Investing in the Success of Beginning Farmers: Ten Years of FarmStart

Investing in the Success of Beginning Farmers Ten Years of FarmStart

Dear Reader, Agricultural entrepreneurship is alive and well in the Northeast! Young farmers are entering the industry from diverse backgrounds with unique interests and skill sets to bring fresh ideas and energy to agriculture. Many are entering niche markets, applying special growing techniques or using new marketing tactics to ensure success in this competitive industry. The long-term strength and stability of the Northeast agriculture community is dependent on these new entrants.

Farm Credit East is committed to supporting individuals looking to get started in agriculture, forest products and commercial fishing.

In addition to FarmStart, LLP, we offer special incentives to new and beginning farmers through our Young, Beginning, Small and Veteran (YBSV) farmer program. Incentives include discounts on farm business essentials for up to five years, including accounting software, tax preparation, consulting and appraisal services.

Additionally, we offer the GenerationNext seminar series to advance the management skills and business knowledge of individuals who are becoming engaged in farm management. Each of these programs helps us deliver on our commitment to the next generation of Northeast agriculture. Farm Credit East’s Knowledge Exchange program also provides webinars and information for beginning farmers on business planning, management and other issues that impact startup farm businesses.

We begin this report by congratulating all of our FarmStart participants for their ambition and dedication. Any new business, especially one within the agriculture industry, comes with its own challenges, but through hard work and perseverance these beginning farmers have prevailed at overcoming startup obstacles.

We’d also like to thank our FarmStart advisors who work one-on-one with FarmStart participants to monitor their business plan and financials. Through these extended efforts, they have helped to ensure each new farmer’s success, as well as the success of the agriculture industry as a whole.

FarmStart is a unique program and we were pleased that our regulator, the Farm Credit Administration, approved this program ten years ago. We also appreciate our partners in developing and funding the program, CoBank, and Yankee Farm Credit, who joined the program in 2011. Finally, we give special thanks to retired business consultant Don Rogers and retired executive vice president Dave Boone for pioneering this program, as well as to Lynn Weaver, current FarmStart manager, who continues to grow the program and train staff members to effectively assist startup farms.

Now in its tenth year, FarmStart has helped more than 150 participants realize their dream of becoming successful new farmers.

This report illustrates the success of the program through the profiles of 11 FarmStart participants. Some are just getting started, while others have graduated from the program and share advice acquired during the early years of their businesses. You will also find information on the challenges facing new farm businesses and detailed information on the FarmStart program. We hope you find this report informative and insightful.

Sincerely,

Andrew J. Gilbert Chairman, Board of Directors Farm Credit East, ACA

William J. Lipinski Chief Executive Officer Farm Credit East, ACA

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Table of Contents Dear Reader ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 FarmStart at Ten Years ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Beginning Farmers in the Northeast .............................................................................................................................................................................. 4 FarmStart Demographics .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 6 FarmStart Profiles .........................................................................................................................................................................................................8-18

Knowledgeable Advisors Oakes Dairy ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Hudson Valley Seed Library, LLC ................................................................................................................................................................................. 9 Greyrock Farm ................................................................................................................................................................................................................10

Flexible Cash Flow Long Cove Sea Farm .....................................................................................................................................................................................................11 Rhode Island Mushroom Company ...........................................................................................................................................................................12 Happy Jack’s Maple .....................................................................................................................................................................................................13 Shapleigh Island Lobster Company ...........................................................................................................................................................................14 Langwater Farm .............................................................................................................................................................................................................15

Business Skills Black Pearl Creamery ...................................................................................................................................................................................................16 Hope-Hill Dairy ................................................................................................................................................................................................................17 Sheldon Family Farm LLC ............................................................................................................................................................................................18 FarmStart: Investing in Your Future ..............................................................................................................................................................................19

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FarmStart at Ten Years

New businesses in agriculture are often faced with a unique set of challenges. With this insight, Farm Credit East initiated a program ten years ago to help talented, hard-working individuals meet these challenges and create a healthy start in agriculture. Today, this program is known as FarmStart, LLP. The first of its kind in the United States, FarmStart is a key element in the success of beginning agricultural businesses. Many startup farms don’t have access to the capital needed for upfront expenses, such as land, equipment, building materials, etc., and some do not have the credit history or equity required for traditional lending. Furthermore, many new business owners lack experience in business and financial management. FarmStart was established to help individuals build business management skills and to provide the critical last dollar of funding to overcome the obstacles that makes it difficult for true startup farming operations to generate working capital.

