Biography

Jim Farrell was appointed chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s head office Board of Directors on January 1, 2020 and has served on the head office board since 2015. He previously served as chair of the Omaha Branch Board of Directors. He is currently President of Farrell Growth Group (FGG). FGG serves agriculture in four main areas: the facilitation of two peer to peer groups of superior agribusinesses executives (AgExcellence and CoExcellence), a premier financial benchmarking program for ag retailers, business consulting and a highly regarded mergers and acquisition service.

Mr. Farrell is immediate past president and chief executive officer of Farmers National Company in Omaha, Nebraska, the nation’s largest farm- and ranch-management company. The employee-owned company manages 5,000 farms for more than 6,000 landowners and is responsible for 2 million acres of farmland in 25 states.  The company is also one of the country’s largest agriculture-related real estate brokerages, selling more than 600 farms and ranches per year.  Farmers National’s operations also include an oil- and gas-management division in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with more than 140,000 oil and gas interests under management.  The company today has over $8 billion of assets under management.

Mr. Farrell served on the Board of Directors of the Nebraska Leadership Education and Action Development Program through 2019, and he is a member of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers (ASFMRA), where he has earned the Accredited Farm Manager designation and served as chairman of the organization’s National Meeting Committee and the National Public Relations Committee. He is also a past president of the Nebraska Chapter of the ASFMRA, and a current member of the Editorial Board of AgriMarketing Magazine. He is also a member of the Iowa State University chapter, Gamma Sigma Delta Honor Society of Agriculture, the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce Agricultural Committee, and the National Agri-Marketing Association.

Mr. Farrell is a past president and chairman of the Downtown Omaha Kiwanis Club. He is also a member of the Leadership Omaha Alumni Association and is a past Boy Scout leader. He has received the Kiwanian of the Year Award and the club’s Tribute Award. Mr. Farrell was recognized by ASFMRA in 2017 with the Buck Stalcup Excellence in Education Award for his work on behalf of the organization.

Mr. Farrell holds a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University.

Learn more about Mr. Farrell in TEN Magazine.