ALLOWANCE FOR LOAN LOSSES

Changes in the allowance for loan losses for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2017, and March 31, 2016, were as follows, in thousands:



	Commercial			Commercial Real Estate			Agricultural			Residential Real Estate			Consumer			Total
Balance at December 31, 2016	$	14,765		$	24,319		$	4,210		$	2,263		$	8,767		$	54,324
Charge-offs	(230		)	(608		)	(871		)	(265		)	(1,744		)	(3,718		)
Recoveries	234			212			1			2			303			752
Provision	1,411			(126		)	643			183			1,530			3,641
Balance at March 31, 2017	$	16,180		$	23,797		$	3,983		$	2,183		$	8,856		$	54,999



	Commercial			Commercial Real Estate			Agricultural		Residential Real Estate			Consumer			Total
Balance at December 31, 2015	$	16,095		$	19,532		$	3,887	$	1,934		$	7,237		$	48,685
Charge-offs	(98		)	(312		)	—		(37		)	(1,158		)	(1,605		)
Recoveries	176			146			3		20			246			591
Provision	201			1,129			138		(66		)	665			2,067
Balance at March 31, 2016	$	16,374		$	20,495		$	4,028	$	1,851		$	6,990		$	49,738

Management allocates the allowance for loan losses by pools of risk within each loan portfolio. The allocation of the allowance for loan losses by loan portfolio is made for analytical purposes and is not necessarily indicative of the trend of future loan losses in any particular category. The total allowance for loan losses is available to absorb losses from any segment of the loan portfolio.