion of our internal loan servicing function in the third quarter and the successful execution of a structured agricultural mortgage-backed securitization in the fourth quarter. These accomplishments, combined with our consistent financial performance and continued strong credit quality, provide us confidence in our ability to successfully execute our multiyear strategic plan and to execute on our mission to bring even greater efficiency in how we provide financing to our lenders for the benefit of their farm and ranch agribusiness and rural infrastructure customers.

好的，謝謝 Jalpa，大家下午好。我真的要感謝你今天加入我們。 2021 年對 Farmer Mac 來說是變革性的一年。我為我們的團隊、我們持續的強勁表現以及我們在去年推出的新舉措感到非常自豪。其中兩個更引人注目的舉措是在第三季度擴大了我們的內部貸款服務功能，以及在第四季度成功執行了結構化農業抵押貸款支持證券化。這些成就，加上我們一貫的財務業績和持續強勁的信貸質量，使我們相信我們有能力成功執行我們的多年戰略計劃並執行我們的使命，以提高我們為貸款人提供融資的效率。他們的農場和牧場農業綜合企業和農村基礎設施客戶。

The integration of the strategic acquisition to expand our internal loan servicing capabilities has been seamless. Our team's deep expertise has allowed us to offer our customers the same quality service without interruption. We view this acquisition as an opportunity to create greater efficiencies across our loan servicing platforms. We will harness this opportunity for more direct oversight and governance over a large part of our portfolio, giving us enhanced security, more control over and timely access of data and better visibility into loan performance from inception to maturity.

為擴大我們的內部貸款服務能力而進行的戰略收購整合是無縫的。我們團隊深厚的專業知識使我們能夠不間斷地為客戶提供同樣優質的服務。我們將此次收購視為提高貸款服務平台效率的機會。我們將利用這個機會對我們的大部分投資組合進行更直接的監督和治理，從而增強我們的安全性，更好地控制和及時訪問數據，並更好地了解從開始到到期的貸款績效。

We're also excited for the growth opportunities this strategic acquisition will enable as it will equip us with the talent and infrastructure to more effectively and efficiently service larger, more complex commercial loans and that is a key driver to our long-term growth. This move is an important example of our dual strategies to broaden our business opportunities while also deepening our relationships with our existing customers. We believe that it will ultimately enable us to provide increased capital to support rural America and deliver better customer service to our lender network in support of our mission of increasing access to competitive credit for the benefit of our country's farmers, ranchers and rural residents.

我們也對此次戰略收購帶來的增長機會感到興奮，因為它將為我們提供人才和基礎設施，以更有效地服務更大、更複雜的商業貸款，這是我們長期增長的關鍵驅動力。此舉是我們雙重戰略的一個重要例子，即擴大我們的業務機會，同時加深我們與現有客戶的關係。我們相信，它最終將使我們能夠提供更多的資金來支持美國農村，並為我們的貸方網絡提供更好的客戶服務，以支持我們為我國農民、牧場主和農村居民的利益增加獲得競爭性信貸的機會的使命。

The October 2021 issuance of the agriculture mortgage-backed security was an important strategic milestone for Farmer Mac. And the success of the transaction is evidence of Farmer Mac's high-quality credit, strong balance sheet and consistent financial performance as well as the resilience of America's farmers and ranchers.

2021 年 10 月發行的農業抵押貸款支持證券是 Farmer Mac 的一個重要戰略里程碑。交易的成功證明了 Farmer Mac 的優質信貸、強勁的資產負債表和一貫的財務業績以及美國農民和牧場主的韌性。

Over the last few months, we have been focused on enhancing the infrastructure to support a securitization program and are closely monitoring the changing market dynamics to align with market expectations. Over time, we expect to eventually be a frequent issuer in the marketplace. With that said, in the near term, our plan is to ramp up the number of issuances per year as we focus on building a strong foundation for the program.

在過去的幾個月裡，我們一直專注於加強基礎設施以支持證券化計劃，並密切關注不斷變化的市場動態以符合市場預期。隨著時間的推移，我們希望最終成為市場上的頻繁發行人。話雖如此，在短期內，我們的計劃是增加每年的發行數量，因為我們專注於為該計劃奠定堅實的基礎。

In addition to these accomplishments, we developed a newly formed alliance with Ag Analytics, a leader in agriculture data collection and analytics. We're proud to be a part of this innovative and data-driven initiative, which has enabled us to better identify, track and analyze the millions of acres pledged as collateral for Farmer Mac's Farm & Ranch loan portfolio. While we are in the early stages of mining this robust collection of data, we are focused on enhancing our farmland value modeling capabilities and our approach to collateral management.

除了這些成就之外，我們還與農業數據收集和分析領域的領導者 Ag Analytics 建立了新的聯盟。我們很自豪能夠成為這一創新和數據驅動計劃的一部分，它使我們能夠更好地識別、跟踪和分析承諾作為 Farmer Mac 農場和牧場貸款組合抵押品的數百萬英畝土地。雖然我們處於挖掘這一強大數據集合的早期階段，但我們專注於增強我們的農田價值建模能力和我們的抵押品管理方法。

Turning to our results. Our focus on our strategic plan and continued investment in people and technology resulted in a strong 2021. We've provided a gross $8.6 billion of liquidity and lending capacity to lenders serving rural America in 2021, which resulted in an outstanding business volume of nearly $24 billion at year-end. We generated a record level of core earnings and most importantly, and fundamentally, our portfolio remains strong and credit performance continued to be very stable with 90-day delinquencies and substandard asset ratios moving favorably quarter-over-quarter.

轉向我們的結果。我們專注於我們的戰略計劃以及對人員和技術的持續投資，使 2021 年表現強勁。我們在 2021 年向服務於美國農村的貸方提供了總計 86 億美元的流動性和貸款能力，這導致未償業務量接近 24 美元年末 億元。我們創造了創紀錄的核心收益水平，最重要的是，從根本上說，我們的投資組合依然強勁，信貸表現繼續非常穩定，90 天拖欠率和不合標準的資產比率環比上升。

This year, we also introduced a realignment of our lines of business and operating segments. More specifically, we have consolidated our reporting from our 4 lines of business to 2 lines of business: Agricultural Finance and Rural Infrastructure Finance, and 7 operating subsegments with 4 segments that drive business strategy under the 2 lines of business. Our new lines of business reflect how we are managing, evaluating and serving our business that centers around the customer and market rather than according to the type of the product that we offer as we previously did. We believe the simplified reporting format will more clearly present the distinct contributions of our operating businesses and how they drive value for the overall company.

今年，我們還對業務線和運營部門進行了調整。更具體地說，我們已將我們的報告從 4 條業務線合併為 2 條業務線：農業金融和農村基礎設施金融，以及 7 個運營子部門，其中 4 個部門推動這 2 條業務線下的業務戰略。我們的新業務線反映了我們如何管理、評估和服務以客戶和市場為中心的業務，而不是像以前那樣根據我們提供的產品類型。我們相信簡化的報告格式將更清楚地展示我們運營業務的獨特貢獻以及它們如何為整個公司帶來價值。

As we expand and scale our company, the transparency and utility of our disclosures must align and we believe these changes will make it easier for all of our stakeholders to digest and evaluate our results. The Agricultural Finance line of business, which is approximately 75% of our total outstanding business volume and comprises all products secured by first liens on agriculture real estate plus all USDA guaranteed loans. It grew just over $1 billion year-over-year. This increase was primarily driven by Farm & Ranch loan purchase and AgVantage securities programs with the growth in AgVantage securities largely comprised of opportunistic short-term bonds that are expected to mature in the first half of 2022.

隨著我們公司的擴張和擴張，我們披露的透明度和實用性必須保持一致，我們相信這些變化將使我們所有的利益相關者更容易消化和評估我們的結果。農業金融業務線，約占我們未償付業務總量的 75%，包括所有由農業房地產第一留置權擔保的產品以及所有美國農業部擔保貸款。同比增長超過 10 億美元。這一增長主要是由 Farm & Ranch 貸款購買和 AgVantage 證券計劃推動的，AgVantage 證券的增長主要由預計將於 2022 年上半年到期的機會主義短期債券組成。

While the short-term nature of those securities may create some near-term volatility to volume, we do not anticipate a material impact to our net effective spread. Our pipeline in this line of business remains strong as we believe our strong relationships, knowledge, innovation and flexibility have resulted in our ability to be adaptive, throughout market cycles.

