The Farm Credit program that allowed me to buy farmland without prior farming experience

Not only does the Farm Credit System make it possible for people countrywide to buy farmland or invest in a farming business - it also comes with a program that issues residential loans for farmland

When I called Farm Credit East back in 2023 about buying 6.74 acres of farmland near Saratoga Springs, New York, I figured the person on the receiving end would hang up… or laugh at me. I had never gardened or farmed before. I didn’t know the first thing about working or developing farmland, much less how to bring electric to the front of my property.

But, the stubborn adventurer in me decided to give it a shot anyway.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the land I had just viewed out in Schuylerville, New York. It was perfect to me. It was the prettiest land I had ever seen, truly. I couldn’t shake this idea (well, dream) of gardening the land, stewarding the land, reviving the land, and welcoming in species that have gone dormant from pesticides and manicured lawns today.

Of course the imposter syndrome still lurked in the back of my mind at that time, “Alex, what on earth are you doing. You have no business buying farmland,” my brain whispered to me. Still, I ignored it.

Not only was I met with a warm reception on the phone from the Farm Credit East office, but I was also told they would issue a loan for this land even though I had never farmed (once I satisfied the loan requirements, of course).

Having only ever seen the loan programs through the USDA, which generally require prior farming experience, I was in shock. Why would this company take such a ‘risk’ as to issue ME a loan to farmland? I didn’t realize at the time the Farm Credit System is formidable. I had never heard about it before - it was never mentioned in my schooling, economics classes, or environmental classes. I had no idea it was a nationwide network that was established in 1933 by Congress.

(I break down in this article everything there is to know about the Farm Credit System as a whole)

Therefore, allow me to share with you the specific program within Farm Credit that made it possible for me, someone who had never planted anything in my life, to put in an offer for the land that now houses my farm.