Part II GreenStone Turns 20 THE MERGER OF FOUR REGIONAL FARM CREDIT ASSOCIATIONS IN MICHIGAN INTO ONE ASSOCIATION IN JANUARY 2000, WITH THE ADDED MERGER OF THE UPPER PENINSULA AND NORTHEAST WISCONSIN IN JANUARY 2003, CREATED A DYNAMIC FINANCIAL INSTITUTION DEDICATED TO SUPPORTING RURAL COMMUNITIES AND AGRICULTURE. (READ PART I OF THIS JOURNEY IN THE SPRING 2020 ISSUE OF PARTNERS.) GreenStone President and CEO Dave Armstrong reflects on the last 20 years, and the milestone decisions that shaped the company and his vision of success.
When the four farm credit associations in Michigan’s lower peninsula merged in 2000 to become GreenStone Farm Credit Services and the addition of Northeast Wisconsin in 2003 each organization brought a strong culture of service to the new organization and that was to become the foundation of who we are today. When you have people who have a servant’s heart with an affinity for rural communities and agriculture, it becomes a perfect match of cultures to carry out the Farm Credit mission. The merger allowed us to build on that cultural foundation with a diverse set of business skills. Prior to forming GreenStone, we (staff and directors) had all been talking about the changes happening in the agricultural industry. We were all observing it, but none of us had the scope, scale and ability to really tailor our products and services to the different niches within the general portfolio. The merger gave us that ability, and allowed us to segment our expertise and delivery services to provide better customer service. For example, we didn’t just create a country living customer category, we actually developed specialized financial services officer positions to focus on these customers and become experts at the unique solutions they need. We developed a different set of country living loan standards, and we aligned new interest rates and programs specifically for country living customers. Before that, we had to push country living customers’ needs into our general farmer framework which didn’t fit their individual needs like our segmented program does today.
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Summer 2020 — Partners