ALLOWANCE FOR LOAN LOSSES

Changes in the allowance for loan losses for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2019, and March 31, 2018, were as follows, in thousands:



	Commercial			Commercial Real Estate			Agricultural and Agricultural Real Estate			Residential Real Estate			Consumer			Total
Balance at December 31, 2018	$	24,505		$	25,538		$	4,953		$	1,785		$	5,182		$	61,963
Charge-offs	(644		)	(39		)	(379		)	(163		)	(725		)	(1,950		)
Recoveries	175			151			330			13			322			991
Provision	(215		)	1,137			694			(30		)	49			1,635
Balance at March 31, 2019	$	23,821		$	26,787		$	5,598		$	1,605		$	4,828		$	62,639



	Commercial			Commercial Real Estate			Agricultural and Agricultural Real Estate		Residential Real Estate			Consumer			Total
Balance at December 31, 2017	$	18,098		$	21,950		$	4,258	$	2,224		$	9,156		$	55,686
Charge-offs	(794		)	(125		)	—		(16		)	(1,289		)	(2,224		)
Recoveries	104			448			14		75			290			931
Provision	1,987			1,196			444		(142		)	778			4,263
Balance at March 31, 2018	$	19,395		$	23,469		$	4,716	$	2,141		$	8,935		$	58,656

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.