FarmStart is proud to celebrate its tenth year. With over seven million dollars invested into more than 150 participants since inception, the program has supported beginning Northeast farmers as diverse as American agriculture itself. To date, 81 participants have graduated from the program, some of who have moved on to traditional Farm Credit loans. Through these investments in promising agricultural ventures, FarmStart has helped to fulfill Farm Credit East’s vision of a vibrant, entrepreneurial agriculture community.

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Beginning Farmers in the Northeast Beginning farmers are an important part of the Northeast agriculture community. Whether returning to a family farm, starting their own operation or becoming part of a venture that has no next generation to take over, the continued progress of new farmers remains vital to the Northeast.

While the number of new farmers varies from year-to-year and census-to-census, we note that according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, three of the six New England states had more than a 13 percent increase in beginning farmers who identified as principal operators, with Rhode Island having a remarkable increase of 27.2 percent from the previous census in 2007. Beginning farmers in Connecticut and Vermont increased by 15.1 and 13.8 percent respectively during the same five-year period.

However, it is important to note that this depiction only reflects those new farmers who have identified as principal operators. Equally important are the beginning farmers not recognized in this category who have returned to multi-generational farms or joined existing operations, which substantially increases the total number of new farmers. No matter how they’ve entered agriculture, the success of beginning farmers can be attributed to the Northeast’s constantly evolving marketplace.

New energy and new ideas have contributed to the growth of agriculture in the Northeast, and in many cases young and beginning farmers have developed strong ties with consumers as part of the local food movement. The buy local movement has contributed to a 29 percent increase in farms selling directly to consumers over the last five years. According to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, New York’s direct-to-consumer sales were $100.6 million and Massachusetts’ $47.9 million, making them two of the top five states in direct marketing. Other beginning farmers have engaged in more scalable operations that may serve commodity markets.

In moving forward as an agricultural community, it is imperative that we support aspiring young farmers entering the Northeast’s diverse marketplace with a plan for success. While notable strides have been made in the Northeast, it is important to continue the dialogue regarding efforts that provide opportunities for young individuals to successfully begin in agriculture. Programs such as FarmStart, LLP have been created for exactly this purpose — to give the next generation a healthy start into the industry.

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Kevin and Lauren McKinzey, owners of Black Pearl Creamery, a sheep dairy in Trumansburg, N.Y., with their daughter, Ada, and FarmStart advisor, Jess May, of Farm Credit East’s Cortland, N.Y. branch office.

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FarmStart Demographics The following charts illustrate FarmStart’s diversity of commodities, investments and the state-by-state breakdown of participants.

Additional contributions to the diverse set of commodities include flowers, a food hub, honey, hops, livestock, mushrooms, poultry, swine and tobacco.

FarmStart Participants by Commodity

l Timber l Vegetable l Aquatic l Beef Supported l Community Agriculture (CSA) l Dairy l Equine l Farm Services l Grain & Field Crops l Greenhouse • Nursery l Maple l Orchard • Fruit l Other

8%

2%

9%

6%

3%

4%

4%

9%

13%

9%

8% 5%

20%

Profile of Successful FarmStart Participants FarmStart surveys all graduates of the program. From these results emerged the following six characteristics and subsequent tools to ensure success in a new farm business.

1. Drive: You and your management team need to work hard, smart and have a strong work ethic. Starting a new business means risk, sacrifice and learning new skills in the first few years.

2. Record-keeping: Good management skills are as important as being a good producer. You either need to love paperwork as much as you love machinery, plants or cattle, or you need to be able to outsource your record-keeping.

3. A plan: Develop a written business plan with a first-year monthly cash flow spreadsheet. Know when and where the money comes from to get you started.

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4. Support network: Starting a business means cultivating information and building a support network of friends and neighbors who can help and provide resources. Along with Farm Credit’s mentor/ advisor relationship, this can be a lasting benefit to your business.

5. Available off-farm income: During the first year, the average new FarmStart business made $19,000 in farm profit before owner’s income. Having off-farm income can provide a financial buffer and mitigate risk to your business.

