BATH, Maine–Five County Credit Union has created “Maine Harvest Solutions,” a new department offering specialized financial services to farmers and food entrepreneurs.
According to the Maine CU League, which first reported the news, farmers and food entrepreneurs are a historically underbanked sector in the United States.
“The department will offer financing for land, equipment, and businesses, as well as mortgages to farms and related businesses,” the league reported. “These loans and other financial services strengthen Maine’s food economy and help preserve working farms and farmland.”
The league noted the new department is one of the many changes resulting from the $368-million Five County CU’s December 2022 merger with Maine Harvest FCU, which earned national distinction for being the first credit union in America to specialize in agricultural lending.
As CUToday.info reported in 2019, after five years of raising funds and organizational efforts, Maine Harvest FCU was granted its charter to serve food producers and farmers in the state. At the time it said there was an estimated $186 million financing gap in Maine’s agricultural sector. But just two years later, with $2.83 million in assets at the time but just 78 members, the credit union said it was seeking to merge.
‘Meaningful Financial Solutions’
“The merger with Maine Harvest FCU embodies our mission to create meaningful financial solutions for Maine’s hardest working population,” Julie Marquis, CEO at Five County CU, told the Maine league. “I’ve seen the power of our work in action—providing financial opportunity changes lives.”
Added Scott Budde, cofounder of Maine Harvest FCU, “While the pandemic presented numerous challenges, we proved that loan demand in this sector exists and that these are great farms and business to work with. We also simply needed to make larger loans to our members. We approached Five County CU because its mission aligned with ours and it felt like a natural advancement of our work.”
Covering Closing Costs
As part of its new initiative, Five County CU will cover closing costs for agricultural real estate borrowers up to $2,000 and provide $20,000 in PFAS assistance through the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and Maine Farmland Trust, according to the league. Both programs were funded at the time of the merger through the equity of Maine Harvest FCU.
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