雖然這些證券的短期性質可能會對交易量造成一些短期波動，但我們預計不會對我們的淨有效利差產生重大影響。我們在這一業務領域的管道仍然強大，因為我們相信我們強大的關係、知識、創新和靈活性使我們能夠在整個市場週期中進行適應。

Our Rural Infrastructure Finance line of business grew a net $600 million or $0.6 billion in 2021, primarily due to a net increase in AgVantage securities with a key counterparty. This growth is a testament to Farmer Mac's ability to offer competitively priced financing structures, while also demonstrating our ability to effectively execute and meet the needs of our customers.

我們的農村基礎設施金融業務在 2021 年淨增長 6 億美元或 6 億美元，這主要是由於與主要交易對手的 AgVantage 證券淨增長。這種增長證明了 Farmer Mac 有能力提供具有價格競爭力的融資結構，同時也證明了我們有效執行和滿足客戶需求的能力。

During 2021, Farmer Mac purchased $132 million of loans to telecommunication companies that provide wireless, cable, fiber transport and broadband services to rural America as part of its strategic initiatives to support the telecommunication industry. Farmer Mac also facilitated the financing of approximately $31 million of renewable energy loans. We view both as growing sectors that tie directly to our organizational mission and a significant opportunity for Farmer Mac over the next few years given the greater level of interest from rural electric cooperatives to develop and deploy broadband services and invest in renewable energy power generation.

2021 年期間，Farmer Mac 向電信公司購買了 1.32 億美元的貸款，這些電信公司為美國農村地區提供無線、有線、光纖傳輸和寬帶服務，作為其支持電信行業的戰略舉措的一部分。 Farmer Mac 還促成了大約 3100 萬美元的可再生能源貸款融資。考慮到農村電力合作社對開發和部署寬帶服務以及投資可再生能源發電的興趣更大，我們認為這兩個行業都與我們的組織使命直接相關，並且在未來幾年對 Farmer Mac 來說是一個重要的機會。

I'm also pleased to announce an 8% or $0.07 per share increase in our quarterly common stock dividend. That will take it to $0.95 per share starting in the first quarter of 2022. In deciding to increase Farmer Mac's common stock dividend and maintain our payout target, the Board of Directors considered our strong capital position and the consistency of and outlook for our earnings to support our business and exceed all of our regulatory requirements. This represents the 11th consecutive year that Farmer Mac increased its quarterly dividend and it's a tangible indication to our shareholders of our ongoing financial success.

我也很高興地宣布我們的季度普通股股息增加 8% 或每股 0.07 美元。這將使它從 2022 年第一季度開始達到每股 0.95 美元。在決定增加 Farmer Mac 的普通股股息並維持我們的派息目標時，董事會考慮了我們強大的資本狀況以及我們收益的一致性和前景支持我們的業務並超越我們所有的監管要求。這是 Farmer Mac 連續第 11 年增加季度股息，這向我們的股東表明了我們持續的財務成功。

As we look to 2022 and beyond, we believe our 2021 performance provides a great foundation for visibility and growth well into the future as we continue to execute on our strategic objectives. We are confident that the strength of our underlying business model, our strong capital position and our commitment to our customers will continue to support our ability to generate consistent returns throughout various market environments and across economic cycles, as we have done historically.

展望 2022 年及以後，我們相信，隨著我們繼續執行我們的戰略目標，我們 2021 年的業績為未來的知名度和增長奠定了良好的基礎。我們相信，我們的基礎業務模式的實力、我們強大的資本狀況和我們對客戶的承諾將繼續支持我們在各種市場環境和經濟周期中產生一致回報的能力，就像我們過去所做的那樣。

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Aparna to discuss our financial results in more detail. Aparna?

有了這個，我會把電話轉給 Aparna 來更詳細地討論我們的財務結果。阿帕娜？

Thank you, Brad, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to share with you another year of record earnings results, reflecting focused execution throughout the organization. Before I delve into our annual results, I'd like to provide a few highlights around our fourth quarter results. Core earnings was $30 million or $2.76 per share as compared to $27.6 million in third quarter 2021. Our net effective spread modestly declined sequentially due to the sale of mortgage loans associated with the securitization transaction, and I'll describe that in more detail shortly. And finally, outstanding business volume increased $495.7 million from September 30, 2021, to $23.6 billion due to new Farm & Ranch AgVantage volume and strong loan growth in the Farm & Ranch segment.

謝謝布拉德，大家下午好。我很高興與大家分享又一年創紀錄的收益結果，這反映了整個組織的專注執行。在我深入研究我們的年度業績之前，我想提供一些關於我們第四季度業績的亮點。核心收益為 3000 萬美元或每股 2.76 美元，而 2021 年第三季度為 2760 萬美元。由於出售與證券化交易相關的抵押貸款，我們的淨有效利差環比小幅下降，稍後我將對此進行更詳細的描述。最後，由於新的 Farm & Ranch AgVantage 業務量和 Farm & Ranch 部門的強勁貸款增長，未償業務量從 2021 年 9 月 30 日起增加了 4.957 億美元，達到 236 億美元。

Turning to our 2021 full year results. Farmer Mac's outstanding business volume grew by $1.7 billion to $23.6 billion as of December 31, 2021. Net effective spread was $220.7 million, which represents a 12% increase from $197 million in 2020. In percentage terms, net effective spread or NES, improved 5 basis points to 98 basis points compared to the prior year, and this is primarily due to the shift in higher earning assets and continued competitive execution on debt funding that is a result of our disciplined asset liability management process.

轉向我們的 2021 年全年業績。截至 2021 年 12 月 31 日，Farmer Mac 的未償業務量增長了 17 億美元，達到 236 億美元。淨有效利差為 2.207 億美元，比 2020 年的 1.97 億美元增長了 12%。按百分比計算，淨有效利差或 NES 提高了 5與上一年相比，基點上升至 98 個基點，這主要是由於高收益資產的轉移以及我們嚴格的資產負債管理流程導致債務融資的持續競爭執行。

Our newly introduced operating segment, which Brad described earlier, allow us to offer more transparency into the various contributing components of portfolio NES as we have implemented a fund transfer pricing methodology. This process allows us to allocate interest expense much more accurately to each of the operating segments, and this assumes a match-funded asset liability management approach, and it allocates both the benefits as well as the cost from the funding and hedging strategies to the Funding segment. This also allocates the results of the investment portfolio and demonstrates how it's held for liquidity purposes.

我們新推出的運營部門，正如 Brad 之前描述的那樣，允許我們在實施資金轉移定價方法時為投資組合 NES 的各種貢獻組成部分提供更多透明度。這個過程使我們能夠更準確地將利息費用分配給每個運營部門，並且假設採用匹配資金的資產負債管理方法，並將資金和對沖策略的收益和成本分配給資金部分。這也分配了投資組合的結果，並展示了它是如何為流動性目的而持有的。

The year-over-year growth in net effective spread was primarily driven by net new business volume, particularly in the Farm & Ranch operating segment, accompanied by a decrease in non-GAAP funding costs. We frequently discussed in the past, the positive impact of our dynamic funding strategies, including the use of callable bonds to replace more expensive outstanding debt at lower rates as well as leveraging derivatives to eliminate basis risk. We believe that the new segment reporting construct provides for clearer insight into the benefits of these funding strategies and how it contributes to profitability. The business compositional shift we've discussed since early 2020 is also highlighted in the new segment reporting as the relationship between rates and volume are apparent in each segment.

淨有效利差的同比增長主要受淨新業務量的推動，特別是在農場和牧場運營部門，同時非 GAAP 融資成本下降。我們過去經常討論我們動態融資策略的積極影響，包括使用可贖回債券以較低的利率取代更昂貴的未償還債務，以及利用衍生品來消除基差風險。我們相信，新的分部報告結構可以更清楚地了解這些融資策略的好處及其對盈利能力的貢獻。我們討論的自 2020 年初以來的業務構成轉變也在新的細分報告中得到強調，因為每個細分市場的費率和數量之間的關係都很明顯。

For example, our Rural Utilities segment is comprised of low-risk long-dated assets would generate a lower NES relative to our Corporate AgFinance segment, which has greater levels of credit risk but higher levels of net effective spread. As we prepare for a steepening yield curve, especially at the long end of the curve, we are very carefully analyzing our duration and convexity matches to minimize our interest rate risk as rates rise. In general, our net effective spread or NES should be well cushioned against driving rates. The options on our callable issuances remain attractive even if rates rise, and these will prove to be a good hedge against prepayments if the rate environment remains flat or decreases.

