Pat Calhoun, CEO of AgSouth Farm Credit, has announced that Special Assets Manager John Mark Counts retired on Dec. 31 after more than 33 years of service to the association.
        Counts began his career with Farm Credit in 1978 with the Federal Land Bank and Federal Intermediate Credit Bank in Columbia, S.C. He then trained as a field man with Barnwell Production Credit Association and the Federal Land Bank of Orangeburg. The following year he was hired as a loan officer in the Sylvania office and eventually became the branch manager there.
        After going through several association mergers and positions as a branch manager in Springfield, Millen, Blackshear and Statesboro, he ended up back in Sylvania in 1992, when AgSouth Farm Credit opened a new branch in the town. Counts remained there as branch manager/regional vice president until 2012, when he returned to Statesboro as special assets manager.
        "John Mark's dedication and his varied skills and knowledge will be greatly missed by the association," Calhoun said. "A well-known figure in all matters concerning agriculture during his more than 30-year career, I'm sure he'll be greatly missed by the many customers he served in the association for so many years."
        AgSouth Farm Credit provides loans for land, equipment and production agriculture; crop insurance; leasing; and home mortgages.
        The association is headquartered in Statesboro.