6. Marketing and sales skills: Understanding your market and setting realistic sales goals can help keep your business on track.

Percentage of FarmStart Participants per Northeast States

l Connecticut l Massachusetts l Maine* l New Hampshire l New Jersey l New York l Rhode Island l Vermont

2%

8%

10% 7% 2% 11%

46%

14%

*Maine is the most recent participant of the program, entering in 2014.

Percentage of FarmStart Investments

4%

l 10,000-19,999 l 20,000-29,999 l 30,000-39,000 l 40,000-50,000

8%

11%

77%

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Knowledgeable Advisors

Oakes Dairy Bombay, N.Y.

DAIRY

2012 FarmStart graduate Gerald and Korin Oakes graduated from Cornell University with degrees in dairy management and agronomy.

Both grew up on farms and wanted to find their place in agriculture, but neither had a family farm to return to.

So, they took a different route and purchased the operation of a retiring dairy farmer.

Oakes Dairy Farm has grown from only 65 Holstein cows in 2007 to 200 milking cows today. With that growth came the need for new facilities to accommodate the additional cattle. Gerry and Korin had savings, but not enough to finance the full expansion, so they reached out to FarmStart for help.

Gerry expressed the benefit of having an advisor to work through the farm’s budget. “It really kept us on top of our game,” he said. “The comfort of having cash flow to make sure construction went smoothly was a big help.”

With this financial investment, they were able to construct a new heifer barn and transition from their tie-stall milking operation to their newly built custom-milking parlor. “We’ve had extra heifers every year since we built the heifer barn,” said Gerry.

Oakes Dairy Farm’s two major goals are to continue to produce quality, premium milk and to grow their operation. With the oldest of their five children in high school, they expressed the importance of expansion. As they look forward to the futures of their children, both Korin and Gerry agreed, “We have to expand to be able to support them as partners in the business.”

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Knowledgeable Advisors

Hudson Valley Seed Library, LLC Accord, N.Y.

SEED PRODUCTION

FarmStart since 2012 When searching for a good read at your local library, you first scan for something that piques your interest, take it home to see what it’s all about and then return it for others to enjoy. This concept served as the inspiration for Ken Greene and Doug Muller’s company — but instead of books, they had seed.

Ken and Doug launched Hudson Valley Seed Library with the mission to produce ethically grown and regionally sourced seeds that would add to the diversity of seeds available for farmers. To develop their growing practices, they reached out to a variety of educational sources for guidance. Both agreed they learned a lot about the growth of each variety as well as how to harvest, test, store and package the seeds.

“A trial garden was essential to building our seed company,” Ken said. “We brought seeds from all different sources to see how productive they were, if they were resistant to any diseases and if they had good flavor.”

Their initial challenge was marketing their product and getting people to try a new seed source. However, once prospective customers learned more about their business, they experienced growth faster than expected — and that’s when FarmStart came into play.

“Our FarmStart advisor was really encouraging, especially to us as new farmers and new business owners,” said Doug. “It was great to work with someone who had experience with different agricultural businesses.”

The initial loan was used as working capital to invest in cold-seed storage, better germination testing equipment and the hiring of another person to keep up with the increased sales and marketing. “As we grew out of our first loan, Farm Credit was able to grow with us and help finance our new office and warehouse,” said Ken. Now with a certified organic library catalog of 400 vegetable, flower and herb varieties, the company grows a collection suitable for restaurants, CSAs, small farms and the backyard gardener. They are proud to create local jobs and increase the genetic diversity of plants in their region.

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Knowledgeable Advisors

Greyrock Farm Cazenovia, N.Y.

CSA

FarmStart since 2012 Greyrock Farm evolved from Matt Volz’s desire to make fresh, wholesome products accessible to consumers all in one place. With no agricultural background, Matt began with just an itch for the outdoors. Working on vegetable and fruit farms throughout high school and college, he admired the unique diversity and the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model. Matt began to plan for his own farm to fill this agricultural niche.

In his first year of farming, Matt got his feet wet by raising chickens, beef cows, pigs, lamb and vegetables.

He also produced eggs and raw milk. Using Farm Credit East’s payroll and tax services, the farm and his employee numbers grew, as did his need for other financial services.

