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date the loan was originally made.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date the loan was originally made.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.
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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