If you’re in Washington, DC tomorrow, you won’t want to miss the Farm Foundation’s forum on the finance and credit environment for agriculture and the food system today.

The forum, held in the Holeman Lounge at the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C., runs from 9-11 am tomorrow and feaures a community banker, a commercial lender and a Farm Credit lender who will provide their perspectives on the challenges and risks ahead in 2010. Plus, they will be joined by a professor of finance and an investment manager working in the United States, Australia and Canada:

* Joe Brasher, a community bank president for First State Bank, a $1.3 billion community bank with 26 banking offices across Tennessee.
* Jeff Conrad, president of Hancock Agricultural Investment Group, which directly manages $1.2 billion of agricultural investments in the U.S., Australia and Canada.
* Paul Ellinger, professor of finance at the University of Illinois.
* Bob Frazee, CEO of Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit, which has about $1.7 billion in agricultural loans in Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania.
* Cornelius (Corny) Gallagher, global agribusiness executive for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and a member of a national team that coordinates management of the bank’s agribusiness and food products portfolio.

This discussion is designed to be a continuation of the Farm Foundation’s November 2008 panel discussion on the impact of the that year’s financial and credit crisis on agriculture and the food industry. Panelists will get to discuss any lessons learned during the 15 months since the previous session.

Now, if you can’t jet-set off to DC at a moment’s notice, you can still listen in on what’s said. Just check out the Farm Foundation’s Web site where the audio from the forum will be posted.