He applied for a FarmStart investment to help streamline the farm’s challenging task of converting the old dairy farm into an operation suitable for such diversity. “That’s where FarmStart helped most,” he said. “We needed to make a lot of renovations to do what we wanted to do.” He also expressed the benefit in having a FarmStart advisor to keep him on top of his record keeping.

After five years in the business, Matt has grown a lot, but still has much to learn. “It became pretty clear after three to four years that it wasn’t sustainable to produce a product just because it was in demand,” said Matt.

He organized a viable alternative to save consumers’ time and brought other farmers’ products to Greyrock’s farm store to help accommodate a larger group of consumers.

His business’s sales continue to grow from word-of-mouth alone. Matt is proud of the growth that he’s achieved through what he calls “genuine marketing.” “If you can get your customers to talk about you, that’s honest marketing and people respond to that.” The farm plans to expand its retail space and continue with their CSA model into the future.

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Flexible Cash Flow

Long Cove Sea Farm Deer Isle, Maine

OYSTERS

FarmStart since 2015 Abigail Barrows of Deer Isle, Maine looked to the FarmStart program in early 2015 for a way to intertwine her science background with a farming venture. Returning home after graduation from the University of Tasmania, Australia, Abby’s involvement with aquaculture grew to involve local marine research and education, as well as water quality monitoring. When an oyster farm came for sale, she was excited at the opportunity — it was a natural fit for her to expand her passion for aquaculture.

With help from FSA and the FarmStart program, Abby was able to purchase Long Cove Sea Farm. “The flexibility of FarmStart has been helpful because of the seasonality of my business,” said Abby. “My payments are lumped into the months I am actually producing oysters, instead of when my farm is under a foot of ice in January — and that’s huge.”

Abby sells shucked oysters at a local Deer Isle night market, which has enabled her to engage consumers as they taste the oysters and ask questions. “They practically sell themselves,” she comments. Through this word of mouth and the exposure of her website and Facebook, the demand for her oysters was more than supply in her first season.

With her first oyster harvest under her belt, Abby hopes to grow the business to provide locally produced seafood to the area, while also improving the marine environment. She also plans to grow sugar kelp in the offseason to provide cash flow to start her next oyster season.

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Flexible Cash Flow

Rhode Island Mushroom Company Newport, R.I.

MUSHROOMS

FarmStart since 2014 Robert Dipietro and Michael Hallock, co-owners of Rhode Island Mushroom Company, have tripled production since their January 2013 start to become the largest exotic mushroom growers in the Northeast. But it wasn’t without a little help along the way.

With Michael acting as the accelerator and Bob as the steering wheel, the two gratefully attributed the speed of their growth to the FarmStart program. “We were at the point that we had to grow and we needed the capital to do that, but being only a year and a half old, we weren’t bankable,” said Bob. “FarmStart gave us money when no one else would.”

Rhode Island Mushroom Company now sells to 100 restaurants, 69 grocery stores and seven farmers’ markets – and they’re looking to expand. This growth has been one of their largest accomplishments. “Before we were selling mushrooms by the box, now we are selling them by the pallet,” said Bob. They’re also proud of their strategy to reduce food waste. With Bob’s 30 years of restaurant experience and Michael’s knack for marketing, they sell five patented varieties of mushroom sauce made from unmarketable mushrooms.

Michael attributes their success to their flexibility, commenting, “Our ability to survey where we are today and the flexibility to reevaluate and possibly stray from our plan has helped us position our business in a niche market.”

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Flexible Cash Flow

Happy Jack’s Maple Locke, N.Y.

MAPLE

FarmStart since 2011 Jack Powers had a desire to establish a business that kept him closer to home. Cayuga County’s strong maple industry helped him fulfill that desire. With the help of local producers, Jack built a sugarhouse and purchased quality used equipment to support his initial 3,000 taps.

Before reaching out to FarmStart, Jack made sure to do his homework. He found the “tipping point” of his equipment costs versus how much sap he’d have to process. With this information, he looked to the FarmStart program for financial assistance.

“My FarmStart advisor was very helpful, offering flexible terms and a revolving line of credit,” Jack said. But he also made sure to have a plan B (and even a plan C), just in case the season didn’t go as planned. For other new business owners, Jack’s advice is to do your research and stay focused, but remain flexible. Plans can change at any time.

