As he regulates credit unions flush with profits earned from business loans to booming industries, Entringer said he's mindful of concentration risk.

“Agriculture is a very cyclical industry, and we've been through an agricultural crisis in the late '80s and early '90s, so absolutely I worry about that,” he said. “But I think our credit unions do a decent job of underwriting, and take the appropriate mitigating steps to limit their losses.”

Erin Olstad, president/CEO of the $19 million Elm River Credit Union of Kindred, N.D., said her cooperative is among the state-chartered credit unions that were organized to make agricultural business loans. As of June 30, the NCUA reported that Elm River, located in the Eastern part of the state near Fargo, had a 95% loan-to-shares ratio. Despite some pockets of drought in her field of membership, Olstad said she's not worried this summer's dry weather will inflate her delinquency rate, which stood at 0.00% as of June 30. That's because the credit union manager reviews the institution's ag loans each year in December to ensure farmers have enough equity to cover the coming year's operating loan. One year's worth of bad weather would not be enough to wipe out the farm, she said.

Plus, crop insurance covers expenses in the event a crop fails.

“It's kind of like making a car loan and requiring insurance in case something happens,” she said. “So, they may experience a loss, or they may not make the income they expected, but [crop insurance] should cover their expenses.”

Olstad said she also has business loans that aren't agriculture related to help mitigate concentration risk. And, the credit union has developed good relationships with its members.

“A lot of it has to do with good underwriting and having a good relationship with the borrower so they want to pay you back,” she said. “We're located in two small communities, so it's not like we're in Fargo or a bigger community where you don't know everyone.”

Agriculture has also performed well in the western half of the state, according to Denton Zubke, president/CEO of the $170 million Dakota West Credit Union in Watford City, N.D. Dakota West was also chartered to make business loans and is about 85% loaned out, he said.

Zubke said he's taken some regulatory scrutiny from the NCUA over his high concentration of business loans, but he credits business lending for his 156 basis points of ROA as of June 30. The credit union's net worth of 8.16% is below the peer average of 10.24%, but its delinquent loans are 1.18% of total loans, and net charge-offs have been at or below 0.00% since March 2010, when the credit union reported 0.01%.

Most of the credit union's farmer members are very conservative, Zubke said, and that conservative management style, which includes crop diversification and expense control, has played well for them during difficult years.

Additionally, the credit union is aggressive when it comes to attracting good borrowers, competing against community banks and the farm credit service system with a combination of reasonable rates and quality member service.

“Anyone can go out and attract a bunch of borrowers; it's the quality that's important,” he said.

The credit union is also aggressive when it comes to collections, but Zubke said “if you're attracting quality borrowers, you have less of a challenge in the collections department.”

Olstad credited her 174 basis points of ROA to making timely adjustments to loan and deposit rates, and being cost-conscious when it comes to operating expenses. The credit union built a new headquarters building in 2000 but chose a manageable-sized design.

“We're not heating or cooling a huge building, and we've made it work for us,” she said.