SEC Form DEF 14A filed by Farmers National Banc Corp.

20 SOUTH BROAD STREET,

CANFIELD, OHIO 44406

March 19, 2024

To Our Shareholders:

You are cordially invited to the 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Farmers National Banc Corp. (“Farmers” or the “Company”) to be held on April 18, 2024 at 10:00 a.m., Eastern Time. We have adopted a virtual format for our Annual Meeting to provide a consistent experience to all shareholders regardless of location. We will provide a live webcast of the Annual Meeting at https://meetnow.global/MARAVQT, where you will be able to vote electronically and submit questions during the meeting.

During the Annual Meeting, you will be asked to: (i) elect four Class II directors whose terms will expire at the Annual Meeting in 2027; (ii) consider and vote upon a non-binding advisory resolution to approve the compensation of the Company’s named executive officers; and (iii) consider and vote upon a proposal to ratify the Audit Committee’s appointment of Crowe LLP as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024.

Your vote on these matters is important, regardless of the number of shares you own, and all shareholders are encouraged to participate in the live webcast of the Annual Meeting. However, it is important that your shares be represented regardless of whether you plan to participate in the live webcast of the Annual Meeting. In order to ensure that your shares are represented, I urge you to execute and return the enclosed proxy, or that you submit your proxy by telephone or Internet promptly.

Sincerely,

KEVIN J. HELMICK

President and Chief Executive Officer

FARMERS NATIONAL BANC CORP.

20 SOUTH BROAD STREET

CANFIELD, OHIO 44406

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS

To Be Held Thursday, April 18, 2024

The Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Farmers National Banc Corp. (“Farmers” or the “Company”) will be held on April 18, 2024 at 10:00 a.m., Eastern Time. We have adopted a virtual format for our Annual Meeting to provide a consistent experience to all shareholders regardless of location. We will provide a live webcast of the Annual Meeting at https://meetnow.global/MARAVQT, where you will be able to vote electronically and submit questions during the meeting.

The 2024 Annual Meeting will be held for the following purposes:

The Board of Directors has fixed the close of business on March 5, 2024 as the record date for the determination of shareholders entitled to notice of, and to vote during, the Annual Meeting. Your Board of Directors recommends that you vote “FOR” the election of each of the director nominees included in Proposal Number 1 and “FOR” each of Proposal Numbers 2 and 3.

By Order of the Board of Directors,

TROY ADAIR

Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary

Canfield, Ohio

March 19, 2024

FARMERS NATIONAL BANC CORP.

PROXY STATEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GENERAL INFORMATION

This proxy statement is furnished in connection with the solicitation by the Board of Directors of Farmers National Banc Corp., an Ohio corporation (“Farmers” or the “Company”), of the accompanying proxy to be voted during the 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the “Annual Meeting”), and during any adjournment or postponement thereof. The Annual Meeting will be held on April 18, 2024 at 10:00 a.m., Eastern Time. We have adopted a virtual format for our Annual Meeting to provide a consistent experience to all shareholders regardless of location. We will provide a live webcast of the Annual Meeting at https://meetnow.global/MARAVQT, where you will be able to vote electronically and submit questions during the meeting. The mailing address of the principal executive offices of Farmers is 20 South Broad Street, Canfield, Ohio 44406; telephone number (330) 533-3341. This proxy statement, together with the related proxy and Farmers’ 2023 Annual Report to Shareholders (the “Annual Report”), are being mailed to the shareholders of the Company on or about March 19, 2024. This Proxy Statement contains important information for you to consider when deciding how to vote. Please read this information carefully.

Important notice regarding the availability of proxy materials for the Annual Meeting to be held on Thursday, April 18, 2024: This proxy statement, the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and the Annual Report to Shareholders are available at www.edocumentview.com/FMNB.

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE ANNUAL MEETING AND VOTING

When and Where will the Annual Meeting be Held?

The Annual Meeting will be held on Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 10:00 a.m., Eastern Time. We have adopted a virtual format for our Annual Meeting to provide a consistent experience to all shareholders regardless of location. We will provide a live webcast of the Annual Meeting at https://meetnow.global/MARAVQT, where you will be able to vote electronically and submit questions during the meeting. To obtain more information regarding how to participate in the live webcast of the Annual Meeting, please contact Shareholder Relations at (330) 533-5127.

Why did I Receive these Proxy Materials?

You have received these proxy materials because the Board of Directors is soliciting a proxy to vote your shares during the Annual Meeting. This proxy statement contains information that Farmers is required to provide to you under the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) and is intended to assist you in voting your shares.

Who may Vote during the Annual Meeting?

The Board of Directors has set March 5, 2024 as the “record date” for the Annual Meeting. This means that only shareholders of record at the close of business on that date are entitled to notice of, and to vote during, the Annual Meeting or any adjournment(s) or postponement(s) thereof. At the close of business on March 5, 2024, 37,545,864 Common Shares were issued and outstanding. Each Common Share entitles the holder to one vote on each item to be voted upon during the Annual Meeting and there is no cumulative voting.

What is the Difference between Holding Shares as a “Shareholder of Record” and as a “Beneficial Owner”?

If your Farmers’ shares are registered directly in your name, you are considered the “shareholder of record” of those shares. Farmers has sent these proxy materials directly to all “shareholders of record.” Alternatively, if your Farmers’ shares are held in an account at a brokerage firm, bank, broker-dealer or other similar organization, which is sometimes called “street name,” then you are the “beneficial owner” of those shares, and these proxy materials were forwarded to you by that organization. The organization holding your shares is the shareholder of record for purposes of voting the shares during the Annual Meeting. As the beneficial owner, you have the right to direct that organization how to vote the Common Shares held in your account by following the voting instructions the organization provides to you.

How do I Vote?

Shareholders of record may vote on matters that are properly presented during the Annual Meeting in four ways:

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For the Annual Meeting, Farmers is offering shareholders of record the opportunity to vote their Common Shares electronically through the Internet or by telephone by following the procedures described on the enclosed proxy instead of submitting the enclosed proxy by mail. In order to vote via the Internet or by telephone, please have the enclosed proxy in hand, and go to the website listed on the proxy or call the number and follow the instructions. The Internet and telephone voting procedures are designed to authenticate shareholder identities, to allow shareholders to give their voting instructions, and to confirm that shareholder instructions have been recorded properly. Shareholders voting through the Internet should understand that they may bear certain costs associated with Internet access, such as usage charges from their Internet service providers.

If you hold your Common Shares in street name, you should follow the voting instructions provided to you by the organization that holds your Common Shares. If you plan to participate in the live webcast of the Annual Meeting, you will have the opportunity to vote electronically during the meeting. If you hold your Common Shares in street name and plan to attend the live webcast of the Annual Meeting, you must register in advance. If your Common Shares are held in the name of your broker, bank or other shareholder of record, you must have a legal proxy from the shareholder of record indicating that you were the beneficial owner of the shares on March 5, 2024 in order to attend and vote during the live webcast of the Annual Meeting. Requests for registration must be sent to our transfer agent, Computershare, via email at [email protected] or by mail at Computershare, Farmers National Banc. Corp Legal Proxy, P.O. Box 43001, Providence, RI 02940-3001 and include proof of your legal proxy issued by your broker, bank or other shareholder of record. Requests for registration must be labeled as “Legal Proxy” and must be received by Computershare no later than 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time, on April 15, 2024.

How will My Shares be Voted?

If you vote by mail, through the Internet, or by telephone, your Common Shares will be voted as you direct. If you submit a valid proxy prior to the Annual Meeting, but do not complete the voting instructions, your Common Shares will be voted:

Can Other Matters be Decided during the Annual Meeting?

On the date that this proxy statement was printed, Farmers was not aware of any matters to be raised during the Annual Meeting other than those included in this proxy statement. If you submit a valid proxy and other matters are properly presented for consideration during the Annual Meeting, then the individuals appointed as proxies will have the discretion to vote on those matters for you.

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May I Revoke or Change My Vote?

Yes, proxies may be revoked at any time before a vote is taken or the authority granted is otherwise exercised. Revocation may be accomplished by:

If your Common Shares are held in street name and you wish to revoke your proxy, you should follow the instructions provided to you by the record holder of your shares. If you wish to revoke your proxy during the live webcast of the Annual Meeting, you must have a legal proxy from the shareholder of record indicating that you were the beneficial owner of the Common Shares on March 5, 2024. Participating in the live webcast of the Annual Meeting will not, by itself, revoke your proxy.

Who Pays the Cost of Proxy Solicitation?

The accompanying proxy is solicited by and on behalf of the Board of Directors, whose notice of meeting is attached to this proxy statement, and the entire cost of such solicitation will be borne by Farmers. In addition to the use of the mail, proxies may be solicited by personal interview, telephone, facsimile and electronic mail by directors, officers and employees of Farmers. Arrangements will be made with brokerage houses and other custodians, nominees and fiduciaries for the forwarding of solicitation material to the beneficial owners of Common Shares held of record by such persons, and Farmers will reimburse them for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them in connection therewith.

How Many Common Shares Must be Represented at the Annual Meeting in Order to Constitute a Quorum?

The shareholders present in person (via the live webcast) or by proxy at the Annual Meeting representing not less than one-third of Farmers’ outstanding Common Shares shall constitute a quorum for the Annual Meeting. Consequently, at least 12,515,288 Common Shares must be represented at the Annual Meeting in person (via the live webcast) or by proxy in order to constitute a quorum. Abstentions and “broker non-votes” are counted as present and entitled to vote for purposes of determining a quorum. Street name holders generally cannot vote their Common Shares directly and must instead instruct the broker, bank or other shareholder of record how to vote their Common Shares using the voting instructions provided by it. If a street name holder does not provide timely instructions, the broker or other nominee may have the authority to vote on some proposals but not others. If a broker or other nominee votes on one proposal, but does not vote on another proposal because the nominee does not have discretionary voting power and has not received instructions from the beneficial owner, this results in a broker non-vote. Broker non-votes on a matter are counted as present for purposes of establishing a quorum for the meeting, but are not considered entitled to vote on that particular matter.

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What are the Voting Requirements to Elect the Directors and to Approve the Other Proposals Discussed in this Proxy Statement?