例如，我們的農村公用事業部門由低風險的長期資產組成，相對於我們的企業農業金融部門，其信用風險水平較高但淨有效利差水平較高，會產生較低的 NES。當我們為收益率曲線變陡做準備時，尤其是在曲線的長端，我們正在非常仔細地分析我們的久期和凸度匹配，以在利率上升時將我們的利率風險降至最低。總的來說，我們的淨有效利差或 NES 應該可以很好地緩衝驅動利率。即使利率上升，我們可贖回發行的期權仍然具有吸引力，如果利率環境保持平穩或下降，這些期權將被證明是對提前還款的良好對沖。

Securitization, which is a capability that we are now building, will also provide us with a diversified source of long-term funding, it will help us draw from a larger investor base, a more diversified investor base. It will help us optimize our funding strategy when faced with widening issuances at the long end of the curve. This disciplined approach of managing our portfolio duration and convexity allows us to have a consistent performance in our net effective spread in both rising and falling rate environments.

證券化，這是我們現在正在建設的一種能力，也將為我們提供多元化的長期資金來源，它將幫助我們吸引更大的投資者基礎，更多元化的投資者基礎。這將幫助我們在面對曲線長端不斷擴大的發行量時優化我們的融資策略。這種管理我們投資組合久期和凸性的嚴格方法使我們能夠在利率上升和下降的環境中保持淨有效利差的一致表現。

Core earnings for 2021 increased 13% to $113.6 million or $10.47 per diluted common share compared to $100.6 million or $9.33 per diluted common share for 2020. The year-over-year increase in core earnings was primarily due to an $18.7 million after-tax increase in net effective spread, a net after-tax provision release of $8.1 million and a $5.2 million after-tax gain on sale of mortgage loans. These factors were partially offset by a $9.5 million after-tax increase in operating expenses and a $6.9 million increase in preferred stock dividends.

2021 年核心收益增長 13% 至 1.136 億美元或每股稀釋普通股 10.47 美元，而 2020 年為 1.006 億美元或每股稀釋普通股 9.33 美元。核心收益同比增長主要是由於稅後增長 1870 萬美元在淨有效利差方面，淨稅後撥備釋放 810 萬美元，出售抵押貸款的稅後收益為 520 萬美元。這些因素部分被營業費用稅後增加 950 萬美元和優先股股息增加 690 萬美元所抵消。

The successful execution of a $299.4 million agricultural mortgage-backed securitization in October was a key contributor to our core earnings results this past year. The deal was structured around 2 tranches, a senior guaranteed tranche and a subordinate unguaranteed tranche. The transaction was overall very well received by the investment community, and this has provided Farmer Mac with an opportunity, as I mentioned earlier, to diversified funding sources and fulfill our mission of delivering low-cost liquidity even more effectively. We have spent the last few months identifying ways to potentially execute these transactions more efficiently, and we expect to return to the market this year with another similar securitization as we seek to make this a more programmatic effort for us in the future.

10 月份成功執行了 2.994 億美元的農業抵押貸款支持證券化，這是我們去年核心收益結果的主要貢獻者。該交易圍繞 2 個部分構建，一個是高級擔保部分，另一個是次級無擔保部分。該交易總體上受到了投資界的歡迎，正如我之前提到的，這為 Farmer Mac 提供了一個機會，使資金來源多樣化，並更有效地履行我們提供低成本流動性的使命。在過去的幾個月裡，我們一直在尋找更有效地執行這些交易的方法，我們預計今年將通過另一項類似的證券化重返市場，因為我們希望在未來為我們做出更具程序化的努力。

Operating expenses increased by 20% in 2021 compared to 2020, and this is primarily due to increased headcount as we hired 32 net new employees this year, including 10 new employees in connection with the strategic acquisition of loan servicing rights that Brad described that occurred in the third quarter of 2021. Our headcount was 154 as of year-end. The additional loan servicing expenses are expected to be offset over a multiyear period by additional revenue, and this will be reflected in higher spreads in our Farm & Ranch segment where we will not be paying a third party for servicing the loans that we will now service. And this should, therefore, make the initiative neutral to accretive for us in the midterm.

與 2020 年相比，2021 年的運營費用增加了 20%，這主要是由於我們今年淨僱用了 32 名新員工，其中包括 10 名與戰略收購貸款服務權有關的新員工，布拉德描述說發生在2021 年第三季度。截至年底，我們的員工人數為 154 人。額外的貸款服務費用預計將在多年內被額外的收入所抵消，這將反映在我們農場和牧場部門的更高利差上，我們不會向第三方支付我們現在將服務的貸款服務費用.因此，這應該使該倡議在中期對我們有利。

The remaining hires were brought on to drive additional volume growth and support our long-term technology strategy. We also plan to continue investments, both in headcount as well as in technology over 2022 and 2023. These will be primarily to modernize and mitigate risk in our infrastructure, enhance our technology platforms to support our revenue strategies and continue to add relevant talent across the organization, especially as we scale and enter into new areas of business, such as renewable energy and telecom. While we expect these efforts to continue and increase over the next 12 to 18 months as we innovate and grow our business, we will continue, as we've mentioned previously, to closely monitor our efficiency ratio.

其餘員工的加入是為了推動額外的銷量增長並支持我們的長期技術戰略。我們還計劃在 2022 年和 2023 年繼續在員工人數和技術方面進行投資。這些主要是為了實現基礎設施的現代化和降低風險，增強我們的技術平台以支持我們的收入戰略，並繼續在整個行業增加相關人才組織，尤其是當我們擴大規模並進入新的業務領域時，例如可再生能源和電信。雖然我們預計隨著我們創新和發展業務，這些努力將在未來 12 到 18 個月內繼續並增加，但正如我們之前提到的，我們將繼續密切監控我們的效率比率。

Our efficiency ratio at the end of 2021 was 29%. Going forward, we do expect operating expenses to increase commensurately with revenue growth. But as we've noted previously, we intend to stay within a range that is consistent with our historical averages that always remain below a 30% operating efficiency level. Our credit profile continued to be strong over 2021. As of December 31, 2021, the total allowance for losses was $16.4 million, a decrease of $1.2 million from December 31, 2020. This decrease was attributable to a $2.4 million release due to improving economic conditions and a recovery on the payoff of the agricultural storage and processing loan secured by a specialized poultry facility that had been partially charged off in 2020. Partially offsetting this decrease was a $0.2 million provision to the rural infrastructure allowance for loan losses related to the impact of the February 2021 Texas Arctic Freeze.

我們在 2021 年底的效率比為 29%。展望未來，我們確實預計運營費用將隨著收入增長而相應增加。但正如我們之前指出的那樣，我們打算保持在與我們的歷史平均水平一致的範圍內，該水平始終低於 30% 的運營效率水平。我們的信用狀況在 2021 年繼續保持強勁。截至 2021 年 12 月 31 日，損失準備金總額為 1640 萬美元，比 2020 年 12 月 31 日減少了 120 萬美元。這一減少是由於經濟改善釋放了 240 萬美元2020 年部分註銷的專業家禽設施擔保的農業儲存和加工貸款的還款恢復。部分抵消了這一減少的是向農村基礎設施撥備 20 萬美元用於與影響相關的貸款損失2021 年 2 月德州北極冰凍期。

Turning to capital. Farmer Mac's $1.2 billion of core capital as of December 31, 2021, exceeded our statutory requirement by $487 million or 41%. This compares to $1 billion of core capital as of December 31, 2020. The increase in capital in excess of the minimum capital level required was primarily due to the issuance of the Series G preferred stock in May 2021 and an increase in retained earnings. The issuance of the Series G preferred stock earlier in the year positions us well for this inflationary environment that we're seeing. The capital efficiency of the securitization transaction also contributed to our improvement to 14.7% of Tier 1 capital from 14.1% as of year-end 2020. All of this further reduces the need in the immediate future to do more preferred stock issuance.

轉向資本。截至 2021 年 12 月 31 日，Farmer Mac 的核心資本為 12 億美元，超出我們的法定要求 4.87 億美元或 41%。相比之下，截至 2020 年 12 月 31 日，核心資本為 10 億美元。資本增加超過最低資本水平的主要原因是 2021 年 5 月發行的 G 系列優先股和留存收益的增加。今年早些時候發行的 G 系列優先股使我們能夠很好地應對我們所看到的這種通脹環境。證券化交易的資本效率也有助於我們從 2020 年底的 14.1% 提高到 14.7% 的一級資本。所有這些進一步減少了在不久的將來發行更多優先股的需要。

As Brad mentioned, we are very pleased to announce a $0.07 per share increase in our first quarter 2022 common stock dividend, getting us to a total of $0.95 per share, and this represents an 8% increase from a year ago. We believe that our strong earnings and consistent capital position supports this dividend increase and also our long-term target payout ratio, which is set at 35% of core earnings.

