Mainebiz

V O L . X X I V N O. V I I T o launch Bumbleroot Organic Farm, the four founders pooled funds to buy a tractor and things like vegetable and fl ower seed, setting up a modest operation on a 1.5-acre site leased in Buxton. Bolstered by income from a com- munity-supported agriculture program, farmers markets and sales to restaurants, they quickly sought out land to buy. In 2016, through a Maine Farmland Trust program and with fi nancing from Coastal Enterprises Inc., the Bumbleroot owners bought 89 acres of farmland in Windham, invested in renovation and put fi ve acres into pro- duction. Plans are now in the works to grow production acreage, add crops and customers and increase visibility by host- ing events like Outstanding in the Field, a $235-per-person farm-to-table dinner. e farmland purchase would have been beyond their means without the Maine Farmland Trust program, com- bined with the fi nancing fl exibility and relationship-oriented involvement of CEI, says Bumbleroot founder Melissa Law, who founded the farm with Abby and Jeff Fisher and Ben Whalen. "One thing that stands out for me when thinking about CEI is that they don't lend people into a corner," says Law. " ey do their due diligence in terms of making sure this is going to be okay for the business." eir contact at CEI, Gray Harris, senior program director of natural resources, explains that relationship- based lending is the core of the farm- fi nance sector. " ey have to be able to think of their lender and their business advisor as part of their team," Harris says. "So when they come back, they know I'm going to say, 'Let's make sure you're looking at all your options.'" Evolving industry Maine had 8,173 farms in 2012, the most recent year the U.S. Department of Agriculture counted, about the same as fi ve years earlier. But in those years productive land increased 8% and the average farm size grew by 7%, P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY T things like vegetable and fl ower seed, setting up a modest operation on a 1.5-acre site leased in Buxton. Bolstered by income from a com- munity-supported agriculture program, farmers markets and sales to restaurants, they quickly sought out land to buy. In 2016, through a Maine Farmland Trust program and with fi nancing from Coastal Enterprises Inc., the Bumbleroot owners bought 89 acres of farmland in Windham, invested in renovation and put fi ve acres into pro- duction. Plans are now in the works to grow production acreage, add crops and customers and increase visibility by host- ing events like Outstanding in the Field, Turning crops into money Turning crops into money Turning crops As Maine agriculture evolves, farm financers aim to keep up B Y L A U R I E S C H R E I B E R F O C U S An operating loan is An operating loan is An operating loan is An operating loan is An operating loan is An operating loan is An operating loan is An operating loan is An operating loan is An operating loan is An operating loan is An operating loan is An operating loan is An operating loan is a big-ticket item that a big-ticket item that a big-ticket item that a big-ticket item that a big-ticket item that a big-ticket item that a big-ticket item that a big-ticket item that a big-ticket item that a big-ticket item that a big-ticket item that a big-ticket item that a big-ticket item that allows us to have funding until we can harvest our crops and turn them into money. — Jay LaJoie Fifth-generation farmer A P R I L 2 , 2 0 1 8 20 Melissa Law, left, a co-owner of Bumbleroot Organic Farm, with Gray Harris, a senior program director at Coastal Enterprises Inc. CEI, working through Maine Farmland Trust, fi nanced the purchase of the Windham farm.

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