[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 17] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 22116-22117] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]HONORING JEROLD L. HARRIS OF WICHITA, KANSAS ______ HON. JERRY MORAN of kansas in the house of representatives Wednesday, November 15, 2006 Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Jerold L. Harris of Wichita, Kansas. Jerold has served rural America for 43 years in his role with the Farm Credit System. American agriculture will miss this good friend come January when he plans to retire. Jerold grew up on a farm near Denby, South Dakota, and later attended high school in Gordon, Nebraska. After receiving a bachelor's degree in agricultural business from Colorado State University in 1963, he went to work for the Farm Credit System, where his positive leadership helped people work together. Jerold embodies a statement he often quotes ``There is no limit to progress when people work together.'' During Jerold's 43 years of service, one accomplishment truly stands out. The Western Farm Credit Bank in Sacramento, California entered into a joint management agreement with the Farm Credit Bank of Wichita in January 2002. The Board of Directors named Jerold as President and Chief Executive Officer. Under this agreement, Jerold combined the operations of these two banks while developing and implementing a strategy to merge the two banks and form a new bank, U.S. AgBank, FCB, which would be headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. The 1980s were a difficult decade for American agriculture. During part of this time Jerold was the Chief Executive Officer of the jointly managed Ninth District Federal Land Bank Association and the Ninth District Production Credit Association that served four states. Even in those difficult times, Jerold was able to bring people together, under a common objective, to produce results. During his long and distinguished career, Jerold held numerous leadership positions within the Farm Credit System. He has served as a loan officer, an appraiser, a supervisor and a manager, a follower and a leader, but always with the same dedication and achievement. Jerold has also provided distinguished service at the national level, serving 15 years as a member of the Farm Credit System Presidents Planning Committee, during three of which he served as Chairman. Jerold also served 11 years on the Board of Directors of the Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation, with three of those years as Chairman. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC) and is a member of the NCFC Executive Council. Jerold is also a familiar face here in Washington, DC. He has represented the Farm Credit System by testifying before both the [[Page 22117]] House and Senate Agriculture Committees on numerous occasions, and always demonstrated a deep understanding of the issues and provided excellent input on the decisions facing congressional committees. Jerold's honesty and integrity, keen intelligence, and an understanding of people has won him respect from his peers, workers, and the farmers and ranchers he has represented and served. His accomplishments speak volumes about his dedication to agriculture. He has worked tirelessly to improve agriculture and rural America, and his leadership will be truly missed. It is a great pleasure for me to share his impressive record of service with my colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives. ____________________