正如 Brad 提到的，我們很高興地宣布 2022 年第一季度普通股股息每股增加 0.07 美元，使我們的每股總股息達到 0.95 美元，這比一年前增加了 8%。我們相信，我們強勁的收益和穩定的資本狀況支持這種股息增加以及我們的長期目標派息率，該比率設定為核心收益的 35%。

In conclusion, our balance sheet is well optimized. Our access to capital markets also remain strong. We believe that we're well positioned for rising rates and to fund future loan growth at levels that are earnings accretive.

總之，我們的資產負債表得到了很好的優化。我們進入資本市場的渠道也依然強大。我們相信，我們已做好準備應對利率上升，並為未來的貸款增長提供資金，以增加收益。

And with that, Brad, let me turn it back to you.

有了這個，布拉德，讓我把它轉回給你。

Thank you, Aparna. I'm incredibly proud of the 2021 results, and I'm incredibly proud of the entire Farmer Mac's team that has delivered these results. We further enhanced our operational infrastructure, we've enabled greater customer service, and we built a diverse earnings stream with multiple growth levers.

謝謝你，阿帕娜。我為 2021 年的結果感到無比自豪，我為取得這些結果的整個 Farmer Mac 團隊感到無比自豪。我們進一步加強了我們的運營基礎設施，我們提供了更好的客戶服務，並且我們建立了具有多種增長槓桿的多元化收益流。

Looking ahead to 2022 and beyond, we continue to see a tremendous opportunity to bring even greater efficiencies in how we provide financing to our lenders for the benefit of their farm and ranch, agribusiness and rural infrastructure customers. We're looking forward to sharing additional updates on our strategic growth initiatives in the coming quarters.

展望 2022 年及以後，我們將繼續看到一個巨大的機會，可以提高我們為貸方提供融資的方式的效率，以造福於他們的農場和牧場、農業綜合企業和農村基礎設施客戶。我們期待在未來幾個季度分享有關我們戰略增長計劃的更多更新。

And with that, operator, I'd like to see if we have any questions from anyone on the line today.

話雖如此，接線員，我想看看今天在線的任何人是否有任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) Today's first question comes from Marla Backer with Sidoti.

（操作員說明）今天的第一個問題來自 Marla Backer 和 Sidoti。

Can you give us any kind of color on how you think if inflationary pressure continues or escalates from these levels? How you think that could impact changes in your business volume?

如果通脹壓力持續或從這些水平升級，你能給我們任何顏色嗎？您認為這會如何影響您的業務量變化？

Yes. Good afternoon. Marla, it's very nice to have you on the call today. I think there are a couple of dimensions of this, and I'm going to ask both Zack Carpenter, our Chief Business Officer, to comment on what we're seeing out in the countryside as well as a partner, Aparna Ramesh, our CFO, to comment on what the implications are for interest rate-sensitive asset liability management. But in general, we've been talking for almost a year now about the likelihood of rising interest rates, and how the way we manage our book from an asset liability management standpoint, puts us in actually a pretty neutral position. We also more recently have been monitoring inflationary pressures on the ag economy, especially coming from increases in natural gas and fuel prices, which are fairly closely correlated with inputs, not just diesel fuel on the farm, but also fertilizers, for example.

是的。下午好。瑪拉，很高興今天有你接聽電話。我認為這有幾個方面，我將請我們的首席商務官 Zack Carpenter 以及我們的首席財務官 Aparna Ramesh 對我們在農村看到的情況發表評論, 評論對利率敏感的資產負債管理的影響。但總的來說，我們已經討論了將近一年的利率上升的可能性，以及我們如何從資產負債管理的角度管理我們的賬簿，這實際上使我們處於相當中立的位置。我們最近還一直在監測農業經濟的通脹壓力，尤其是來自天然氣和燃料價格上漲的壓力，這些價格與投入密切相關，例如，不僅是農場的柴油，還有化肥。

The wild card just in the last week is what the impact of the situation Ukraine will have on global agricultural commodity flows. Generally speaking though, we think that, that probably favors the U.S. But let me now turn to Zack and Aparna to offer their perspectives on the different dimensions of your question.

就在上週，不確定因素是烏克蘭局勢將對全球農產品流動產生何種影響。不過一般來說，我們認為這可能有利於美國。但現在讓我請 Zack 和 Aparna 談談他們對你問題的不同方面的看法。

Yes. Thanks, Brad. That's a great question. On the Farm & Ranch side, I think that's where it poses the biggest view in terms of inflationary pressures. And Brad made a big comment in terms of nat gas and fertilizer. And those are huge input costs to the farmer and rancher in terms of running their operation. And we're seeing the largest component inflationary pressure is there, continued with the supply chain disruptions that we see across the market. The other dimension that Brad mentioned is interest rates and the increasing, I'd say, short-term interest rates that we're seeing or projected to see in the environment.

是的。謝謝，布拉德。這是一個很好的問題。在農場和牧場方面，我認為這是對通脹壓力影響最大的地方。布拉德在天然氣和化肥方面發表了重要評論。就農民和牧場主的運營而言，這些都是巨大的投入成本。我們看到最大的組成部分通脹壓力存在，我們在整個市場上看到的供應鏈中斷繼續存在。布拉德提到的另一個方面是利率，我想說的是，我們在環境中看到或預計會看到的短期利率不斷上升。

So overall, I'd say a more Farm & Ranch foundational perspective, we anticipate to see probably a little bit lower prepayment speeds than we have seen over the last 2 years and attribute that to a lower refinancing environment given the increase in interest rates. And then in terms of the input costs, we anticipate to see a heavy draw on revolving lines of credit, especially to fund the fertilizer and the input costs for the harvest or preparing for the harvest and getting everything in the ground.

所以總的來說，我想說更多的農場和牧場基礎觀點，我們預計預付款速度可能會比我們在過去兩年中看到的要低一些，並將其歸因於利率上升導致的再融資環境較低。然後在投入成本方面，我們預計會看到循環信貸額度的大量消耗，特別是為肥料和收穫或準備收穫和把所有東西都放在地上的投入成本提供資金。

So I would say overall, maybe a moderated transition from volatility in terms of refinancing, but still a very strong environment from a farm economic perspective given the commodity prices. So coupled with strong farm loan values could see a lot of increasing in transactions in terms of acquisitions of new land and taking some of that equity out.

所以我想說，總的來說，從再融資的角度來看，波動性可能會有所緩和，但考慮到大宗商品價格，從農業經濟的角度來看，環境仍然非常強勁。因此，加上強勁的農業貸款價值，在收購新土地和取出部分股權方面的交易可能會大幅增加。

Great. And thanks, Zack. And I'll just jump in real quick, Marla, on what this all means for us as we look at our duration and convexity on our asset liability management. Certainly, when you look at this environment, we've got some tensions between the long and the short end of the curve. I think the forward curve is implying a substantial flattening or even an inversion as you look out a year. So all of that has obviously implications from an asset liability management standpoint.

偉大的。謝謝，扎克。當我們審視我們的資產負債管理的持續時間和凸度時，我會很快地跳進去，Marla，這對我們意味著什麼。當然，當你審視這種環境時，曲線的長端和短端之間存在一些緊張關係。我認為遠期曲線意味著你看一年後會大幅變平甚至倒掛。因此，從資產負債管理的角度來看，所有這些都具有明顯的意義。

But from our standpoint, I think we're pretty well cushioned. We've taken advantage of a few things. We did issue a lot of long-dated debt securities over the last 2 years, taking advantage of market opportunities. New callable spreads have actually widened quite a bit. But in this current environment and as Zack described, looking at the slowing in prepayments, that won't have a material impact on our business. And even if rates were to go down, a year out, we'll be pretty well cushioned because we've got about 1/3 of our fixed-rate book in callable security. So whichever (inaudible), I think we're going to be pretty well cushioned whether rates go up or flatten or even if we see a slight inversion over the next year, I think we'll be well positioned. And obviously, inflationary impact really plays into what the Fed might do on the short end of the curve there. We're anticipating that.

