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Ben Brown, Denton
area poultry farmer, drives his tractor out of a work shed on the 94-acre farm (shown below) he and his wife Christy purchased last year with the help of a StartRight loan from Farm Credit. The package of loans included: funds for the purchase of the farm, the tractor, needed upgrades to two poultry houses and major renovations to the home.
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Ben and Christy
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Putting dreams on solid financial footing
praises for StartRight Program story and photos by GARY HORNBACHER
short drive from the couple’s present farm and Christy as a nutrient management planner for USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service, where she covers Maryland’s Caroline, Talbot and Dorchester counties. On that day, the young couple was already focused on buying a farm.
For someone with farming background—especially someone young wanting to own a farm of their own and build a life with loved ones—it’s the stuff dreams are made of.
“Farming has been in my blood since I was 10,” says Ben. “And Christy’s a farm gal at heart so everything just snowballed after we met.”
Ben and Christy’s story really begins on September 20, 2008, their wedding day. Both were employed in the agricultural sector—Ben working for Neal Farms Inc., a
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advice and followup of Cara Sylvester (center), their Farm Credit loan officer, for helping make the young couple’s dream of farm ownership
It’s a pretty Cape Cod home, a large outbuilding, a shop and a couple of poultry houses. If you’re fortunate—and not driving past the Denton, Maryland farm too fast—you might even catch a glance of five miniature horses and a quarter-horse gamboling in the pasture.
In this case, it’s Ben and Christy Brown’s dream. Thanks to MidAtlantic Farm Credit’s StartRight program, their dream has become reality in just two short years.
credit the timely
possible.
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Christy’s registered
quarter horse and one of five miniature horses she raises and shows as a hobby get more than their share of attention.
buying a farm an “impossible dream” for many
Christy shares the
Wanting to own your own farm, however, is easier said than done, especially for young adults like Ben and Christy. They had the farming background but no opportunity to buy land from their families.
with the farm’s two
workload that comes 35,000-total capacity poultry houses and 50 tillable acres but still has time for her horses.