The vote required to approve each of the proposals that are scheduled to be presented during the Annual Meeting is as follows:

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Under Ohio law, the Articles, and Farmers’ Regulations, the nominees for election as directors who receive the greatest number of votes cast will be elected directors. Each shareholder will be entitled to cast one vote for each Common Share owned, and shareholders may not cumulate votes in the election of directors. Common Shares as to which the authority to vote is withheld are not counted toward the election of directors. However, the Board of Directors has adopted a “Majority Vote Withheld Policy” in the event that “Withhold Authority” has been indicated by a majority of the votes cast with respect to any director in an uncontested election. A summary of this policy is set forth under the caption “CORPORATE GOVERNANCE — Policies of the Board of Directors” in this proxy statement.

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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

The Board of Directors — Independence

The Board of Directors is currently comprised of fourteen members, four of whom are nominees for re-election during the Annual Meeting. Additional information regarding the director nominees is set forth in “Proposal One — Election of Directors” in this proxy statement. The Board of Directors affirmatively determined that each of the directors listed below is an “independent director” under the rules of The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (“NASDAQ”):

The only directors (or director nominees) of Farmers who have been determined by the Board of Directors not to be independent are Kevin J. Helmick, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, and Carl D. Culp, the Company’s former Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, who retired on August 15, 2021. Neither Mr. Helmick nor Mr. Culp served on any of the Audit, Compensation, or Corporate Governance and Nominating Committees of the Board of Directors in 2023. Mr. Culp served on the Board Enterprise Risk Management Committee in 2023.

During 2023, certain current directors and executive officers of Farmers, and their associates, were customers of, and had banking transactions with, various subsidiaries of the Company, including Farmers’ subsidiary bank, The Farmers National Bank of Canfield (“Farmers Bank”). All relationships between any director or executive officer and Farmers or any of its subsidiaries were conducted in the ordinary course of business. Farmers encourages its directors and executive officers to maintain these relationships and expects that these transactions will continue in the future. All loans and loan commitments included in such transactions were made and will be made: (i) in the ordinary course of business; (ii) on substantially the same terms, including interest rates and collateral, as those prevailing at the time for comparable loans with persons not related to Farmers; and (iii) without more than the normal risk of collectability or present other unfavorable features. After reviewing the details of these relationships, the Board of Directors has determined that such relationships do not interfere with the exercise of any director’s independent judgment in carrying out his or her responsibilities.

In assessing the independence of directors, the Board of Directors also considers the business relationships between Farmers and its directors or their affiliated businesses other than ordinary banking relationships, if any. Where such business relationships other than ordinary banking relationships exist, the Board of Directors evaluates the scope and nature of each business relationship. There were no such business relationships between Farmers and its directors or the directors’ affiliated companies that were so considered by the Board of Directors in 2023.

Certain Relationships and Related Transactions

Farmers’ Audit Committee is responsible for reviewing and approving, pursuant to the Company’s written policy, all related party transactions that are material to the Company’s consolidated financial statements or otherwise require disclosure under Item 404 of

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Regulation S-K. Extensions of credit by Farmers or any of its subsidiaries to “insiders” of the Company or its subsidiaries are also regulated by Regulation O adopted under the Federal Reserve Act and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act. It is Farmers’ policy that any transactions with persons whom Regulation O defines as “insiders” (i.e., executive officers, directors, principal shareholders and their related interests) are engaged in the same manner as transactions conducted with all members of the public. Transactions are reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors either on a case-by-case basis (such as loans made by Farmers Bank to an insider) or, in the case of an ongoing relationship, at the outset of the relationship with periodic review. All loans outstanding to insiders of Farmers at any time since January 1, 2023: (i) were made in the ordinary course of business; (ii) were made on substantially the same terms, including interest rates and collateral, as those prevailing at the time for comparable loans with persons not related to the Company; and (iii) did not involve more than the normal risk of collectability or present other unfavorable features.

Attendance at Meetings

The Board of Directors held 11 meetings during 2023. Each incumbent director attended at least 75% of the total of all meetings of the Board of Directors and any committees thereof on which such director served during the year. In accordance with Farmers’ Corporate Governance Guidelines (the “Corporate Governance Guidelines”), directors are expected to attend all meetings of the Board of Directors, although it is understood that, on occasion, a director may not be able to attend a meeting. Directors are encouraged to participate in the live webcast of the Annual Meeting. All of the current members of the Board of Directors attended virtually the 2023 Annual Meeting held on April 20, 2023, except for Mr. Culp and Ms. Richardson, each of whom were first appointed to the Board of Directors effective September 1, 2023.

Board Leadership Structure and Role in Risk Oversight

Terry A. Moore is the current non-executive Chairman appointed by the Board of Directors. As Chairman, Mr. Moore presides over meetings of the Board of Directors, serves as the primary liaison between the Board of Directors and executive management of Farmers, consults with and advises the Board of Directors and its committees on certain business and affairs of Farmers, and performs other responsibilities as may be assigned by the Board of Directors from time to time. Mr. Moore also serves as the Chair of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors. Kevin J. Helmick, as President and Chief Executive Officer, is responsible both for overseeing Farmers’ day-to-day operations and for establishing and leading the execution of the Company’s long-term strategic objectives, subject to the overall direction and supervision of the Board of Directors and its committees. Farmers does not have a formal policy with respect to separation of the offices of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, as the Board of Directors believes that flexibility in appointing the Chairman of the Board allows the Board of Directors to make a determination as to such position from time to time and in a manner that it believes is in the best interest of Farmers and its shareholders. The Board of Directors believes, however, that the current structure of appointing an independent non-executive Chairman best serves Farmers because it allows Mr. Helmick to focus on managing the Company’s day-to-day business while allowing an independent director to lead the Board of Directors in its primary role of review and oversight of management. The Board of Directors also believes that its leadership structure has created an environment of open, efficient communication between the Board of Directors and management, enabling the Board of Directors to maintain an active, informed role in risk management by being able to monitor and manage those matters that may present significant risks to Farmers.

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The role of the Board of Directors in Farmers’ risk management process includes reviewing regular reports from senior management on areas of material risk to the Company, including operational, financial, legal, regulatory and strategic risks. The Board of Directors reviews these reports to enable it to understand and assess Farmers’ risk assessment, risk management and risk mitigation strategies. While the Board of Directors has the ultimate oversight responsibility for the risk management process, various committees of both management and the Board of Directors also have responsibility for risk management. In accordance with the Board Enterprise Risk Management Committee Charter, the Board Enterprise Risk Management Committee assists the Board of Directors in its oversight of management’s implementation and enforcement of Farmers’ policies, procedures and practices relating to: (i) the management of enterprise-wide risk; (ii) compliance with applicable laws and regulations and the maintenance of appropriate regulatory and economic capital and reserve levels; and (iii) the Company’s long-term strategic plans and initiatives. In addition, the Audit Committee assists the Board of Directors in overseeing and monitoring management’s conduct of Farmers’ financial reporting process and system of internal accounting and financial controls. Finally, the Compensation Committee oversees the management of risks relating to executive and non-executive compensation plans and arrangements. While each committee oversees certain risks and the management of such risks, the entire Board is regularly informed of such risks through committee reports.

Committees of the Board of Directors

The Board of Directors conducts its business through meetings of the Board and the following committees: (i) Audit Committee; (ii) Compensation Committee; (iii) Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee; (iv) Board Enterprise Risk Management Committee; and (v) Executive Committee. Each committee other than the Executive Committee meets on a regular basis and each committee reports their deliberations and actions to the full Board of Directors. Each of the committees has the authority to engage outside experts, advisors and counsel to the extent it considers appropriate to assist the committee in its work.

The current composition of our standing committees is as follows:

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Audit Committee

The Audit Committee assists the Board of Directors in fulfilling its responsibility to oversee the accounting and financial reporting process of the Company. The Audit Committee also reviews, evaluates and approves all related party transactions. The Audit Committee members currently are Gregory C. Bestic (Chair), Neil J. Kaback, Ralph D. Macali, Gina A. Richardson, Richard B. Thompson and Nicholas D. Varischetti. The Board of Directors has determined that Mr. Bestic and Mr. Kaback each qualify as an “audit committee financial expert” in connection with their service on the Audit Committee. Specifically, the Board of Directors has determined that Mr. Bestic and Mr. Kaback each have all of the attributes listed in the definition of an “audit committee financial expert” set forth in the Instruction to Item 407(d)(5)(i) of Regulation S-K and in the NASDAQ listing requirements. Mr. Bestic acquired these attributes through education and experience as a certified public accountant and, specifically, as a Principal in Schroedel, Scullin & Bestic, LLC, a certified public accounting and strategic advisory firm located in Canfield, Ohio. Mr. Kaback acquired these attributes through education and experience as a certified public accountant and, specifically, as a Partner at Cohen & Company, in their Youngstown, Ohio office. All of the Audit Committee members are considered independent for purposes of NASDAQ listing requirements. The Audit Committee operates under a written charter, which is reviewed annually by the Audit Committee and the Board of Directors to reflect current Commission and NASDAQ rules, requirements and best corporate practices. A copy of the current Audit Committee Charter is available on Farmers’ website at www.farmersbankgroup.com. The Audit Committee held 5 meetings during 2023.

Compensation Committee

The Compensation Committee establishes policies and levels of reasonable compensation for the executive officers of the Company and generally administers the Company’s incentive compensation programs. The Compensation Committee members currently are Frank J. Monaco (Chair), Gregory C. Bestic, Anne Frederick Crawford, Terry A. Moore and David Z. Paull. During 2023, Nicholas D. Varischetti also served on the Compensation Committee. All members of the Compensation Committee are considered independent for purposes of NASDAQ listing requirements. The Compensation Committee operates under a written charter, which is reviewed annually by the Compensation Committee and the Board of Directors to reflect current Commission and NASDAQ rules, requirements and best corporate practices. A copy of the current Compensation Committee Charter is available on Farmers’ website at www.farmersbankgroup.com. The Compensation Committee held 5 meetings during 2023.

Pursuant to the terms of its charter, the Compensation Committee may, in its discretion, delegate all or a portion of its duties and responsibilities to a subcommittee of the Compensation Committee. In addition, the Compensation Committee may invite such members of management to its meetings, as it may deem desirable or appropriate, consistent with the maintenance of the confidentiality of compensation discussions. In addition, the Compensation Committee may delegate to the Chief Executive Officer, or another executive designee, the authority to approve salary and other compensation for employees below the executive officer level in accordance with overall pools, policy guidelines and limits approved by the Committee. Pursuant to its charter, the Compensation Committee has the authority to select, retain, terminate and approve the fees and other retention terms of special counsel or other experts or consultants, as it deems appropriate, without seeking approval of the Board of Directors or management. Additional information regarding the Compensation Committee’s role is set forth in the “COMPENSATION DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS” section of this proxy statement.