但從我們的角度來看，我認為我們的緩衝非常好。我們利用了一些東西。過去兩年，我們確實利用市場機會發行了很多長期債券。新的可贖回利差實際上擴大了很多。但在目前的環境下，正如 Zack 所描述的那樣，考慮到預付款的放緩，這不會對我們的業務產生實質性影響。即使利率下降，一年後，我們也會得到很好的緩衝，因為我們有大約 1/3 的固定利率賬簿是可贖回證券。因此，無論哪種（聽不清），我認為無論利率上升還是趨平，或者即使明年我們看到輕微的反轉，我認為我們都將處於有利位置。顯然，通貨膨脹的影響確實影響了美聯儲可能對短期曲線末端採取的行動。我們期待這一點。

Okay. Thank you for that comprehensive answer. Switching topics, switching gears a little bit. You talked a little bit in your prepared remarks about trends moving into some related areas, telecom, renewable energy. Can you give us some sense of how large you think that those complementary areas could become as part of the total business?

好的。謝謝你的全面回答。切換話題，稍微切換一下話題。你在準備好的評論中談到了一些相關領域、電信、可再生能源的趨勢。您能否告訴我們您認為這些互補領域可以成為整個業務的一部分的規模有多大？

Yes, I'd be happy to, Marla. First of all, we've been slowly moving into renewable energy project finance. I think this is our third year now. And in the last year, as you know, we have been more active in telecommunication company finance. We are a mission-driven organization. We are very purposeful and focusing on the needs of rural America within the confines of our charter.

是的，我很樂意，瑪拉。首先，我們一直在緩慢地轉向可再生能源項目融資。我想這是我們的第三個年頭了。如您所知，去年我們在電信公司財務方面更加活躍。我們是一個使命驅動的組織。我們非常有目的性，並在我們的憲章範圍內關注美國農村的需求。

And one of the big issues in rural America is broadband and other telecommunication access. So we do actively look for those opportunities. They need to fit our credit box. And as we've been solely moving into this area over the last year, last couple of years in renewable energy project finance, we've been building policy, credit underwriting standards and slowly expanding the team.

美國農村的一大問題是寬帶和其他電信接入。所以我們確實在積極尋找這些機會。他們需要適合我們的信用箱。由於我們去年才進入這一領域，過去幾年在可再生能源項目融資方面，我們一直在製定政策、信用承銷標準並慢慢擴大團隊。

I would say, over the last 2 years, we've placed more of a prioritization on the growth of our Farm & Ranch and corporate agribusiness that we have in this area, and that's partially reflected in the numbers. But looking forward, on the Renewable energy project finance, it's about an $8 billion annual origination market per year within kind of the credit profile that is attractive to us. Our biggest challenge is to broaden the number of origination channels we have because we are a secondary market. And I think you'll see a little bit of emphasis on that this year, probably more next year. And if then with that increased emphasis, we could kind of double the projected volume every year for 4 or 5 years, it would become a meaningful part of our business, becoming upwards of 20%, 25% of volume, but that will take some years to get to.

我想說的是，在過去的兩年裡，我們更加重視我們在這一領域擁有的農場和牧場以及企業農業綜合企業的增長，這部分反映在數字上。但展望未來，在可再生能源項目融資方面，在對我們有吸引力的信用狀況下，每年約有 80 億美元的年度發起市場。我們最大的挑戰是擴大我們擁有的原始渠道的數量，因為我們是二級市場。我認為今年你會看到一些重點，明年可能會更多。如果隨著這種重視程度的提高，我們可以在 4 或 5 年內每年將預計銷量翻一番，這將成為我們業務中有意義的一部分，達到銷量的 20%、25% 以上，但這需要一些時間幾年才能到達。

Great. And when you said 20%, 25% of volume, you're talking about in the aggregate between the 2 different spaces we've been talking about?

偉大的。當你說 20%、25% 的體積時，你是在談論我們一直在談論的兩個不同空間之間的總和？

Versus the rest of the portfolio, and that's an annual originations. In terms of portfolio composition, that would be less because it will take longer to ramp up.

與投資組合的其餘部分相比，這是年度發起。就投資組合構成而言，這會更少，因為需要更長的時間才能增加。

And our next question today comes from Gary Gordon of Private Investor.

我們今天的下一個問題來自私人投資者的加里戈登。

Okay. So a couple of things. One, charge-offs in the fourth quarter for the year.

好的。所以有幾件事。第一，今年第四季度的沖銷。

Gary, there were no charge-offs and we had a collection. The loan that we discussed at some length going back 1 and 1.5 years ago, a poultry processing loan. We had taken some write-downs on that over the last 1.5 years, and we completely exited that position during the fourth quarter and actually had a small collection on it. So charge-offs were, I guess, you'd say negative. They -- we collected more than we charged off, and we didn't charge off anything.

加里，沒有沖銷，我們有一個收藏。我們在 1 年和 1.5 年前詳細討論過的貸款是家禽加工貸款。在過去的 1.5 年裡，我們對此進行了一些減記，我們在第四季度完全退出了這個頭寸，實際上有一小筆收藏。所以沖銷是，我猜，你會說負面的。他們——我們收集的比我們收取的多，而且我們沒有收取任何費用。

It's about $1.1 million of CapEx, just on that one.

就那一個而言，資本支出約為 110 萬美元。

Okay. Super. Okay. Two, the operating expenses were up about $2 million quarter-to-quarter, third quarter to fourth quarter. I guess just buying the servicing business was part of that, most of that.

好的。極好的。好的。第二，營業費用從第三季度到第四季度環比增長了約 200 萬美元。我猜只是購買服務業務是其中的一部分，其中大部分。

The servicing business is part of that. We also had some IT expenses that hit in almost the last month of the year. Aparna, do you want to elaborate on that?

服務業務是其中的一部分。幾乎在今年的最後一個月，我們還有一些 IT 支出。 Aparna，你想詳細說明一下嗎？

Yes. No, I think Brad hit the nail on the head there. We've been doing systematic investment in 2 or 3 areas. And then the third area, as you noted, Gary, was the acquisition of the servicing business. So most of the headcount that we acquired through that was about 11 or so, most of that came in over the latter half. So that was a contributor. And then as Brad noted, we've made some investments in our IT platforms and some of the consulting fees wrapped up towards the end of November. So we saw an uptick in consulting fees as well in December.

是的。不，我認為布拉德一針見血。我們一直在 2 或 3 個領域進行系統性投資。然後是第三個領域，正如你所指出的，加里，是對服務業務的收購。因此，我們通過那次獲得的大部分員工人數約為 11 人左右，其中大部分來自下半年。所以這是一個貢獻者。然後正如 Brad 指出的那樣，我們對我們的 IT 平台進行了一些投資，並在 11 月底結束了一些諮詢費用。因此，我們在 12 月份也看到了諮詢費用的上漲。

So those 2 factors I would say, contributed. And then also just our hiring. We had some of the hiring plans for the first half of the year, but most of that got pushed out to the third and fourth quarters, but primarily the fourth quarter. So contributing factor from all of those 3, but that's really (inaudible).

所以我想說的是這兩個因素。然後還有我們的招聘。我們有一些上半年的招聘計劃，但大部分被推遲到第三和第四季度，但主要是第四季度。因此，所有這 3 個因素都有所貢獻，但這確實是（聽不清）。

Okay. And the gain on sale of loans. Is that related to the securitization or that was actual sale?

好的。以及出售貸款的收益。這與證券化有關還是實際出售？

Yes, that was related to the securitization. And we've described that in a fair amount of detail. But in a nutshell, that is the fourth quarter event and resulted in a pretax sale of a little over $6 million. And it really is episodic. So it happens right away. So when you sell it, you book a gain on sale depending on where nominal interest rates are.

是的，這與證券化有關。我們已經相當詳細地描述了這一點。但簡而言之，這是第四季度的活動，導致稅前銷售額略高於 600 萬美元。它確實是偶發的。所以它馬上就會發生。因此，當你出售它時，你會根據名義利率的位置來登記出售收益。

Right. So the cash earnings from those loans will be in operating earnings going forward.

正確的。因此，這些貸款的現金收入將計入未來的營業收入。

The cash earnings -- well, so the $302 million really goes off of our books. And then there is an (inaudible) that we do retain that continues to have an earnings profile that occurs over the life of the loan. And then there are some servicing fees as well that are associated with it. So all of that will go over the license the loan pool, which is about 7 years at par.

