Michael Firestine will be honored by the American Bankers Association (ABA) Center for Agricultural and Rural Banking with the Bruning Award for his leadership in providing credit and financial guidance to farmers, ranchers, and rural businesses.
Firsestine, who is senior vice president at Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based Fulton Bank, will be presented at the ABA National Agricultural Bankers Conference in Milwaukee on Nov. 14.
“The best feeling in the world is helping a young, beginning, start-up farmer establish himself and then five to six years later see that he’s doing really well, he’s successful, and family is prospering. That’s been the most rewarding part of my career,” Firestine said.
He’s been an agricultural banker for 39 years. He began his agricultural banking career in 1978 with Lebanon National Valley bank, which later merged with Fulton Bank.
Firestine is a past chairman of the ABA Agricultural and Rural Bankers Committee and helped establish the Pennsylvania Bankers Association’s Agricultural and Rural Issues Committee.
He is currently chairman of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Committee, commissioner for the Pennsylvania Animal Health and Diagnostic Commission, and a board member of the Pennsylvania Agriculture Land Preservation Board.
While Firestine sees challenges ahead for the agricultural sector, he is optimistic about opportunities available for young people interested in the field. To contribute to those opportunities, he played an integral role in establishing several agricultural scholarship programs in Pennsylvania, including a grant fund at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, which has awarded $1.5 million in scholarships.
“The cost of education keeps increasing, and right now agriculture is in a slump, so I want to be sure we’re doing everything we can to help young men and women get their education and come back to agriculture,” Firestine said. “All of these scholarships are designated for youth that are involved in agriculture and are designed to help them fulfill their dreams.”
In addition to agricultural lending, Firestine runs a family farm where he raises Hereford cattle and produces pumpkins and other crops.