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Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee

The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee’s purpose is to: (i) identify and recommend individuals to the Board of Directors for nomination as members of the Board of Directors and its committees; (ii) promote effective corporate governance, including developing and recommending to the Board of Directors a set of corporate governance principles applicable to the Company; and (iii) lead the Board of Directors in its annual review of the Board’s performance and the performance of each of its committees. The members of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee currently are Anne Frederick Crawford (Chair), Ralph D. Macali, Terry A. Moore, Edward W. Muransky, Andre Thornton, Gina A. Richardson and Nicholas D. Varischetti. All members of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee are independent for purposes of NASDAQ listing requirements. The Board of Directors has adopted a written charter for the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and the Corporate Governance Guidelines, both of which are reviewed annually by the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and the Board of Directors to reflect current Commission and NASDAQ rules, requirements and best corporate practices. Copies of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee Charter and the Corporate Governance Guidelines are available on Farmers’ website at www.farmersbankgroup.com. The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee held 5 meetings during 2023.

Board Enterprise Risk Management Committee

The Board Enterprise Risk Management Committee oversees management’s implementation and enforcement of the Company’s policies, procedures and practices relating to the management of enterprise-wide risk. The members of the Board Enterprise Risk Management Committee currently are Edward W. Muransky (Chair), Carl D. Culp, Neil J. Kaback, Frank J. Monaco, David Z. Paull, Richard B. Thompson, and Andre Thornton. The Board Enterprise Risk Management Committee operates under a written charter, which is reviewed annually by the Board Enterprise Risk Management Committee and the Board of Directors. A copy of the current Board Enterprise Risk Management Committee Charter is available on Farmers’ website at www.farmersbankgroup.com. The Board Enterprise Risk Management Committee meets on a regular basis with Mr. Helmick and other executive officers of Farmers. The Board Enterprise Risk Management Committee held 4 meetings during 2023. Additional information regarding the Board Enterprise Risk Management Committee’s role is set forth in the “COMPENSATION DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS – Oversight and Risk Management of Compensation Programs” section of this proxy statement.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is authorized to act on behalf of the Board of Directors on all corporate actions for which applicable law does not require participation by the full Board. All actions taken by the Executive Committee must be reported at the next meeting of the Board of Directors. The current members of the Executive Committee are Terry A. Moore (Chair), Kevin J. Helmick, Edward W. Muransky, and David Z. Paull. The Executive Committee operates under a written charter, which is reviewed annually by the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors. A copy of the current Executive Committee Charter is available on Farmers’ website at www.farmersbankgroup.com. The Executive Committee held 6 meetings in 2023.

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Policies of the Board of Directors

Majority Withheld Vote

The Board of Directors recognizes that, pursuant to Section 1701.55(B) of the Ohio Revised Code, director nominees who receive the greatest number of shareholder votes are automatically elected to the Board of Directors, regardless of whether the votes in favor of such nominees constitute a majority of the voting power of Farmers, because our Articles do not include alternative election standards. Nevertheless, the Board of Directors has adopted a policy that, in an uncontested election, any director nominee who receives a greater number of votes “withheld” from his or her election than votes “for” such election (a “Majority Withheld Vote”), should promptly tender his or her resignation to the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Thereafter, the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee will consider the tendered resignation and recommend to the Board of Directors whether to accept or reject it. In considering whether to recommend to the Board of Directors to accept or reject the tendered resignation, the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee will consider all information and factors deemed relevant, including, without limitation: (i) the reasons (if any) given by shareholders as to why they withheld their votes, and (ii) the qualifications and performance of the tendering director(s) and his or her contributions to the Board of Directors and Farmers. The Board of Directors will act on any tendered resignation within 90 days following certification of the shareholder vote. Following the Board of Directors’ determination, Farmers will promptly disclose the Board’s decision whether to accept or reject the director’s resignation offer (and, if applicable, the reasons for rejecting the resignation offer) in a press release and in a Current Report on Form 8-K. Any director who tenders his or her resignation pursuant to this provision shall not participate in the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee’s consideration or action by the Board of Directors regarding whether to accept the resignation offer. If a majority of the Board of Directors receives a Majority Withheld Vote at the same election, then the independent directors who did not receive a Majority Withheld Vote will consider the resignation offers and whether to accept or reject them.

Director Nominations

The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee will consider candidates for director, including those recommended by a shareholder who submits the person’s name and qualifications in writing. Although the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee has not specified minimum qualifications for a recommended candidate, and does not consider shareholder recommended candidates differently from other candidates, the Committee considers the fit of an individual’s skills with those of other directors and potential directors in building a Board that is effective and responsive to the needs of the Company and its shareholders. The following attributes are considered important to such consideration, but all may not necessarily be possessed by any one director candidate:

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While the Board of Directors does not have a formal diversity policy, diversity of viewpoints, background, experience and other demographics are criterion on which the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee bases its evaluation of potential candidates for director positions. When identifying first-time candidates or nominees for director, or in evaluating individuals recommended by shareholders, the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee will consider diversity, the current composition of the Board of Directors in light of the diverse communities and geographies Farmers serves, and the interplay of the candidate’s or nominee’s experience, education, skills, background, gender, race, ethnicity and other qualities and attributes with those of the other Board members. The inclusion of diversity in the listed criteria reflects the Board of Directors’ belief that diversity is an important component of an effective Board and the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee evaluates each potential director candidate on their specific skills, expertise and background, as well as traditional diversity concepts.

In addition to recommendations presented by shareholders, the Board of Directors maintains a current list of potential director candidates that fit the characteristics and qualifications of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, which it considers from time to time to fill director vacancies or for director nominations. The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee makes its recommendation regarding nominations to the Board of Directors, and nominees are selected by the Board of Directors.

Board Diversity Matrix

In 2022, the NASDAQ amended its listing rules to require diverse board composition and disclosure of specified diversity metrics, subject to certain exceptions and transition periods. In accordance with NASDAQ rules, the table below provides the composition of our Board of Directors based on voluntary self-identification of gender identity and other demographics. Each of the categories listed in the below table has the meaning as it is used in the NASDAQ rules and related guidance and instructions.

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Code of Regulations

Under the Regulations, a shareholder entitled to vote for the election of directors who intends to nominate a director for election must deliver written notice to the Secretary of Farmers no later than 90 days and no earlier than 120 days in advance of such meeting; provided, however, that if less than 90 days’ notice or prior disclosure of the date of the meeting is given or made to shareholders, written notice to the Secretary of the Company must be delivered or mailed not later than the close of business on the seventh day following the date on which notice of such meeting is first given or made to shareholders. The Board of Directors has adopted a policy that annual meetings of shareholders will be held on the third Thursday of April of each year unless and until publicly announced otherwise, consistent with our general past practice and the Regulations. Accordingly, for purposes of the 2024 Annual Meeting intended to be held on April 17, 2025, a nomination of a director for election must be received by Farmers’ Secretary no earlier than December 18, 2024 and not later than January 17, 2025.

Corporate Governance Guidelines

The Corporate Governance Guidelines also formalize certain aspects of Farmers’ shareholder nomination process. Pursuant to the Regulations and/or the Corporate Governance Guidelines, each shareholder notice must include the following information regarding a director candidate:

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In addition, the shareholder notice must also include the following information regarding the shareholder making the nomination:

In the case of any investment fund or similar organization that is a nominating shareholder, these shareholder disclosure obligations shall also apply to the principal advisor to the fund. Also, if the shareholder is other than an individual, these disclosure requirements apply to the shareholder’s principal shareholders, executive officers and other controlling parties.

During the course of any candidate’s consideration, the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee may request additional information through written director questionnaires and further communications to assess whether the candidate satisfies, in the view of the committee, requirements of the Company’s Corporate Governance Guidelines, Director Code of Ethics, and other policies applicable to members of the Board of Directors and its committees.

If a nominating shareholder or director candidate believes that information supplied in response to any of the above inquiries is confidential, the shareholder or nominee may

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request confidential treatment for such information. In such event, the information shall be maintained on a confidential basis unless the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee is advised by counsel that disclosure is appropriate in connection with the solicitation of proxies relating to the director candidate.

In the event that it is subsequently determined that any of the information provided by the candidate or nominating shareholder is materially inaccurate, a director candidate who provided the materially inaccurate information or whose nominating shareholder provided the materially inaccurate information shall be required to resign from the Board of Directors, and, in the event of a refusal to resign, such a determination shall constitute grounds for removal from the Board of Directors, unless it is determined by the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee that the inaccuracy was inadvertent.

Shareholder Proposals for 2025 Annual Meeting

Proposals by shareholders intended to be presented during the 2025 Annual Meeting must be received by the Secretary of Farmers no later than November 16, 2024, to be eligible for inclusion in Farmers’ proxy, notice of meeting, and proxy statement relating to its 2025 Annual Meeting. Farmers will not be required to include in its proxy, notice of meeting, or proxy statement, a shareholder proposal that is received after that date or that otherwise fails to meet the requirements for shareholder proposals established by the applicable Commission rules.

If a shareholder intends to submit a proposal during the 2025 Annual Meeting that is not eligible for inclusion in the proxy materials relating to the meeting, and the shareholder fails to give the Company notice in accordance with the requirements set forth in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), by January 30, 2025, then the proxy holders will be allowed to use their discretionary authority with respect to such proposal if the proposal is properly raised during the 2025 Annual Meeting. The submission of such a notice does not ensure that a proposal can be raised during the 2025 Annual Meeting.

In each case written notice must be given to Farmers, addressed to its Corporate Secretary, at the following address: 20 South Broad Street, Canfield, Ohio 44406.

Shareholder Communications with Directors

All written communications addressed to an individual director at Farmers’ address or to one of the offices of a subsidiary of the Company, except those clearly of a marketing nature, will be forwarded directly to the director. All written communications addressed to the Board of Directors at Farmers’ address or to one of the offices of a subsidiary of the Company will be presented to the full Board of Directors at a meeting of the Board of Directors.

Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance

Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires Farmers’ directors, officers and persons who own beneficially more than 10% of its Common Shares (“Section 16 Filers”) to file reports of ownership and transactions in the Common Shares with the Commission and to furnish the Company with copies of all such forms filed. Based solely on the review of copies of reports furnished to us or written representations that no reports were required, we believe that all Section 16(a) filing requirements were met in the last fiscal year by our Section 16 Filers.