現金收入——好吧，所以 3.02 億美元真的從我們的賬面上消失了。然後我們確實保留了一個（聽不清），它繼續具有在貸款期限內發生的收益概況。然後還有一些與之相關的服務費。因此，所有這些都將超過貸款池的許可證，按標準計算，貸款池大約為 7 年。

Okay. The interest spread, the operating earnings, interest spread went down about 5 basis points. And looking at the details, it was from fair value changes, which I've no idea what that is, but it was plus 3 basis points last quarter, minus 3 this quarter. Is -- what's -- is 0 sort of normal?

好的。利差、營業收入、利差下降了約 5 個基點。看看細節，這是來自公允價值的變化，我不知道那是什麼，但上個季度增加了 3 個基點，本季度減少了 3 個基點。是——什麼——0 是正常的嗎？

Yes. So I can ask Brad and Zack, they would like to comment a little bit more on just some of the competitive pressures. But on just the aggregate, the result of the shift between what would have been within our NES book as a result of the [C1] securitization created a decrease in our NES quarter-over-quarter. That's definitely a factor. And then there were some other nonsecuritization-related competitive pricing pressures that also came to bear if you're looking at the portfolio NES change quarter-over-quarter.

是的。所以我可以問 Brad 和 Zack，他們想就一些競爭壓力發表更多評論。但就總體而言，由於 [C1] 證券化，我們的 NES 賬簿內發生的變化導致我們的 NES 環比下降。這絕對是一個因素。然後，如果您正在查看投資組合 NES 的季度環比變化，那麼還有一些其他與證券化相關的競爭性定價壓力也會受到影響。

Okay. So if I'm looking at 2022 this year, the third quarter a better indicator or the fourth quarter a better indicator of what an ongoing ...

好的。因此，如果我看今年的 2022 年，第三季度是一個更好的指標，或者第四季度是一個更好的指標，表明正在進行的……

Yes, I don't know that we'd want to tie 2022 expectations to either the third or fourth quarter. What I would say, Gary, is that until we got well into 2021, we've always provided guidance of 90 points plus or 5 -- plus or minus 5 basis points. What you saw this year was some shift in strategy, and you see the reasons why reflected in our new line of business reporting and net margins associated with that.

是的，我不知道我們是否願意將 2022 年的預期與第三季度或第四季度聯繫起來。加里，我要說的是，在我們進入 2021 年之前，我們一直提供 90 點加或 5 的指導 - 加或減 5 個基點。你今年看到的是戰略的一些轉變，你會看到原因反映在我們新的業務線報告和與之相關的淨利潤率中。

And you saw the NES kind of go up for second, third quarter and then tail off just a little bit in the fourth quarter. What I would say instead is that going into 2022, thinking about guidance around NES as being at least 5 basis points higher than the prior guidance we provided at least 95 basis points plus or minus 5 and possibly even a bit higher is in line with our expectation.

你看到 NES 在第二、第三季度有所上升，然後在第四季度略有下降。相反，我要說的是，進入 2022 年，將圍繞 NES 的指導考慮為比我們提供的至少 95 個基點正負 5 甚至可能更高一點的先前指導至少高出 5 個基點，這符合我們的觀點期待。

Okay. One last ...

好的。最後一個 ...

Gary, ...

加里，...

I'm sorry, go ahead.

對不起，繼續。

Yes. No, Gary, but differently, I think we used to anchor you previously to about 90 basis points. So think of that as having shifted up about 5 basis points level.

是的。不，加里，但不同的是，我認為我們以前曾將你錨定在大約 90 個基點。因此，將其視為已上移約 5 個基點的水平。

Okay. Okay. Last thing on the dividend. So operating earnings were up 13%. The dividend was up 8%. And also you said a 35% payout based on the dividend for this year would say operating earnings would be up about 5% this year, if you're still doing a 35% payout ratio. So I'm trying to figure out, it seems like the dividend should have been up more. And I'm wondering if there's anything behind that.

好的。好的。關於股息的最後一件事。因此，營業收入增長了 13%。股息增長了 8%。你還說，如果你仍然按照 35% 的派息率計算，根據今年的股息支付 35% 的股息意味著今年的營業收入將增長約 5%。所以我想弄清楚，似乎股息應該增加更多。我想知道這背後是否有什麼東西。

Yes. I mean it's not an absolute strict portfolio for precisely 1 year, Gary. So we have previously explained that we have a target of about a 35% payout. And yes, earnings were up strongly this year. We're looking ahead. We want to make sure that we can continue to deliver a nice step in earnings. When we discussed this with our Board, we just felt that going higher than that today was not really advisable because once again, we see some growth opportunity and want to make sure that we maintain strong capitalization throughout '22 in an environment where some of that growth may actually consume more capital.

是的。我的意思是，加里，這不是一個絕對嚴格的 1 年投資組合。所以我們之前已經解釋過，我們的目標是支付大約 35%。是的，今年的收入增長強勁。我們向前看。我們希望確保我們能夠繼續在收益方面邁出一大步。當我們與董事會討論這個問題時，我們只是覺得高於今天的水平並不是真正可取的，因為我們再次看到了一些增長機會，並希望確保我們在整個 22 年的環境中保持強勁的資本化增長實際上可能會消耗更多的資本。

Okay.

好的。

Yes. And Gary, and just one more point. I think when you look at either 2021 and 2022, we're also now subject to a fair amount of volatility from nominal interest rates. And so we've got to guard against that. So some of the credit effects, which are noncash based as well as the gain on sale, there's going to be some natural fluctuations as a result of that. So we want to make sure that we're baselining this from a cash flow perspective as opposed to some of the other fluctuations that come about as a result of shift in our business model.

是的。還有加里，還有一點。我認為當你看 2021 年和 2022 年時，我們現在也受到名義利率相當大的波動的影響。所以我們必須提防這種情況。因此，一些基於非現金的信用效應以及銷售收益將因此而出現一些自然波動。因此，我們希望確保我們從現金流的角度來設定基準，而不是由於我們的商業模式轉變而產生的其他一些波動。

Our next question today comes from John Szabo with Flint Ridge Capital.

我們今天的下一個問題來自 Flint Ridge Capital 的 John Szabo。

My question is regarding the outstanding business volume growth for the company. And Brad, I think you've described in the past that the company has a relatively low market share of the ag finance business, at least the way you've defined it, you also have a competitive advantage from a funding standpoint due to your charter. So what would you consider sort of a normalized growth rate in outstanding business volume net? And then what would be the factors that would drive your actual results to be either higher or lower in a particular year around that a normalized growth rate?

我的問題是關於公司出色的業務量增長。布拉德，我認為你過去曾描述過該公司在農業金融業務中的市場份額相對較低，至少按照你定義的方式，從資金的角度來看，你也具有競爭優勢，因為你的憲章。那麼，您認為未完成業務量淨值的標準化增長率是多少？那麼在正常化增長率附近的特定年份，哪些因素會導致您的實際結果更高或更低？

Yes. John -- thanks for getting on with us today, John. I think it's important to follow up the low market share with the note that Farmer Mac is the secondary market. And so our market share is a function not only of the growth that we can initiate through aggressive calling and good technology platforms and competitively priced product, it's also a function of the overall level of liquidity in the agricultural finance system, including with commercial banks, independent finance companies and insurance companies and the farm credit system. So that's another factor that has to be taken into consideration. But with that additional caveat, let me turn to Zack to offer some more direct response to kind of growth rates and influences of growth rates when we're out working with customers.

是的。約翰——謝謝你今天和我們在一起，約翰。我認為重要的是要跟進低市場份額，注意 Farmer Mac 是二級市場。因此，我們的市場份額不僅取決於我們可以通過積極的呼籲、良好的技術平台和具有競爭力的價格產品實現的增長，還取決於農業金融系統（包括商業銀行）的整體流動性水平，獨立的金融公司和保險公司以及農場信貸系統。所以這是另一個必須考慮的因素。但有了這個額外的警告，讓我轉向 Zack，當我們與客戶合作時，對增長率和增長率的影響提供一些更直接的回應。

Yes. Thanks, Brad. And it's a great question. And I think Brad started the conversation in the right way in noting we're a secondary market. And ultimately, what that means is our customers are the financial institutions serving the farmer in the ranches in the ag space. But I think a big component of what we've tried to execute over the last couple of years is the diversification of our base, right? And so you've seen a very strong growth rate in the agricultural Farm & Ranch, Corporate AgFinance space as we've dedicated more time there, but also looking to focus more on telecom and renewable energy. When you fully focus on the Farm & Ranch and the agricultural space, it's dominated by a few key lenders, the farm credit system, insurance companies and community, commercial banks, right? And so as we look to grow our business and support our customer base, it needs to be taken in the context of a very concentrated industry of lenders, which differs in many instances in other areas.