Jack also attributed a large part of his success to his family and friends. “Having help is crucial,” he said. With FarmStart’s financial assistance, he hopes his wholesale maple business will reach a capacity of 15,000 taps for the 2016 sugaring season.

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Flexible Cash Flow

Shapleigh Island Lobster Company Portsmouth, N.H.

LOBSTER

FarmStart since 2011 With deep family roots in Portsmouth’s lobstermen community, Chris Marconi’s love for lobstering came at a young age. Growing up, he worked with his father on weekends and during the summer. He knew that someday he wanted to own and operate his own vessel.

But when the time came, he needed financing. “Local banks wanted nothing to do with lobster boats without 20 percent down,” Chris said. So he turned to FarmStart. Chris now owns and operates a 36-foot vessel with a commercial lobster license. With his business growing each year, he hopes to purchase a larger boat to grow his wholesale business.

Chris emphasized that having the willingness and commitment to work hard, as well as a passion for what you do is crucial. “Whether farming land or sea, if a nine-to-five job is what you are looking for, this is probably not the business for you,” he said. In fact, Chris’ passion, along with financial assistance from FarmStart, is what gave life to his lobster business.

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Flexible Cash Flow

Langwater Farm North Easton, Mass.

CSA

2014 FarmStart graduate When he was young, Kevin O’Dwyer grew vegetables for a neighboring farm. After college, he returned as the farm’s chief grower. His wife Kate did not have a background in agriculture, but they both recognized and understood consumer’s growing interest in knowing where their food comes from and how it is grown.

So when a local property came up for rent, they submitted a proposal. They wanted to start a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation for consumers to buy local, seasonal produce directly from the farm.

They also planned to build a farm stand, sell wholesale produce and participate in farmers’ markets to expand their value to customers.

Their first year brought the typical obstacles of weather and pests, but they also faced the challenge of launching without a single piece of infrastructure on the property. “The FarmStart investment helped us to purchase some initial supplies, seeds and what we needed to construct our farm stand,” said Kevin. “That was very instrumental in helping us build a successful business.”

Over the next five years, they continued to build the business. Today, Langwater Farm has grown to 55 acres of certified organic produce, distributing 350 whole and half shares of vegetables, fruits and flowers. They’ve expanded to provide winter produce shares so the farm can support customers and employees year-round.

The O’Dwyers have reached a large but manageable size and aim to continue production of high-quality vegetables, while increasing efficiencies and retaining skilled employees.

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Business Skills

Black Pearl Creamery Trumansburg, N.Y.

SHEEP DAIRY

FarmStart since 2014 Kevin and Lauren McKinzey can attest to the steep learning curve that came with their transition from growing vegetables to raising sheep. After growing vegetables in Montana for two seasons, they didn’t feel it was the right fit. “Both of us had a love of cheese and wanted to raise dairy animals,” said Lauren. So they moved back to Lauren’s hometown to start their business.

Black Pearl Creamery was born from the purchase of eight East Friesian sheep in early 2013. Initially, they experimented with a few dairy products to see what caught on in the local market. The big hit? Plain yogurt.

“People really loved it!” said Lauren. “With its nice, mild flavor and high protein and fat, we received a lot of positive feedback.”

With this supportive feedback and their location in a largely untapped market, their next move was to reach out to FarmStart for financing. “Our advisor helped us with a five-year plan that gave us a conservative projection of where our business could go,” said Lauren.

Acknowledging that neither came from a farm background, their biggest challenge has been learning to be good shepherds. Working closely with the Cornell Veterinarian program to learn best management practices, they have improved their animal husbandry skills and now own about 100 sheep. Looking to the future, Black Pearl Creamery hopes to increase the genetic selection of their flock, grow their customer and distributor relationships and eventually work into the realm of hard cheeses and market lambs.

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Business Skills

Hope-Hill Dairy Andover, N.J.

DAIRY

FarmStart since 2013 With a high producing, healthy herd of registered Holsteins, Chris Hoefele humbly attributes his success in the commercial dairy industry to the supportive dairymen in his life. Having not grown up on a farm, he worked for a variety of agricultural operations, including dairy. It wasn’t long before his spark for production agriculture caught fire.