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ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE PRACTICES

The following sections describe Farmers’ efforts and commitment to promote environmental sustainability, social responsibility and sound corporate governance.

Farmers Diversity & Inclusion Statement

Farmers Bank is not merely a bank. Farmers Bank is a Community Bank. We embrace a business model reflective of the human diversity, values and strengths of the local communities we serve.

As our communities grow in diversity, Farmers is growing its capacity as a corporate citizen promoting and honoring diversity and inclusion among our stakeholders—shareholders, employees, customers, vendors and communities.

Our commitment is reflected in our equitable hiring and loan-making policies, our vendor selection, and our enlightened and substantial charitable giving program.

Promoting diversity is both the morally correct and intelligent thing to do, because our stakeholders stand stronger together when differences are respected, valued and celebrated.

Environmental

Farmers has continued to take steps that reduce our carbon footprint across all aspects of our operations and service delivery channels. In the last decade Farmers has expanded our technology to significantly reduce paper usage/waste by introducing mobile banking, e-signatures, and electronic documents for loan applications, account openings, paperless statements as well as many of our internal communications/documentation. In the last three years Farmers has transitioned 90% of its previously all-paper HR processes (applications, employee records, performance reviews) to digital records eliminating the need for hardcopy employee files. Farmers has also increased its use of digital media and video conferencing to reduce employee travel between locations and the needless printing of notes.

Social Responsibility

Community

Corporate Giving

Farmers, through its subsidiaries, has always been a strong supporter of the communities in which we work and live. In 2023, Farmers donated more than $700,000 in sponsorships and donations to a wide range of non-profits and community organizations throughout its footprint.

Employee Giving

Additionally, our employees gave generously of their time and money working on/at community service projects throughout the year and donating to local charities as well as national organizations such as United Way, which received $54,000 alone in employee pledges for 2023, a 5% increase over 2022.

Employees are also invited to dress casually on selected Fridays by making a donation to a pre-selected organization. In 2023, more than $3,500 was raised for various organizations through the casual day program.

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Volunteerism

In addition to financial support, employees are encouraged to engage with local non-profits as volunteers and board members. In 2023, Farmers employees contributed over 4,000 hours in volunteer service hours to community non-profit organizations.

Farmers Charitable Foundation

Farmers’ desire to impact communities in a meaningful way led to the founding of the Farmers Charitable Foundation (the “Foundation”) in 2019. As part of Farmers long-term commitment to community improvement, the mission and purpose of the Foundation is to make grants and other distributions to facilitate, support and increase charitable activities in the following areas: Health and Human Services; Children, Youth and Families; Social Welfare; Education; Scientific Research; Culture, Arts and Humanities; Religion; Civic and Community Affairs; Environment; and other charitable activities.

Associates

Products and processes all have their place in operating a successful business. But it is people that truly drive high performance.

Therefore, Farmers is committed to supporting a high performing, collaborative culture that provides the foundation to attract and retain the best associates in banking. By investing in our team, we actually invest in our financial future. They are intertwined.

In 2023, Farmers celebrated the milestone anniversaries (every five years) of 74 employees that have been with Farmers National Bank between 5 and 45 years.

Farmers firmly believes that we have an obligation to lead the way in ensuring a comfortable and supportive culture. Our Diversity and Inclusion Statement clearly establishes our commitment to fairness and inclusivity and can be viewed at the beginning of this Environmental, Social and Governance Practices section.

Farmers is proud to employ a diverse workforce that includes an executive management team that is 20% minority and/or female. Across Farmers National Bank, Farmers Trust Company, and Farmers insurance company subsidiaries, 71% of the total workforce are female.

Employee Benefits

As detailed in the Company’s Employee Handbook, Farmers prioritizes respectful relationships among all employees. The Employee Handbook also outlines the following programs and processes: Equal Opportunity Employment Policy; Americans with Disabilities Act; Problem Resolution Guidelines/Open Door Policy; Code of Business Conduct and Ethics; Workplace Harassment; Employee Safety; and, Bank Benefits provided to Employees (discussed in detail below).

We offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes:

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Employee Wellness

Additional benefits to Farmers Bank employees include a wellness program (“Rally Wellness Program”) for all employees with incentives for qualified participants in our healthcare plans and an Employee Assistance Program (“EAP”).

Farmers is proud to offer associates with continuing education opportunities. These include webinars and courses presented by various associations such as the Ohio Banker’s League, Independent Community Bankers of America, Community Bankers Association of Ohio, and the American Bankers Association, to name a few. Associates are also offered opportunities through full-paid tuition and expense reimbursement to programs such as The Graduate School of Banking, Ohio Bankers League Bank Management School, Pennsylvania Banking School and other world-class programs, conferences and seminars.

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Best Place to Work

Farmers is committed to supporting a high performing, collaborative culture that provides the foundation to attract and retain the best associates in banking. Three times in the past five years, most recently in 2022, Farmers was named as one of the Best Employers in Ohio by Crain’s Cleveland Business. To engage employees and provide support and recognition, Farmers has developed several programs, detailed below.

This award program is designed to recognize top performing associates on a quarterly and annual basis. In addition to recognizing individual and team achievements, the President’s Club program drives overall company performance by focusing on high levels of performance in both sales and services across all lines of business. As a chance to recognize peers, Farmers associates can nominate their co-workers and departments throughout the year for a chance to recognize at the annual awards dinner as the top support individual or support department.

The “Farmers’ Way” is to know what we do, how we do it and why we do it, why we get up in the morning, why we seek to get better every day, why we believe in winning. Because we are a relationship-driven organization, we view winning differently than other banks. We are in it to create “Win-Wins” for our Bank, customers, communities and colleagues.

At Farmers, we never win alone. We believe that the wisest decisions are made – and financial strength is built – through strong relationships.

Everything we do the Farmers Way ultimately creates wins as we raise the standard of living and the quality of life in our communities.

Our reason why is to PRODUCE WINS every day as we create thriving local families, businesses and organizations in every community that we serve and provide capital.

Clients

Farmers’ clients are the heartbeat of the organization.

The retail sales force is trained to provide “Legendary Service” through a formalized training program that emphasizes the customer experience. We believe that friendly, responsive, and consultative service is the niche that sets Farmers apart from competitors. We achieve this by having thoughtful conversations and utilizing active listening skills to build meaningful, long-lasting client relationships. Pursuant to Farmers commitment to responsible selling, a Retail Playbook was developed to assure ethical and consultative sales practices are followed.

Products

Loan and deposit products have been developed to aid customers that fall within the low-to-moderate income range.

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Customer Support Center

Our commitment to our clients is demonstrated by Farmers’ Customer Support Center (“CSC”) staff. In 2023, the CSC received over 185,000 customer calls, assisting clients through merger transitions, debit card transitions, online banking inquiries and other customer concerns. The CSC offers extended hours so customers can still access banking support even when the branches are closed.

Technology and Innovation

At Farmers, we believe in a culture of innovation. This belief is reflected in enhancements that have been made to our digital offerings.

Interactive Teller Machines

The ITM/ATM features the ability to talk with a specialized video teller in real time to do banking transactions or use the machine as a typical ATM. Video tellers can assist customers with deposits, withdrawals, transfers and payments. The video tellers follow the hours of Monday - Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Farmers has a free-standing ITM/ATM in a prime traffic location in Boardman, Ohio. ITMs can also be utilized at the Canton and Canfield Lab branches and the Canfield Main location.

ITMs allow a client to speak with a teller for assistance with banking transactions without stepping foot in a branch. Because of the extended hours that the video tellers keep, clients also have access to a teller outside of normal banking hours for most branch locations.

Lab Branches

Since 2020, Farmers has constructed and opened two lab branch locations to serve as technology incubators where digital solutions are utilized to replace traditional paper processes. Currently, the two lab branch locations are in Canfield and Canton. These locations house all of the bank’s emerging technology and customer service initiatives. ITMS in the lobby and the drive-thru give customers access to virtual bankers who can assist them with their day-to-day banking needs. Staffed with bankers, customers can also open accounts at these locations. Without a traditional teller line, these offices have a more relaxed atmosphere to enhance the customer experience.

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Corporate Governance

The Company is committed to maintaining a culture of strong corporate governance through the dedicated adherence to the rules and regulations as defined by the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of Currency, the Commission, NASDAQ and all federal, state and local laws. Oversight is maintained by our Board of Directors as well as through internal controls of the Board of Directors of Farmers Bank, along with regular, consistent reviews by external auditors and regulators.

Farmers’ current Board of Directors is comprised of 14 directors, 12 of which are independent. All directors serve as members of at least one of the chartered Board committees (Audit, Compensation, Board Enterprise and Risk Management and Corporate Governance and Nominating). The charters for each committee along with committee assignment(s) and our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics can be found on our Investor Relations page of our corporate website (https://ir.farmersbankgroup.com/corporate-overview/corporate-profile/default.aspx). Additionally, Farmers Bank maintains a separate board of directors consisting of the Bank’s executive management team. Both the Farmers Board of Directors and the Farmers Bank board meet monthly to plan strategy, execute tactics and review the health and soundness of the Company.

Farmers is committed to doing the right thing for each of our four main constituencies: Shareholders, Clients, Employees and Communities. We will conduct our business in accordance with our Core Values of Integrity, Respect, Diligence, Stewardship, Commitment, Relationships and Performance.

Additional information regarding our corporate governance practices is set forth in the discussion under the “CORPORATE GOVERNANCE” section of this proxy statement.

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PROPOSAL ONE — ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

In accordance with the provisions of Farmers’ Regulations, the Board of Directors has fixed the number of directors at 13 for the upcoming Annual Meeting. The Board of Directors is currently divided into three classes, each with three-year terms. This year, the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee has recommended to the Board of Directors the re-nomination of the four Class II directors for election to serve as Class II directors for terms of three years to expire at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held in 2027. If these nominees are elected, there will be four directors serving in Class I, four directors serving in Class II, and five directors serving in Class III.