是的。謝謝，布拉德。這是一個很好的問題。而且我認為布拉德以正確的方式開始談話，注意到我們是二級市場。最終，這意味著我們的客戶是為農業領域牧場農民服務的金融機構。但我認為我們在過去幾年中試圖執行的一個重要組成部分是我們基地的多元化，對吧？因此，您已經看到農業農場和牧場、企業 AgFinance 領域的增長率非常強勁，因為我們在那裡投入了更多時間，但也希望更多地關注電信和可再生能源。當你完全關注農場和牧場和農業領域時，它由幾個主要貸方、農場信貸系統、保險公司和社區、商業銀行主導，對吧？因此，當我們希望發展我們的業務並支持我們的客戶群時，需要在一個非常集中的貸款行業的背景下進行，這在其他領域的許多情況下都是不同的。

And so our focus there to continue to increase growth rates is really to diversify. I think part of our change in reporting structure highlights the fact that our Corporate AgFinance segment or focusing on agribusinesses or larger and more complex value chain lending helps us diversify and support our mission in a different way and ultimately lets us create a larger growth rate in many different fashions.

因此，我們在那裡繼續提高增長率的重點實際上是多元化。我認為我們報告結構的部分變化突出了這樣一個事實，即我們的企業農業金融部門或專注於農業綜合企業或更大更複雜的價值鏈貸款有助於我們以不同的方式實現多元化和支持我們的使命，並最終讓我們創造更大的增長率許多不同的時尚。

Lastly, the only thing I'd like to comment on is that some of our products and some of our customers are highly concentrated. I think AgVantage, think of these wholesale finances. And so we need to make sure that as we put capital to use, it's appropriate for our mission and appropriate for Farmer Mac. And in many instances, we've seen over the last couple of years, as credit spread has tightened, it didn't make sense for us to support those low-profitability spreads, and so we wanted to moderate that appropriately. So a little bit of ups gives and takes across the board. But I think from the ag space, we are making inroads in a very concentrated environment as a secondary market.

最後，我唯一想評論的是，我們的一些產品和一些客戶是高度集中的。我想到 AgVantage，想到這些批發金融。因此，我們需要確保在投入資金時，它適合我們的使命，也適合 Farmer Mac。在許多情況下，我們在過去幾年中看到，隨著信貸息差收緊，我們支持那些低利潤利差是沒有意義的，因此我們希望適當地緩和這種情況。所以一點點的起起伏伏。但我認為，從農業領域來看，我們正在作為二級市場進入一個非常集中的環境。

John, I think we can provide maybe some specific in terms of volumes. If we're at the 6% to 8% CAGR range in terms of volumes, that's pretty typical, 10% to 12% is extremely strong and more an outlier for us. And I think going forward, we don't see factors that would necessarily reduce that, but we don't see factors that would necessarily increase that upper limit either. So maybe that's helpful in terms of kind of putting some bands around this.

約翰，我想我們可以提供一些具體的數量。如果我們在數量方面處於 6% 到 8% 的複合年增長率範圍，那是非常典型的，10% 到 12% 是非常強勁的，對我們來說更是一個異常值。而且我認為展望未來，我們看不到必然會降低上限的因素，但我們也看不到必然會增加上限的因素。因此，就圍繞此設置一些樂隊而言，這可能會有所幫助。

Yes, that's very helpful. And then just to maybe follow up on Gary's question about -- or at least the way you answered his question about the dividend. So would you be expecting perhaps a bit of an acceleration in growth this year because of some of these new initiatives? And -- or is it really more of a mix issue where whatever you're putting on maybe somewhat more capital intensive maybe than what you've done in the past?

是的，這很有幫助。然後可能只是跟進加里關於 - 或者至少你回答他關於股息的問題的方式。那麼，由於其中一些新舉措，您是否預計今年的增長可能會有所加速？而且 - 或者它真的更像是一個混合問題，無論你投入的是什麼，都可能比你過去所做的更加資本密集？

Yes. Well, it's really interesting because until a week ago, we would have told you with much more certainty that rising interest rates were going to slow prepays and that, that might be supportive of a slightly faster growth rate. In the last week with the situation in Ukraine and maybe creating a bigger challenge for the Fed now, there's a little bit less certainty to that.

是的。好吧，這真的很有趣，因為直到一周前，我們會更加肯定地告訴你，利率上升將減緩預付款，這可能會支持略微加快的增長率。上週烏克蘭的局勢可能給美聯儲帶來更大的挑戰，因此不確定性有所降低。

But generally, yes, we do see greater capital consumption with some of these new lines of business, including the Agricultural Finance, Corporate agriculture line of business. And the Rural Utilities consumes a bit more capital. And so when we make these decisions, I guess, it's fair to say that we make conservative decisions, but we -- those are some of the factors that go into it.

但總的來說，是的，我們確實看到其中一些新業務的資本消耗更大，包括農業金融、企業農業業務。農村公用事業消耗更多的資本。因此，當我們做出這些決定時，我想，可以說我們做出了保守的決定，但我們——這些是其中的一些因素。

Right. And then, of course, presumably, those more capital-intensive assets would have higher yields, I would think.

正確的。然後，當然，我想，那些資本密集度更高的資產可能會有更高的收益率。

Indeed, they do. And for the first time, you can actually see that in the new line of business reporting that we're providing you.

確實如此。這是第一次，您實際上可以在我們為您提供的新業務報告中看到這一點。

And then just one last thing. So you've been investing in some of these new growth initiatives if you could sort of grow the assets sort of in a mid-single-digit range. Do you think over sort of a medium-term time horizon that you'd be able to still get some operating leverage off of that? In other words, the expenses would not grow quite as fast as the top line. Or do you see yourself being in a prolonged period of investment spending ?

然後是最後一件事。因此，如果您可以將資產增長到中個位數範圍內，那麼您一直在投資其中一些新的增長計劃。您是否考慮過某種中期時間範圍，您仍然能夠從中獲得一些運營槓桿？換句話說，費用的增長速度不會像收入增長那麼快。或者您是否認為自己處於長期的投資支出之中？

I think there, we can provide some pretty specific commentary, John. We've said for a number of years now that we're going to keep our operating efficiency ratio in the 25%, 30% range. And last year, we're just under 29%. We hold to that point. We are not going to let it go higher. We have been investing in people and technology to support new lines of business. And we do have the expectation that within a couple of years, we will see more, I guess, you would refer to it as operating efficiency or leverage coming from this, which would result in some decline -- incremental decline in operating efficiency ratio and some acceleration in these lines of business.

John，我認為我們可以提供一些非常具體的評論。多年來，我們一直表示，我們將把我們的運營效率保持在 25%、30% 的範圍內。而去年，我們的比例還不到 29%。我們堅持這一點。我們不會讓它走得更高。我們一直在投資於人員和技術以支持新的業務線。我們確實期望在幾年內，我們會看到更多，我猜，你會把它稱為運營效率或由此產生的槓桿作用，這將導致一些下降——運營效率比率的逐步下降和這些業務線的一些加速。

Just to take a couple, for example, renewable energy, we commented on that, developing a network of origination channels that can deliver more volume takes time, a big or new entrant into the market takes time to capture market-available pricing. Corporate agribusiness, you could say the same thing for that, developing the capability to participate with other banks and syndicated and club loan deals and to have credibility with them to demonstrate our capabilities and all of our underwriting expertise and to be able to capture market-available pricing there, it does take some time. So when you put together that reality of entering new lines of business, as well as the investment in people and technology that it takes to do it, both from a pricing standpoint as well as from an operating expense standpoint. Looking out probably 2 years, 2 to 3 years, you should start seeing improvements attributable to both.

舉幾個例子，例如可再生能源，我們評論說，開發一個可以提供更多數量的原始渠道網絡需要時間，一個大的或新進入市場的人需要時間來獲得市場可用的定價。公司農業綜合企業，你可以說同樣的話，開發參與其他銀行和銀團和俱樂部貸款交易的能力，並與他們建立信譽，以展示我們的能力和我們所有的承銷專業知識，並能夠佔領市場-那裡有可用的定價，這確實需要一些時間。因此，當你將進入新業務線的現實以及為此所需的人員和技術投資放在一起時，無論是從定價的角度還是從運營費用的角度來看。展望可能 2 年、2 到 3 年，您應該會開始看到兩者的改進。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from (inaudible).

