management, showcasing her financial acumen and attention to detail. As the head of the trust department, she manages a diverse range of financial services, a role she has embraced since joining the small rural community bank 9 years ago. “For me, banking and agriculture go hand in hand,” Shelly said. “Women in agriculture and banking are not the norm and are ever-changing right now. It seems like there are more and more women in agriculture and banking now, but 20 years ago, it didn’t exist.” Even when Shelly became a high school principal, it was almost unheard of for a woman to hold that position, as most principals were men. She has always been an outgoing and outspoken woman, and she is very confident in what she does for the bank and her customers. “I have a good background with what I have done in education and what I have done on my own farm,” Shelly said. “I always can make connections and relationships with all my customers.” Shelly encourages young people, especially girls interested in agricultural lending or a banking career, to gain experience by engaging with farmers and conversing with bankers. These personal interactions and insights into the agricultural sector from a farmer’s perspective provide a valuable foundation. Turner and her team offer various agricultural products, including ag real estate, lines of credit, ag machinery and equipment, and cattle loans. Evaluating the creditworthiness of a farming operation or ag business involves a meticulous review of the customer’s financial statements, tax returns, profit and loss records, cash flows, and whether the customer has consolidated all their financial accounts with the bank. Shelly has served on the Kansas Ag Bankers Division (KAB) board for five years and the Kansas Future Farmers of America Board of Trustees for one year. When Shelly isn’t working at the bank or on the farm, she enjoys spending time with her four dogs: German Shorthaired Pointers Abby and Rosie, a German Shepherd named Jewels and a Boxer named Ziggy. An informal pose of two young boys without shoes beside their sod house near Claflin in Barton County, Kansas. A sod house was a common dwelling for pioneers on the Kansas prairie due to the lack of wood and other natural resources available sometime in the 1870s or 1880s. The Arensdorff family posed in front of their house three miles east of Elinwood, Kansas, between 1891 and 1895. Binding wheat on L.G. Brown’s farm in Russell County, Kansas, on June 29, 1912. Credit: Kansas State Historical Society. Copy and reuse restrictions apply. 21
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