Set forth below for each of the nominees for election and for each director whose term will continue after the Annual Meeting is a brief statement, including age, principal occupation and business experience during at least the past five years. In addition, the following information provides the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee’s evaluation regarding the nomination of the director nominees and the key attributes, skills, and qualifications presented by the director nominees and the continuing directors. The following information, as of March 5, 2024, with respect to the age, principal occupation or employment, other affiliations and business experience during at least the last five years of each director and director nominee, has been furnished to Farmers by each director nominee and director. Except where indicated, no corporation is a parent, subsidiary, or other affiliate of Farmers.

Proxies cannot be voted for a greater number of persons than the number of nominees named in this proxy statement. If any nominee should become unavailable to serve for any reason, it is intended that votes will be cast for a substitute nominee designated by the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and approved by the Board of Directors. The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee has no reason to believe that any nominee named will be unable to serve if elected.

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDS A VOTE “FOR”

EACH OF THE FOLLOWING DIRECTOR NOMINEES.

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NOMINEES FOR ELECTION AS CLASS II DIRECTORS

(Term Expiring in 2027)

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CLASS III DIRECTORS CONTINUING IN OFFICE

(Term Expiring in 2025)

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CLASS I DIRECTORS CONTINUING IN OFFICE

(Term Expiring in 2026)

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Farmers also extends it deep gratitude to Anne Frederick Crawford for her dedicated service to the Company. Ms. Crawford will be retiring from her service as a director at the expiration of her current term at the 2024 Annual Meeting. She has served as a director since 2004 and most recently served as Chair of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee.

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BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF MANAGEMENT AND CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS

The following table sets forth information as of March 5, 2024, regarding beneficial ownership of the Common Shares by each director, each director nominee, each of the named executive officers of Farmers appearing in the Summary Compensation Table, all directors, named executive officers, and other executive officers of the Company as a group, and each person known to Farmers to own 5% or more of its Common Shares. In addition, unless otherwise indicated, all persons named below can be reached at Farmers National Banc Corp., 20 South Broad Street, Canfield, Ohio 44406.

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PROPOSAL TWO — ADVISORY VOTE ON EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

As required by Section 14A of the Exchange Act, Farmers is providing shareholders with the right to vote to approve, on an advisory (nonbinding) basis, the following resolution relative to the compensation of the Company’s named executive officers:

“RESOLVED, that the shareholders approve the compensation of Farmers’ named executive officers, as disclosed pursuant to the compensation disclosure rules of the Commission, including the compensation discussion and analysis, compensation tables and any related material disclosed in this proxy statement.”

As described in the “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” section of this proxy statement, the Board of Directors believes that Farmers’ compensation policies and procedures are aligned with Farmers’ short-term goals and long-term success. The Board of Directors believes that its pay-for-performance philosophy and objectively-driven incentive-based compensation opportunities are designed to both be competitive with opportunities offered by similarly situated financial institutions and to attract, retain and motivate the key executives directly responsible for our continued success. At the Company’s 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, our shareholders approved the executive compensation as disclosed in the proxy statement for that Annual Meeting, with approximately 83% of the Common Shares represented by shareholders present in person or represented by proxy voting for approval. The Compensation Committee evaluated the results of this supportive advisory vote, the analyses of Farmers’ Say on Pay proposal by institutional shareholder governance bodies, and the other factors and data discussed in the Compensation and Discussion Analysis, in determining Farmers’ executive compensation policies, making executive compensation decisions, and continuing implementation of its compensation philosophy and objectives.

Please read the “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” and “Executive Compensation and Other Information” sections of this proxy statement, including the tables and related narratives, for additional details about our executive compensation philosophy and programs, including information about the calendar year 2023 compensation of the Company’s named executive officers.

Vote Required and Board of Directors’ Recommendation

This proposal to approve the compensation of Farmers’ named executive officers requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the Common Shares present (via the live webcast), represented and entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting. Accordingly, broker non-votes will not be relevant to the outcome. Abstentions will be counted as present and entitled to vote for purposes of Proposal Two and, thus, will have the same effect as a vote against Proposal Two. Because this vote is advisory, it will not be binding on Farmers or the Board of Directors; however, the Board of Directors and the Compensation Committee will review the voting results and will take into account the outcome of the vote when considering future executive compensation arrangements.

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDS A VOTE “FOR” APPROVAL OF THE NON-BINDING ADVISORY RESOLUTION APPROVING THE

COMPENSATION OF OUR NAMED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

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COMPENSATION DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

Introduction

The following Compensation Discussion and Analysis provides information regarding Farmers’ executive compensation programs and includes the following segments: (i) Executive Summary, (ii) Compensation Committee’s Philosophy on Executive compensation, (iii) 2023 Named Executive Officers Compensation, and (iv) Other Elements of our Executive Compensation Programs. For 2023, our named executive officers were:

Executive Summary

Farmers continued to deliver strong financial performance in 2023, in terms of both past performance and relative to the performance of our peer financial institutions, and we believe that the 2023 compensation of our executive team continued to reflect their successful efforts in strong alignment with the Company’s financial performance.

2023 Financial Performance Summary

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Significant 2023 Compensation Results

Annual Incentive Compensation Results from Financial Performance

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Long-term Incentive Compensation Results from Financial Performance

Linkages between our financial performance and the resulting payouts for our named executive officers under our annual and long-term incentive programs are described more fully under the caption “2023 Named Executive Officers Compensation” in this Compensation Discussion and Analysis.

Portions of the foregoing and certain following financial presentations in this Compensation Discussion and Analysis include the use of both GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) and non-GAAP financial measures. We use these financial measures to monitor

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and evaluate our on-going performance and allocate resources, and we believe that these additional non-GAAP measures are useful to investors for financial analyses of Farmers. Reconciliations of such non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure can be found on Appendix A to this proxy statement.

Compensation Committee’s Philosophy on Executive Compensation

Our goal is to hire and retain an executive management team that we believe will create both short-term and long-term institutional success. We seek to achieve this goal by providing a fair, competitive compensation package that includes substantial performance-based, at-risk pay components that are aligned with the Company’s financial performance and strategic plans. We believe in directly linking pay to financial performance, so we structure our compensation plans to drive successful annual and long-term financial performance and ultimately align with long-term shareholder value. We also seek to implement compensation programs that appropriately balance risk and financial results so that our compensation programs maintain and promote our overall safety and soundness.

Each named executive officers’ compensation currently consists of three primary elements: base salary, annual cash incentive compensation, and long-term incentive compensation. Named executive officers are also eligible to receive matching contributions to their 401(k) retirement plan accounts, discretionary additional contributions to voluntary deferrals of compensation in a nonqualified deferred compensation plan, and limited perquisites. To help retain a stable executive management team, we have adopted an Executive Separation Policy and have entered into change in control agreements that provide severance benefits upon certain terminations of our executive officers.

We evaluate annually all of our compensation programs, policies, and payouts to assess whether our compensation structure continues to align with our philosophy of paying for financial performance as a means of promoting long-term shareholder value. Based on this evaluation, we determined in 2023 to maintain the general structural elements of our executive compensation programs as described below, although we determined to utilize a financial metric based on core pre-tax pre-provision net income instead of efficiency ratio in our Annual Incentive Plan.

The Role of the Compensation Committee in Determining Executive Compensation

The Compensation Committee oversees the compensation programs of our named executive officers and establishes our executive compensation philosophy, policies, elements, plans, and arrangements. In addition, the Compensation Committee annually evaluates the performance and compensation of our chief executive officer and receives our chief executive officer’s annual evaluation of our other executive officers, in order to evaluate appropriate compensation adjustments as well as future compensation decisions. The Compensation Committee annually evaluates the alignment of pay and performance of our chief executive officer and chief financial officer. The Compensation Committee also reviews overall corporate policies regarding compensation and benefit programs that are generally available to all employees in connection with its annual assessment of risk-based compensation and may make recommendations concerning those programs based thereon.

Although the Compensation Committee has authority to approve individual compensation arrangements, as well as authority to engage legal advisors and compensation consultants for advice on compensation issues, the Compensation Committee does not act entirely autonomously in considering and implementation of our compensation plans. For

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example, the Compensation Committee recommends the terms of plans such as our 2017 and 2022 Equity Incentive Plans, subject to final approval of the full independent Board of Directors, and may from time to time request management to provide financial, tax, accounting, or operational information relevant to Compensation Committee deliberations.

Role of Compensation Consultant

The Compensation Committee has engaged Pay Governance, LLC (“Pay Governance”) as its outside independent compensation consultant since 2011 and continued to engage Pay Governance during 2023. Pursuant to its engagement terms, Pay Governance reviews, analyzes and provides advice regarding our executive officer and director compensation programs in relation to the objectives of those programs, including comparisons to designated peer group companies and to current best practices, and also provides information and advice on competitive compensation practices and trends, along with specific views on our compensation programs. In its role as independent compensation consultants, Pay Governance representatives engage in regular discussions with the Compensation Committee and respond to questions from the Committee and the Committee’s other advisors in providing opinions with respect to the design and implementation of current or proposed compensation programs. During 2023, Pay Governance reported directly to the Compensation Committee and the Committee retains the sole authority to retain or terminate Pay Governance. Pay Governance did not provide additional services to the Company or its affiliates in an amount in excess of $120,000 during 2023.

Compensation Consultant Independence

The Compensation Committee has the responsibility to consider certain independence factors before selecting compensation consultants and other compensation advisers. In connection with the foregoing, the Compensation Committee reviewed, considered and discussed the relevant factors established by NASDAQ to determine such independence, both through surveying Pay Governance and by soliciting input from members of the Compensation Committee through our annual director and officer questionnaires. Based on its review, consideration and discussion, the Compensation Committee determined that the work performed and to be performed by Pay Governance as the Committee’s compensation consultant has not raised and does not raise any conflict of interest, and also determined that Pay Governance qualifies as independent for purposes of the Exchange Act and NASDAQ Corporate Governance Requirements.

Say-on-Pay Consideration

At the Company’s 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, our shareholders approved on an advisory basis the executive compensation of our named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement for that Annual Meeting, with approximately 83% of the Common Shares represented by shareholders present in person or represented by proxy at the 2023 Annual Meeting voting “for” such approval. The Compensation Committee evaluated the results of this supportive advisory vote and the analyses of Farmers’ Say on Pay proposal by institutional shareholder governance bodies, together with the other factors and data discussed in the Compensation and Discussion Analysis, in determining Farmers’ executive compensation policies, making executive compensation decisions, and continuing implementation of its compensation philosophy and objectives.