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自（聽不清）。

Thanks so much for a great year. I'm hoping that you could help me understand the end users of the credit that you're providing sort of in terms of size and scale. I know that you got like charter and board-level loan limits from a credit risk perspective. But I'm more wondering like kind of from an impact perspective, how are you making sure that these partnerships that you're driving are sort of pushing capital into the smaller and perhaps more capital starved corners of the system where you might have the most acute needs?

非常感謝你度過了美好的一年。我希望您能幫助我了解您提供的信貸的最終用戶的規模和規模。我知道從信用風險的角度來看，你有特許和董事會級別的貸款限額。但我更想知道，從影響力的角度來看，你如何確保你正在推動的這些合作夥伴關係將資金推向系統中你可能擁有最多的更小、可能更缺乏資金的角落迫切需要？

I am really happy that you asked that question. We are a charter and mission-driven organization. We are here to improve the availability and access of credit to rural America, and we take that seriously. Whenever we write our annual business plans, whenever we design our outreach to the financial institutions through which we originate our business, when we think about how we go to market, when we report to Congress, when we refer to our regulator farm credit administration, when our Board evaluates us, some of the key metrics that we look at include the percentage of our volume, for example, for our Farm & Ranch program that goes to family farms as defined by the USDA. That number is over 90% today by count.

我很高興你問了這個問題。我們是一個章程和使命驅動的組織。我們來這裡是為了改善美國農村地區信貸的可用性和可及性，我們對此非常重視。每當我們編寫年度業務計劃時，每當我們設計與我們發起業務的金融機構的外聯時，當我們考慮如何進入市場時，當我們向國會報告時，當我們參考我們的農業信貸監管機構時，當我們的董事會評估我們時，我們查看的一些關鍵指標包括我們的體積百分比，例如，我們的農場和牧場計劃進入美國農業部定義的家庭農場。今天這個數字超過了 90%。

And also by small farmers, again, as defined by USDA, and that number is just over 50% today. And we're really proud of that. We take that seriously. Because as you point out, a very large Almond grown in California may have access to credit from a couple of different sources. You may have access from an insurance company or a farm credit bank. We're happy to serve that almond farmer, as we're happy to serve all farmers. We're we don't discriminate. If they're in compliance with law and creditworthy, we are interested in doing business with them.

同樣，根據美國農業部的定義，小農也是如此，而今天這個數字剛剛超過 50%。我們為此感到非常自豪。我們認真對待這一點。因為正如您所指出的，在加利福尼亞種植的非常大的杏仁可能會從幾個不同的來源獲得信貸。您可能可以從保險公司或農場信貸銀行獲得。我們很高興為那個杏仁農民服務，因為我們很高興為所有農民服務。我們不歧視。如果他們遵守法律且信譽良好，我們有興趣與他們開展業務。

But we do take -- we do put special focus on the small and family farms because maybe as you were inferring, they maybe don't have multiple options from commercial banks, maybe from farm credit banks, maybe from insurance companies. And the availability of our credit even if it's on a secondary market purchase basis, may be more meaningful to them. And we know that. We pay attention to that. And I'm really proud of the fact that if you look at the growth in our Farm & Ranch activity over the last 3 years, 3, 4 years ago, we were doing $700 million to $900 million of annual originations. This year, it was $2.5 billion. So that reflects increased emphasis and use of -- improved use of technology.

但我們確實——我們確實特別關注小型和家庭農場，因為也許正如你所推斷的那樣，他們可能沒有商業銀行、農業信貸銀行、保險公司的多種選擇。即使是在二級市場購買的基礎上，我們的信貸可用性對他們來說可能更有意義。我們知道這一點。我們注意這一點。我真的很自豪，如果你看看過去 3 年、3 年、4 年前我們農場和牧場活動的增長，我們每年的創收額為 7 億至 9 億美元。今年是 25 億美元。因此，這反映出越來越重視和使用 - 改進技術的使用。

We have an underwriting system called AgXpress that can handle smaller loans very fast and efficiently and probably is used by a large portion, not all doesn't have to be used, but it's used by a large portion of small and family farm loan recipients and the commercial and the financial institutions that serve them. So we can point to metrics, but I also hope that you can hear the passion, the excitement, the commitment that we have here at Farmer Mac for those corners of American production agriculture.

我們有一個名為 AgXpress 的承銷系統，它可以非常快速有效地處理小額貸款，並且可能被很大一部分人使用，並非所有人都必須使用，但它被很大一部分小型和家庭農場貸款接受者使用，並且為他們服務的商業和金融機構。所以我們可以指出指標，但我也希望你能聽到我們在 Farmer Mac 對美國農業生產的那些角落的熱情、興奮和承諾。

Yes, absolutely. That comes through in the reporting and all over the place. And I'm just sort of curious that -- why there aren't more granola hippie shareholders like myself on your who are out here celebrating this aspect of your kind of effectiveness. Do you all feel like the kind of ESG, sustainable investing, green bond issuance trend intersects with your business? Is it going to be like or, for instance, the secondary market issuances that you all are doing, are going to tie into that? Do you feel like you're being appreciated by the market basically is my question here for this, like ...

是的，一點沒錯。這在報告中和各處都有體現。而且我只是有點好奇 - 為什麼沒有更多像我這樣的格蘭諾拉麥片嬉皮士股東在這裡慶祝你的這種有效性。你們都覺得 ESG、可持續投資、綠色債券發行趨勢與你們的業務有交集嗎？它會像，或者，例如，你們都在做的二級市場發行，會與此相關嗎？你覺得你被市場賞識基本上是我在這裡的問題，就像......

Yes. If you're specifically getting to kind of the ESG, sustainable agriculture, corner at the investor market, it was interesting because when we did the roadshow for the securitization in the end of the third quarter, they closed -- at the end of the third quarter, beginning of the fourth quarter, we actually had quite a few investors who are really interested in that, who are on the call. We have had some ESG-only investors who have been looking at us and starting us for over a year now, who we noted recently invested in Farmer Mac in the last quarter.

是的。如果你特別關注 ESG、可持續農業、投資者市場的角落，這很有趣，因為當我們在第三季度末進行證券化路演時，他們關閉了——在第二季度末第三季度，第四季度開始，我們實際上有很多投資者對此非常感興趣，他們正在接聽電話。我們有一些只關注 ESG 的投資者，他們一直在關注我們並啟動我們一年多了，我們注意到他們最近在上個季度投資了 Farmer Mac。

And so while our charter, our mission focuses on serving American agriculture broadly. When you really understand what's going on in American agriculture and the changes in practices at the farm level that many farmers are choosing they may have organic strategies, they may have low-till, no-till precision agriculture, which reduces the use of inputs. There may be just -- there are a lot of practices out there that are very consistent with the kind of story that those investors are interested in hearing about.

因此，在我們的章程中，我們的使命側重於廣泛服務於美國農業。當你真正了解美國農業正在發生的事情以及許多農民選擇的農場層面實踐的變化時，他們可能會採用有機策略，他們可能會進行低耕、免耕精準農業，從而減少投入品的使用。可能只是 - 那裡有很多做法與這些投資者有興趣聽到的故事類型非常一致。

For us capturing the data on all the loans in our portfolio is a challenge because the secondary market participant, we don't naturally have access to all that data, but we are working to have more access, and we are very interested in finding more ways of telling the story about how we serve all of American agriculture, including those that are going in the direction that you're talking about.

對於我們來說，獲取我們投資組合中所有貸款的數據是一個挑戰，因為二級市場參與者，我們自然無法訪問所有這些數據，但我們正在努力獲得更多訪問權限，我們非常有興趣找到更多講述我們如何為所有美國農業服務的故事的方式，包括那些正在朝著你所說的方向發展的農業。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Brad Nordholm for any closing remarks.

女士們，先生們，我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回 Brad Nordholm 以聽取任何閉幕詞。

Well, thank you, operator, and thank you all for joining us today. I hope it's been informative. As I said earlier, I'm incredibly proud of the team. And we are very, very optimistic about 2022. So get in touch with this, if you have follow-up questions, and we'll look forward to our next call with you. And what I hope will be continuing upward trajectory or Farmer Mac. Thank you.

好吧，謝謝你，運營商，感謝大家今天加入我們。我希望它提供了很多信息。正如我之前所說，我為團隊感到無比自豪。我們對 2022 年非常非常樂觀。如果您有後續問題，請聯繫我們，我們期待與您的下一次通話。我希望繼續上升軌跡或 Farmer Mac。謝謝。

This concludes today's conference call. We thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家出席今天的演講。您現在可以斷開線路，度過美好的一天。