“I started my operation with only six cows and a few pieces of machinery, so it was important for me to set personal goals in production, efficiency and milk-quality standards,” said Chris. “From the beginning, I worked closely with a neighboring farmer who not only provided a reliable source for my feed needs, but was also a positive, encouraging mentor.” But as much as this cooperative relationship relieved some stress, Chris still needed a loan to buy equipment, cattle and fund other capital needs.

“FarmStart gave me access to capital that I couldn’t get anywhere else,” continued Chris. “Working with my advisor, we created a plan to align my ideas with the necessary funding, without backing myself into a corner.”

Chris has worked hard to breed his cows for high production and high classification to be shown at both county and state levels. Hope-Hill Dairy has grown to 100 head of cattle and Chris runs the farm himself, including milking, breeding, calf care and herd work. Now at capacity, Chris hopes to purchase a larger farm to support a family with his wife Amy. His advice to other farmers who are just starting out is to have some type of work experience in a similar operation before you dive in. He advises, “Crunch your numbers, crunch them again and crunch them even smaller to make sure you are able to adapt when plans change — and they do!”

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Business Skills

Sheldon Family Farm LLC West Suffield, Conn.

TOBACCO

FarmStart since 2013 “My parents and grandparents were all farmers, so I guess you could say it’s deep in my blood,” said Steve Sheldon, describing his family farm’s 290-year legacy. His family has farmed tobacco, corn, hay and vegetables, and growing up he worked to refine his production skills in preparation to operate his own farm.

That opportunity arose in 2013 when the neighbor’s farm unexpectedly came up for sale. With a chance to buy property, but not yet enough in savings to undertake such a large investment, Steve reached out to FarmStart for help.

A FarmStart investment allowed Steve to start working on his new land, but not without fulfilling some initial requirements. “My advisor helped me come up with a budget,” said Steve. “It was challenging but important to map out costs and when I would need money.”

Steve says this process improved his personal management skills. “I now make it a point to compare year-toyear notes of production and come up with ways to organize my ‘to-do’ list,” he said. Working closely with the Natural Resource Conservation Services, he identified the ideal locations for certain crops on the farm and plans to partition his new land to maximize efficiency over the next few years.

When asked about his advice to new farmers, Steve recommends getting your finances in line early, connect with others in your industry and don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Following this advice, Steve hopes to increase crop production and reduce future risk as he continues his family’s legacy.

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FarmStart: Investing in your future

FarmStart invests working capital in Northeast agriculture ventures that show promise of success. This investment functions the same as an operating line of credit. It is intended to provide the critical last dollar of funding to overcome the timing mismatch that makes it difficult for true startup farming operations to generate working capital. Along with working capital, the program enables farmers to establish a positive business and credit history during the early stages of their business.

Working Capital FarmStart provides a working capital investment in startup or transitioning agriculture businesses. FarmStart helps recipients learn the discipline and skills of effective cash flow management as they develop a successful track record of credit use. The program provides an investment limited to $50,000 with interest for five years and principal due in full in five years. Full repayment is expected.

Knowledgeable Advisors A FarmStart advisor works with each recipient. This advisor provides substantial consulting and financial planning to help young farmers stay on track toward achieving their business objectives and establishing a positive business and credit history. FarmStart advisors work with farmers daily and therefore know the ins-and-outs of the industry, enabling them to provide financial insights to these startup farm businesses.

Business Plan All FarmStart applicants are required to submit a business plan along with their application. This plan will help organize the new entrepreneur’s mission and business goals, as well as define how to distribute their FarmStart funds. The business plan will serve as a guiding resource for the early years of their startup business.

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Who is Eligible?

Any beginning farmer, fisherman, forestry producer, farm related business owner and/or cooperative with great promise for success, but minimal track record and limited financial resources is eligible. Candidates are expected to be rural entrepreneurs or cooperatives with very little accumulated net worth and few financial resources. Candidates must have at least two years of relevant experience and be in the early startup phase of operation or making major changes in the first several years. The applicant must be an independent enterprise and cannot be affiliated with an established operation. The prospective applicant typically can locate farm resources and has farm-related expertise.

