Carolina Farm Credit makes a concerted effort to finance young, beginning, small and minority farmers by offering programs designed to meet the needs of such applicants to the fullest extent of their credit worthiness.

What is a Young, Beginning, Small or Minority Farmer?

• A Young farmer is one who is 35 years of age of younger.
• A Beginning farmer is one who has 10 or fewer years farming, ranching or aquatic agriculture experience.
• A Small farmer is one who generates less than $250,000 in annual gross agricultural or aquatic sales.

Carolina Farm Credit believes that Young, Beginning, Small and Minority Farmer loans can be made on a safe and sound basis and supports making these types of loans part of the overall loan portfolio.

In order to better serve the needs of these farmers, Carolina is a Farm Service Agency (FSA) Preferred Lender. To help manage credit risk, Carolina recommends participation in the FSA and/or other guarantee programs.

The Board of Directors of Carolina Farm Credit believe our Young, Beginning, Small and minority Farmers are extremely important to the future of our cooperative. Over the last several years we have worked to develop educational opportunities for this group. One such event is the association’s Agricultural Leadership Institute which is held in the spring for a group of young, beginning, small, minority farmers which are community leaders and highly respected by their peers. This event is an intense weekend of management, transition, and business planning seminars.

Table 1 shows the total number and amount of loans we had outstanding as of December 31, 2004, and shows the number and amount of loans with young and beginning farmers as of December 31, 2004.

View Table 1

Table 2 indicates the number and amount of loans outstanding to small farmers as of 12/31/04.

View Table 2

Table 3 and Table 4 show the number and amount of new loans made during 2004 and the number and amount of these loans that were made to young, beginning and small farmers.

View Table 3 and Table 4

One tool, which helps us meet the needs of young, beginning and small farmers, is the government guaranteed program through the Farm Service Agency. As of December 31, 2004, we have 526 loans to either young, beginning and small farmers representing $61.7 million that are government guaranteed. Additionally, during 2004, we made 141 new loans to young, beginning and small farmers for $16.1 million, upon which the government guarantee was placed. When considering all loans in our portfolio that are government guaranteed, 78.98% of the number and 72.13% of the amount are to young, beginning or small farmers.

In order to insure that we are reaching young, beginning, and small farmers, we are involved in many different activities and sponsorships throughout our 54 county area. Several of these activities are listed below:

1. Major sponsor for NC Jr. Beef Roundup – Provided a scholarship
   
2. Major sponsor for “cowgirls for a Cure” – Cowgirl rodeo to benefit breast cancer research.
   
3. Provided seed money to establish a teaching animal unit for FFA students at Crest High School.
   
4. Sponsored local FFA Alumni Reunion to provide opportunity for FFA members to meet and work with old friends.
   
5. Provided two educational seminars at the North Carolina Horse Festival.
   
6. Major sponsor of Southeastern Jr. Angus expo.
   
7. Established and sponsored the Farm Credit Showmanship Circuit, which allowed children from 12 county area to exhibit their fitting and showmanship skills.

We, at Carolina Farm Credit, are aware of the importance of attracting and insuring young, beginning, and small farmers remain involved in agriculture in North Carolina. We, therefore, place a great deal of emphasis on our young, beginning and small farmer programs and feel it is important for you to be aware of what we are doing. Based on the 1997 Agricultural census data, Carolina Farm Credit’s ratio of loans to young and beginning farmers (young – 14.91%, beginning – 18.94%) compared to our total loan portfolio exceeds the ratio of young and beginning farmers to total farmers in our territory (young – 6%, beginning – 22%). According to these same statistics, 93% of total farmers in our territory are small farmers and 81.63% of our loans are to small farmers. We feel these statistics prove we are serving young, beginning and small farmers in our territory.

Carolina does not discriminate in any credit transaction on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, marital status, age, public-assisted income, or because a right was exercised under the Consumer Credit Protection Act.

For additional information, call your local Carolina Farm Credit office, or call toll-free 1-800-521-9952

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