NW Michigan Food and Farming Network Report to the Community 2015 Report to the Community | Page 46

Food and Farming network GreenStone Helps Young, Beginning, Small Farmers Goal is to help launch a successful operation By Ben Mahlich GreenStone Farm Credit Services Summary: The purpose of the program is to help young, beginning, and small farmers establish a successful and sustainable operation. GreenStone’s Young, Beginning, Small Farmer Program typically partners with the Farm Service Agency for loan guarantees when an applicant does not meet our credit standards. Young Farmer criteria A farmer, rancher, producer or harvester of aquatic products who is 35 years old or younger as of the date the loan is made. Beginning Farmer criteria A farmer, rancher, and producer or harvester of aquatic products who has 10 years or less of experience at farming, ranching, and producing or harvesting aquatic products as of the date the loan was originally made. Small Farmer criteria A farmer, rancher, and producer or harvester of aquatic products who normally generates less than $250,000 in annual gross sales of agricultural or aquatic products at the date the loan was originally made. As of June 30, 2014, young farmers made up 20.6% of the GreenStone portfolio by number of loans and 15.6% of the Green- The purpose of the program is to help young, beginning, and small farmers establish a successful and sustainable operation. Stone portfolio by volume. Beginning farmers made up 29.0% of the GreenStone portfolio by number of loans and 19.2% of the Greenstone portfolio by volume. Small farmers made up 51.0% of the Greenstone portfolio by number of loans and 23.1% of the GreenStone portfolio by volume. Note that there is overlap in the numbers as some farmers can fall into more than one of these categories. 41 As of June 30, 2014, young, beginning, and small farmer volume continued to be comprised of three main groups: Part-time/No Major Ag Production which accounted for 37% of the YBS portfolio; Cash Crops which accounted for 29% of the YBS portfolio; and Dairy which accounted for 15% of the YBS portfolio. These three groups accounted for 81% of the total YBS portfolio. www.greenstonefcs.com