How to Apply An applicant must submit a FarmStart application, current balance sheet, income statement, monthly cash flow budget and a business plan, along with two personal references. A standard credit bureau report will be run on all candidates. The business plan demonstrates that he/she will have the ability to successfully use their investment. The business plan includes a mission statement, business objectives, strategies to achieve objectives, marketing strategies, an outline of the capital required and a repayment plan. Recipients are not required to use any other loan or financial service from Farm Credit.

Final Notes Based on ten years of experience, we have drawn the following conclusions: • Agricultural entrepreneurship is strong in the Northeast.

• Support resources available to beginning farmers have grown in the Northeast. Examples include interactive farm planning tools, training programs and financial services.

• Social media has enabled farmers to market their products to consumers and to connect with similar producers to share in each other’s learning and new business growth.

• Growth of marketing channels for small-scale, limited-resource farmers has allowed startup farms to meet consumer needs and develop niche markets.

• Identifying a sustainable market and having access to suppliers, service providers, regulatory agencies and land grant institutions can be very important.

• As with other, more established farms, success is dependent on a solid business plan that exhibits a realistic strategy for risk and financial management.

• Startup farms make positive contributions to local communities and should be encouraged by government at all levels. This means creating awareness of the value of local farms and ensuring that local zoning laws do not interfere with the farm.

FarmStart Advisors Darren Adsit, Burrville, NY Jay Bana, Cortland, NY Patrick Coates, Hornell, NY Jean Conklin, White River Junction, VT Chuck Custeau, St. Albans, VT Cassie Chittenden, Cobleskill, NY Jackie Dallaire, Enfield, Conn.

Dawn Edmonds, Bridgeton, NJ Rella Getty, Greenwich, NY Kathryn Hall, Auburn, Maine Evan Holmes, Dayville, Conn.

Colin Hostetter, Cobleskill, NY Patrick Hostetter, Bedford, NH Ryan Hrobuchak, Middletown, NY Jennifer Hunter, Potsdam, NY

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Jamie Johnson, Riverhead, NY John Kelder, Claverack, NY Kristin Kraszewski, Riverhead, NY Sheila Manning, Dayville, Conn.

Myra Marcellin, Enfield, Conn.

Jess May, Cortland, NY Michael McPhail, Bedford, NH Katie Moran, Flemington, NJ Amanda Moretti, Greenwich, NY Justin Mortensen, Middleboro, Mass.

Kelsey O’Shea, Potsdam, NY Colleen Osterhout, Middletown, NY Suzanne Petig, St. Albans, VT Emili Ponte, Claverack, NY Jacob Raleigh, Dayville, Conn.

Owen Raymond, Cortland, NY Morgan Rilling, White River Junction, VT Emily Robertson, Geneva, NY Anna Smith, Batavia, NY April Smith, White River Junction, VT Shirley Spencer, Batavia, NY Samantha St Jean, Dayville, Conn.

Tom St Pierre, St. Albans, VT Samantha Stoddard, Bedford, NH Erin Urban, Mayville, NY Joseph Villani, Flemington, NJ Kevin Wickham, Middleboro, Mass.

Robert Wiederhold, Greenwich, NY Kristie Wood, Middlebury, VT

FARM CREDIT EAST

Connecticut Dayville 800.327.6785 Enfield 800.562.2235 Maine Auburn 800.831.4230 Presque Isle 800.831.4640 Massachusetts Middleboro 800.946.0506 New Hampshire Bedford 800.825.3252 New Jersey Bridgeton 800.219.9179

FarmCreditEast.com

YANKEE FARM CREDIT

Flemington 800.787.3276

Mayville 800.929.2144

New York Batavia 800.929.1350

Middletown 888.792.3276

Burrville 800.626.3276 Claverack 800.362.4404 Cobleskill 800.327.6588 Cortland 800.392.3276

Potsdam 800.295.8431

New York Chazy 800.545.8374 Vermont Middlebury 800.545.1169

Riverhead 800.890.3028

Newport 800.370.2738

Sangerfield 800.762.3276

St. Albans 800.545.1097

Rhode Island Dayville, CT 800.327.6785

White River Jct. 800.370.3276

Geneva 800.929.7102 Greenwich 800.234.0269 Hornell 800.929.2025

CoBank.com

YankeeACA.com