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Peer Group Evaluation and Executive Compensation Benchmarks

The Compensation Committee generally has evaluated compensation practices at similarly situated financial institutions to help determine appropriate levels of compensation for financial services executives in our geographic market. The Compensation Committee does not adhere to a strict formula in order to determine executive officer compensation packages, but rather it has relied on a variety of factors including experience, responsibility, individual performance, and our overall financial performance. However, given the competitive nature of the financial services industry generally and the fact that we compete in a market with many significantly larger regional and national banking organizations which can provide attractive compensation packages to top executive talent, the Compensation Committee recognizes the need for Farmers to provide compensation opportunities to retain our high-performing executives and attract new executive talent that are competitive with our identified peer group companies.

The Compensation Committee has consistently utilized a compensation peer group of companies for certain compensation benchmarking purposes. The Compensation Committee uses several factors to identify, evaluate and select peer financial institutions including but not limited to (i) factors of size (e.g., assets (ranging from approximately one-half to two times the asset size of Farmers), revenues, employees, and market capitalization), (ii) factors of profitability and growth (e.g., net revenue and operating income), and (iii) geographic location. Following our announcement in March 2022 of the acquisition of Emclaire Financial Corp., the holding company of The Farmers National Bank of Emlenton, a national bank based in Pennsylvania, the Compensation Committee, with the assistance of Pay Governance, considered certain revisions to the peer group to continue to reflect the evaluative factors described above in light of the expected increase of Farmers’ asset size to over $5 billion in assets and the expansion of Farmers’ active geographic competitive footprint. Based on that evaluation, the Compensation Committee determined to focus on peer banking companies with assets between $2.5 billion and $10 billion that operated in a geographic market including Ohio, western Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and western New York. This evaluation resulted in the elimination of five companies from the previous peer group and the addition of the following four companies: First Commonwealth Financial, First Internet Bancorp, S&T Bancorp, and Park National Corporation, resulting in the following compensation peer group of 21 companies approved by the Compensation Committee for 2023 (“2023 Peer Group”):

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2023 Named Executive Officers Compensation

Base Salary

Base salaries are intended to reward our named executive officers based on their roles with us and for their performance in those roles. For each named executive officer, base salaries are reviewed annually subject to adjustments based upon our financial performance, the individual performance of the particular executive, and our overall compensation philosophy of providing compensation opportunities to retain our high performing executive officers and attract new executive talent that are competitive with our 2023 Peer Group. The Compensation Committee conducts an annual evaluation of the performance of Mr. Helmick in light of specified goals and objectives with input from each independent director. Based on such evaluation and input, the Compensation Committee determines the compensation of Mr. Helmick and discusses its determination with all independent directors. During late 2022 and early 2023, the Compensation Committee also undertook an extensive analysis of the amounts and elements of Mr. Helmick’s compensation and certain other executive officers, including recent realized pay of Mr. Helmick, with significant input from PayGovernance and benchmarking to the 2023 Peer Group and the new peer group.

All other executive officers are evaluated on a variety of factors including leadership performance, strategic planning and execution, communication abilities, business knowledge, and awareness and accountability. Based thereon, Mr. Helmick determines whether to recommend base salary increases or decreases based upon individual performance and presents his recommendations on base salary adjustments to the Compensation Committee.

As a result of the evaluations by the Compensation Committee of Mr. Helmick and the recommendations by Mr. Helmick regarding the remaining named executive officers as described above, the following merit-based base salary adjustments were determined for Mr. Helmick and the other named executive officers effective April 1, 2023:

2023 Base Salaries and Adjustments

Annual Incentive Plan

The Compensation Committee believes that performance-based annual cash incentives are an effective way to compensate executives for working together as a team to achieve short-term specific financial goals, which the Compensation Committee and management have established as near-term drivers of our long-term success, as well as certain individualized goals specific to an executive’s role and duties. The following is a discussion of the Annual Incentive Plan as implemented by the Compensation Committee during 2023.

The Annual Incentive Plan is intended to foster superior financial results by providing equitable and attainable corporate-wide incentives that reward individual and team efforts to

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achieve specified performance objectives as determined and applied each fiscal year. The program provides our executive officers and certain non-executive employees the opportunity to receive annual cash incentive payments based upon achievement of such corporate and individual performance goals. Our full-time and part-time, regular, non-commissioned-based associates and executives, as well as those of our subsidiaries, are generally eligible to participate in the Annual Incentive Plan.

The Compensation Committee establishes the target bonus opportunities under the Annual Incentive Plan for each eligible named executive officer expressed as a percentage of base salary. The following table sets forth the 2023 target bonus opportunities for each participating named executive officer:

Payments under the Annual Incentive Plan are contingent primarily on the achievement of pre-established performance goals relating to objective financial metrics established for each participating named executive officer by the Compensation Committee, and secondarily upon the results of a subjective evaluation of each individual executive’s performance. Each of the elements has an assigned weight and each of the objective financial criteria has a specific target or goal for the year. In the event that we (or the individual participant) do not meet the specified goal or target for a particular metric, then no compensation will be paid with respect to that objective portion of the Annual Incentive Plan.

The Compensation Committee established a threshold payout of 50% of target opportunity upon attaining a threshold level of the objective metrics, a target payout of 100% upon attaining 100% of the target level of the objective metrics, and a maximum payout of 150% of target opportunity upon attaining at or greater than a maximum level of the objective metrics. Performance falling below threshold results in no payout; for performance falling within each of the percentile ranges, payouts are made on an interpolated basis. Payout opportunity on the subjective elements also ranged from 0% to 150%. The annual incentive program for certain of our executive officers, including Mr. Shaffer and Mr. Wenick, include additional performance goals measured by objective performance objectives within their specific areas of responsibility and oversight. Payout opportunities on such line of business metrics also typically range from 0% to 150%, although the payout on one of Mr. Shaffer’s additional objectives ranged from 0% to 200%.

In establishing the Annual Incentive Plan’s objective metrics and targets for 2023, the Compensation Committee utilized the Company’s budgeting model to set the performance at levels that were determined to be achievable with strong management performance. All named executive officers were allocated certain weightings of three core corporate financial measures (as adjusted): earnings per share (“EPS”), return on average assets (“ROA”), and pre-tax pre-provision net income. The latter metric was first used in 2023, and replaced the prior metric of efficiency ratio. The Compensation Committee determined that the prior near-term focus on improving the Company’s efficiency ratio had served its purpose, and including an income-based metric served a more strategic near-term purpose. As noted in the Executive Summary, achievement on this financial metric fell below our expectations, but the

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resulting lack of any payout on the metric evidences the strong and direct linkage of our compensation programs with our objective financial performance.

The foregoing were the sole objective financial performance criteria allocated to Messrs. Helmick, Adair, and Matuszak. Mr. Shaffer and Mr. Wenick had additional objective metrics based on specific areas of responsibility and oversight. Finally, in addition to the objective performance metrics, a subjective metric was included for each of the named executive officers, weighted at 20% for Messrs. Helmick, Adair, and Matuszak, 15% for Mr. Shaffer, and 25% for Mr. Wenick. The subjective factor is evaluated based on a scorecard assessment for each individual’s performance. Mr. Shaffer’s and Mr. Wenick’s additional internally-measured performance metrics and targets based on areas of responsibility include information that is not otherwise publicly available. Because disclosure of such information could result in competitive harm to Farmers, the metrics and related performance results are not specifically disclosed but the payouts with respect to those measures are set forth below. The following tables set forth the applicable objective performance metrics, weightings, targets and percentage payouts on the corporate level objective metrics under the Annual Incentive Plan in 2023 for each of our named executive officers:

Kevin Helmick, Troy Adair, and Myke Matuszak

Timothy Shaffer

Mark Wenick

In addition to the objective performance metrics described above, the Compensation Committee included a subjective metric for each of the named executive officers, weighted at 20% of the total bonus opportunity for Messrs. Helmick, Adair, and Matuszak with payout

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opportunity ranging from 0% to 150%. The weighting of the subjective metric for Mr. Shaffer was 15% and for Mr. Wenick was 25% of their respective total bonus opportunity, with potential payouts ranging from 0% to 150%. Payouts under the subjective metric were based on evaluations of the individual’s overall job performance during 2023, using an extensive performance review scorecard for each executive. For each named executive officer other than Mr. Helmick, the scorecards were completed by Mr. Helmick and he provided his evaluations to the Compensation Committee and the payouts for subjective portion of the executive’s bonus for 2023. For Mr. Helmick, each member of the Board of Directors provided input on Mr. Helmick’s performance under goals established in five areas of core competencies: Business Planning, Change/Crisis Management, Communications, Self-Management and Development, and Managing Executive Performance and Development. These evaluations were considered by the Compensation Committee in reaching its determination with respect to the payout on the subjective element of Mr. Helmick’s 2023 annual bonus. Based upon such reviews and recommendations, the Compensation Committee approved the following percentage payouts with respect to the subjective element of the total bonus opportunity: (i) Mr. Helmick, 125%; (ii) Mr. Adair, 120%; (iii) Mr. Matuszak, 125%; (iv) Mr. Shaffer, 125%; and (vi) Mr. Wenick, 120%.

In addition to the amounts earned in 2023 under our Annual Incentive Plan, Mr. Matuszak received a one-time bonus of $75,000 in 2023 in connection with his initial hiring to partially replace compensation opportunities from a prior employer that Mr. Matuszak forfeited upon joining Farmers. The bonus is subject to forfeiture in the event Mr. Matuszak’s employment terminates within 18 months of his hire date of December 1, 2022.

The Compensation Committee also continued to include a circuit breaker in the 2023 Annual Incentive Plan, based on Farmers’ “Texas ratio” for the year. The Texas ratio is determined by dividing the amount of Farmers Bank’s non-performing loans, other real estate owned, and loans delinquent for more than 90 days, by Farmers Bank’s tangible capital equity plus its loan loss reserves. If this ratio exceeds 15% for the year, no bonuses are payable under the Annual Incentive Plan. Farmers’ Texas ratio for 2023 was approximately 6.16%, well below this circuit breaker level. The Compensation Committee believes that the use of a circuit breaker in our annual bonus program helps maintain minimum levels of safety and soundness of our institution in the context of providing appropriate near-term incentives for achieving superior financial performance objectives.

As a result of the performance of Farmers with respect to the above-described objective metrics and each named executive officer’s individual performance evaluations, the Compensation Committee awarded the following payouts with respect to 2023 performance under the Annual Incentive Plan:

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Long-Term Incentive Plans

Under our LTI Cash Program, executive officers and certain other employees are eligible to receive awards for possible long-term cash incentive payments based on the achievement of prescribed corporate and/or individual performance metrics. The purpose of the LTI Cash Program is to foster and promote Farmers’ long-term financial success and value by motivating performance through long-term incentive compensation, pending review and approval by the Compensation Committee. The LTI Cash Program is also intended to attract and retain the services of talented individuals and to motivate participants to achieve performance objectives that promote sound and financially healthy growth. The LTI Cash Program may continue until terminated by the Board of Directors.

Our 2017 Equity Incentive Plan and our 2022 Equity Incentive Plan were each adopted by our Board of Directors and shareholders to promote Farmers’ long-term financial success and increase shareholder value by motivating performance through equity-based long-term incentive compensation. The Equity Incentive Plans are also intended to encourage participants to acquire ownership interests in the Company, attract and retain talented executives and directors, and enable participants to participate in the Company’s long-term growth and financial success.

Results of Long-Term Incentive Awards Granted in 2021

In 2021, the Compensation Committee established target long-term award opportunities for each eligible named executive officer, expressed as a percentage of a participant’s base salary, as follows:

The following table sets forth the target level of long-term incentive compensation opportunity established for each participating named executive officer at the time of grant in 2021:

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The following table indicates the target performance level and the actual results of our relative TSR and relative average annual ROE performance, as adjusted, for the Performance Period, with the percentage payouts for the LTI Cash Program and 2017 Equity Incentive Plan awards we granted in 2021. For performance falling below threshold, no award payout or vesting was to occur. Percentage payout opportunities for the cash-based awards under the LTI Cash Program ranged from 20% vesting for performing at the threshold 25^th percentile of peer group, 100% for performing at the target 50^th percentile, and 200% for performing at or above the 75^th percentile. For performance falling within each of the percentile ranges, the payout was determined on an interpolated basis. The share-based awards under the 2017 Equity Incentive Plan were granted at the maximum payout opportunity of 200%, so the percentage payout opportunities ranged from 10% vesting for performing at the threshold level of the 25^th percentile of peer group, 50% vesting for performing at the target 50^th percentile, and 100% vesting for performing at or above the 75^th percentile (equivalent to 200%, or maximum, of target opportunity). The following table summarizes the percentage payouts for our 2021 long-term performance-based awards based on Farmers’ performance on the two metrics relative to its peer group. Payout amounts under the LTI Cash Program based on relative TSR for each named executive officer are included in “Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation,” column (g), of the Summary Compensation Table but no payouts were made with respect to the Performance Period ended 2023. Vesting amounts for the 2017 Equity Incentive Plan awards based on relative average annual ROE are included in the amounts reported in the 2023 Option Exercises and Stock Vested table, column (e).

Vesting Summary of 2021-2023 Long-Term Performance Awards

Long-Term Incentive Awards Granted in 2023

In 2023, the Compensation Committee established the long-term incentive compensation target opportunities for each eligible named executive officer, expressed as a percentage of base as follows:

In connection with Mr. Matuszak’s initial hire, he received a one-time award of 5,000 shares of restricted stock under the 2017 Equity Incentive Plan which vests on the second anniversary of the award grant date conditioned on continued employment though such anniversary, to partially replace compensation opportunities from a prior employer that Mr. Matuszak forfeited upon joining Farmers.

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In conjunction with establishing the target long-term incentive opportunity for our executive officers in 2023, the Compensation Committee, determined to maintain an allocation of 25% of our total long-term compensation opportunity to service-based awards, subject to three-year cliff vesting. We continued to allocate the remaining 75% of the target long-term incentive opportunity to performance-based awards, for which we continued to use relative TSR and relative average ROE as the performance metrics, with the same mix of cash-based and equity-based long-term performance awards as follows: (i) 25% in cash-based awards under our LTI Cash Program subject to vesting based on relative TSR compared to our peer group over a performance period ending December 31, 2024, and (ii) 50% in equity-based grants under our 2022 Equity Incentive Plan subject to vesting based on relative average ROE compared to our peer group over a performance period ending December 31, 2024.

The following table indicates potential payouts at the threshold, target and maximum levels for our 2023 long-term incentive awards under both the LTI Cash Program and the 2022 Equity Incentive Plan, with relative performance compared to our 2023 Peer Group, consistent with grants of long-term incentive awards in recent years. The maximum award opportunity was established at 200% of the target opportunity.

For performance falling within each of the percentile ranges, payouts or vesting will occur on an interpolated basis. The amounts of the threshold, target and maximum award payouts or vesting that may be received by each of our named executive officers upon completion of the 2023-2024 Performance Period with regard to long-term incentive awards granted in 2023 under the LTI Cash Program and the 2022 Equity Incentive Plan is described in detail in the 2023 Grants of Plan Based Awards table of this proxy statement.

Clawback Policy

Farmers has adopted a clawback policy as part of its Incentive Compensation Guidelines. The Company maintains a Clawback Policy, as required by Rule 5608 of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC listing rules, that provides for the recovery of “erroneously awarded” incentive based compensation if the Company is required to prepare an accounting restatement due to material noncompliance with any financial reporting requirements under the federal securities laws. The Clawback Policy is administered by the Compensation Committee and applies to current and former executive officers as described in the Clawback Policy.

401(k) Plan and Company Contributions

All of our employees who have completed at least one year of service and meet certain other eligibility requirements are eligible to participate in our 401(k) Profit Sharing Retirement Savings Plan (the “401(k) Plan”). Under the terms of the 401(k) Plan, employees may voluntarily defer a portion of their annual compensation, subject to applicable federal restrictions and deferral limitations, and Farmers Bank matches a percentage of each participant’s voluntary contributions, up to 6% of gross wages. In addition, at the discretion

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of the Board of Directors, Farmers Bank may make an additional profit sharing contribution to the 401(k) Plan. During 2023, Farmers Bank provided 401(k) Plan matching contributions of 50% for each of the named executive officers (subject to a maximum of 3% of gross wages), but no additional profit sharing contributions were made.

Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan

Our Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan (the “Nonqualified Plan”) is an unfunded nonqualified retirement plan in which eligible executive officers may voluntarily defer a greater portion of their compensation than permitted by applicable federal restrictions and deferral limitations applicable to our 401(k) Plan. Participating officers are at all times 100% vested in their voluntary deferrals. The Company may also provide matching or discretionary credits to the accounts of eligible officers, as determined by the Company in its sole discretion. The Company currently credits matching contributions equal to 50% of each participant’s voluntary deferrals to the Nonqualified Plan, up to 6% of gross wages (or a 3% match). Any matching or discretionary credits under the Nonqualified Plan vest and become non-forfeitable in accordance with a specified formula that provides for partial vesting starting after completion of two years and full vesting after six years. Upon a Change-in-Control (as defined in the Nonqualified Plan), participants’ benefits under the Nonqualified Plan become fully vested and non-forfeitable. Benefits under the Nonqualified Plan represent unsecured general obligations of the Company to pay participating officers at some time in the future.

The Nonqualified Plan also allows discretionary additional annual contributions to be made by the Company for the benefit of participating officers, based on a percentage of each participant’s total eligible compensation, as determined annually in the discretion of the Compensation Committee. With respect to calendar year 2023, the Compensation Committee approved a discretionary contribution of 3.0%, representing a total amount of approximately $119,610 with respect to ten participating officers. The Compensation Committee approved a 2.0% discretionary contribution with respect to 2022.

The amounts accrued pursuant to the Nonqualified Plan for the benefit of our named executive officers for calendar year 2023 are disclosed in the Summary Compensation Table. The Compensation Committee believes that maintaining this Nonqualified Plan helps to maintain the competitiveness of our entire executive retirement benefits.

Amounts payable to participating officers under the Nonqualified Plan will be distributed in accordance with the terms of the Nonqualified Plan and elections made by the participating officers. Benefits generally will be paid in a single lump sum unless the participating officer has elected to receive annual installments for a period of up to ten years. The benefits will be paid upon the earliest of a participating officer’s separation from service, death or disability unless the participating officer has elected to receive payments as of a specified date (including the earlier of that date or the occurrence of a regular distribution event). The Nonqualified Plan is subject to requirements affecting deferred compensation under Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“Code”) and is being administered in compliance with the applicable regulations under Section 409A.

Perquisites and Other Compensation

Executive officers also participate in broad-based employee benefit plans, such as medical, dental, supplemental disability, retiree health insurance and term life insurance programs. Except for matching contributions in connection with our Nonqualified Plan as

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described above and country club memberships provided by Farmers to certain of the named executive officers for customer relationship development purposes, executive officers received no perquisites or personal benefits in 2023 that are not available to all employees. The amounts of the benefits received are included in the “All Other Compensation” column (i) of the Summary Compensation Table.

Other Elements of Our Executive Compensation Programs

Employment Agreements, Separation Policy and Change in Control Arrangements

The Compensation Committee carefully considers the use and conditions of any employment related agreements. Although employment agreements that contain severance and change in control arrangements may be appropriate to attract prospective executives who forego significant other employment opportunities, we first determined in 2013 to adopt an Executive Separation Policy that applies to our executive officers and certain senior officers in lieu of employment agreements. In connection with that implementation, we entered into change in control agreements with each of our executive officers (“Change in Control Agreements”). The material provisions of the Executive Separation Policy and the Change in Control Agreements are discussed under the caption “EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND OTHER INFORMATION – Employment Agreements, Change in Control Agreements, Executive Separation Policy”.

Overall, the Compensation Committee believes that the implementation of the Executive Separation Policy and Change in Control Agreements is appropriate to help ensure that Farmers will have the continued dedication, undivided loyalty and objective advice from its key executives, even in the event of a potential transaction that could result in a change in control of Farmers. The Separation Policy offers certain protections in the event of certain terminations of employment, while the Change in Control Agreements provide certain protections in the event of a change in control event, but only if the executive’s employment is terminated as a result of (or within a specified period after) a change in control (i.e., a double trigger). The Compensation Committee does not believe that executives should receive compensation benefits merely as a result of a change in control; rather, it believes that our Change in Control Agreements provide our executive officers with adequate protection to help ensure that change in control offers will be evaluated by our executive officers in the best interests of Farmers and our shareholders without regard to concerns that a transaction could eliminate his or her job without appropriate dispensation. The Compensation Committee recognizes that these agreements may also tend to discourage a takeover attempt as a change in control could trigger increased compensation expense as part of the transaction.

Stock Ownership Guidelines and Anti-Hedging Policy

As part of the Company’s Corporate Governance Guidelines, we have adopted stock ownership guidelines for our directors and executive officers which require that, within five years from the date a person first becomes a non-executive director, or within seven years from the date an executive officer is first included as a participant in our long-term incentive equity plans (unless, due to specific facts and circumstances, a different period of time is

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determined to be appropriate by the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee), the following amounts of Common Shares be owned by that person:

Individuals subject to these guidelines are expected to satisfy certain milestones during the attainment periods to evidence that the individual is making appropriate progress toward achieving their respective ownership amount. In determining compliance with these guidelines, the Compensation Committee considers the beneficial ownership of our executive officers and directors as required to be reported in a proxy statement.

In addition to these requirements, our executive officers and directors are prohibited under our insider trading policy and procedures from pledging our Common Shares, purchasing our Common Shares on margin, engaging in short sales, or engaging in any hedging transaction involving our Common Shares.

Tax Deductibility

Section 162(m) of the Code generally places an annual limit of $1 million on the amount of compensation paid to certain “covered employees” (which include our named executive officers) that may be deducted by the Company. The Compensation Committee believes that shareholder interests are best served if it retains discretion and flexibility in awarding executive compensation. Even though some compensation awards may result in non-deductible compensation expenses, the Compensation Committee intends to maintain strong pay-for-performance alignment of executive compensation arrangements.

Director Compensation

The Compensation Committee is also responsible for recommending to the Board of Directors compensation for our non-employee directors. Generally, director compensation is structured in a fashion to attract and retain high quality individuals to serve on the Board of Directors, to compensate such individuals for the time and energy expended in providing us their expertise, considering the size, nature and location of Farmers as a bank holding company competing in our markets. On an annual basis, the Compensation Committee requests that its compensation consultant evaluate our current non-employee director compensation levels relative to our peers. Generally, it is the overall goal of the Compensation Committee to position non-employee director compensation at a median market level.

For calendar year 2023, based on the peer benchmarking annual review described above, the Compensation Committee recommended and the independent members of the Board of Directors approved the following compensation levels for non-employee directors: (a) general annual retainer fee of $80,000, payable $62,500 in cash and $17,500 in restricted stock units to be awarded on the day of the annual meeting of shareholders subject to vesting on the one year anniversary of the grant date, and (b) the following retainers for directors with additional duties: (i) $37,500 for the independent chair of the Board, (ii) $10,000 for the chair of the Audit Committee, and (iii) $7,500 for each other chair of a Board committee. All director compensation amounts for 2023 are reflected in the Director Compensation table.

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Oversight and Risk Management of Compensation Programs

The Compensation Committee oversees the implementation and enforcement of our policies, procedures and practices related to its various compensation programs as part of its duties. This is designed to monitor our compensation policies to ensure that the compensation packages offered to our employees and executive officers do not present such individuals with the potential to engage in excessive or inappropriate risk taking activities. In addition, the Board Enterprise Risk Management Committee works with the Compensation Committee in order to monitor our compensation policies, procedures and practices, as part of its duties to monitor enterprise-wide risk.

The Compensation and Board Enterprise Risk Management Committees believe that our current compensation structure for employees and executive officers does not encourage unnecessary or excessive risk taking to the extent that it would reasonably likely lead to a material adverse effect. It is the opinion of the Compensation and Board Enterprise Risk Management Committees that our current compensation programs appropriately balance risk and the desire to focus on our short-term and long-term goals without encouraging unnecessary or excessive risk taking.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

During the last completed fiscal year, no member of the Compensation Committee was an officer or employee of Farmers or any of our subsidiaries, or was formerly an officer of Farmers or any of our subsidiaries. None of our directors had any business or financial relationship with us requiring disclosure in this proxy statement.

THE COMPENSATION COMMITTEE REPORT

The information contained in this report shall not be deemed to be “soliciting material” or “filed” with the SEC or subject to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference into a document filed under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) or the Exchange Act.

The Compensation Committee has reviewed and discussed this Compensation Discussion and Analysis with Farmers’ management. Based upon this review and discussion, the Compensation Committee recommends to the Board of Directors that this Compensation Discussion and Analysis be included in this proxy statement and our Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Compensation Committee:

Frank J. Monaco, Chair

Gregory C. Bestic

Anne Frederick Crawford

Terry A. Moore

David Z. Paull

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EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND OTHER INFORMATION

Summary of Cash and Certain Other Compensation

The following table provides summary compensation information for the individuals serving as our principal executive officer, our principal financial officer, and our three other most highly compensated executive officers serving on December 31, 2023.

Summary Compensation Table

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2023 Grants of Plan Based Awards

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2023 Named Executive Officer Compensation Components

The primary elements of each executive officer’s total compensation reported in the Summary Compensation Table are the executive officer’s base salary, annual incentive bonus, and long-term incentive compensation. Each executive officer also received certain other benefits as listed in the “All Other Compensation” column.

Base Salary

In 2023, the Compensation Committee continued to implement its base salary positioning philosophy of seeking to establish executive officer base salaries at or near the 50^th percentile of our 2023 Peer Group. Each named executive officer’s base salary is reviewed annually and is subject to adjustments based upon our financial performance, individual performance and our overall compensation philosophy. The Compensation Committee conducts an annual evaluation of the performance of Mr. Helmick in light of specified goals and objectives with input from each independent director. Based on such evaluation and input, the Compensation Committee determines the compensation of Mr. Helmick and discusses its determination with all independent directors. All other executive officers are evaluated on a variety of factors including leadership performance, strategic planning and execution, communication abilities, business knowledge, and awareness and accountability. Based thereon, Mr. Helmick determines whether a base salary increase or decrease is merited based upon individual performance and presents his base salary adjustment recommendations to the Compensation Committee. As a result of the Compensation Committee’s evaluation of Mr. Helmick and the recommendations by Mr. Helmick regarding the other named executive officers as described above, the following merit-based base salary adjustments were made effective April 1, 2023:

Annual Incentive Plan

Our Annual Incentive Plan provides certain of our executive officers and non-executive employees the opportunity to receive annual cash incentive payments based upon achievement of certain corporate and individual performance goals. The Annual Incentive Plan is intended to foster superior financial results by providing corporate-wide incentives that reward individual and team effort to achieve specified performance objectives determined for each fiscal year. The 2023 target bonus award opportunities (expressed as a

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percentage of base salary) and the 2023 bonus targets for each named executive officer under the Annual Incentive Plan are disclosed under “2023 Named Executive Officers Compensation – Annual Incentive Plan” in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis portion of this proxy statement.

Payments under the Annual Incentive Plan are contingent primarily upon the achievement of pre-established performance goals during a fiscal year relating to objective financial metrics established by the Compensation Committee, and secondarily upon the results of a subjective evaluation of each individual executive’s performance. Each of the elements has an assigned weight and each of the objective financial criteria has a specific target or goal for the year. In the event that we (or the individual participant) do not meet the specified goal or target for a particular metric, then no compensation will be paid with respect to that objective portion of the Annual Incentive Plan. The Compensation Committee established a threshold payout of 50% of target opportunity upon attaining a threshold level of the objective metric targets, a target payout of 100% upon attainment of 100% of the objective metric targets, and a maximum payout of 150% of target opportunity upon attaining at or greater than a maximum level of the objective metrics. For performance falling within each of the percentile ranges, payouts are made on an interpolated basis.

In establishing the Annual Incentive Plan’s objective metrics and targets for 2023, the Compensation Committee utilized the Company’s budgeting model to set the performance at levels that were determined to be achievable with strong management performance. All named executive officers were allocated certain weightings of the following three core corporate financial measures: earnings per share, return on average assets and pre-tax pre-provision net income. The latter metric was first used in 2023, and replaced the prior metric of efficiency ratio. Those were the sole objective performance criteria allocated to Messrs. Helmick, Adair and Matuszak. Mr. Shaffer and Mr. Wenick had additional objective metrics based on specific areas of responsibility and oversight. Finally, in addition to the objective performance metrics, a subjective metric was included for each of the named executive officers, with a weighting of 20% of the total bonus opportunity for Messrs. Helmick, Adair and Matuszak, 15% for Mr. Shaffer, and a weighting of 25% for Mr. Wenick. The objective performance metrics, weightings, targets and percentage payouts based on actual performance for each of our named executive officers under the Annual Incentive Plan in 2023 is set forth in detail in the under “2023 Named Executive Officers Compensation – Annual Incentive Plan” in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis portion of this proxy statement.

Payouts under the subjective element for each named executive officer were based on evaluations of overall job performance during 2023 using an extensive performance review scorecard for each executive. For each named executive officer other than Mr. Helmick, the scorecards were completed by Mr. Helmick and provided the basis of his recommendations to the Compensation Committee for the subjective portion of the executive’s bonus for 2023. For Mr. Helmick, each member of the Board of Directors completed a scorecard which were reviewed by the Compensation Committee in reaching a determination with respect to the subjective element of Mr. Helmick’s 2023 annual bonus. Based upon such reviews, the Compensation Committee approved the following percentage payouts with respect to the subjective element of the total bonus opportunity for 2023: (i) Mr. Helmick, 125% of the possible 20% weighting; (ii) Mr. Adair, 120% of the possible 20% weighting; (iii) Mr. Matuszak, 125% of the possible 20% weighting; (iv) Mr. Shaffer, 125% of the possible 15% weighting; and (v) Mr. Wenick, 125% of the possible 25% weighting.

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Finally, the Compensation Committee includes a circuit breaker in the Annual Incentive Plan based on our “Texas ratio” for the year, determined by dividing the amount of Farmers Bank’s non-performing loans, other real estate owned and loans delinquent for more than 90 days, by Farmers Bank’s tangible capital equity plus its loan loss reserves. If this ratio exceeds 15% for the year, no bonuses are payable under the Annual Incentive Plan. Farmers’ Texas ratio for 2023 was approximately 6.16%, well below this circuit breaker level. The Compensation Committee believes that the use of a circuit breaker as part of our annual bonus program helps maintain minimum levels of safety and soundness of our institution while seeking to provide appropriate near-term incentives for achieving superior financial performance objectives.

As a result of the performance of Farmers with respect to the above-described objective metrics and each named executive officer’s individual performance evaluations, the Compensation Committee awarded the following payouts with respect to 2023 performance under the Annual Incentive Plan: