Dairy Farmer to Ag Secretary: FSA Has Been a Joy to do Business With

Dear Mr. Secretary:

At the age of 13 I told my Junior High guidance counselor that I wanted to be a dairy farmer. Considering I grew up in a town along the Massachusetts coast on an acre and a half may have had something to do with her “smile.” In July of 1976, at the age of 20, I was milking seven cows on a rented farm. My parents took out a second mortgage on their home and soon I was milking 35. In the fall of 1978, a barn fire put me back to square one.

In the spring of 1979, with zero net worth, I applied for and received a $75,000 loan from then what was Farmers Home Administration. The loan was used to purchase an existing herd of Holsteins on another rented farm in Massachusetts. Two years later we moved that herd to yet another rented farm in Otego, N.Y., in order to have a better opportunity to purchase a farm of our own. With family money for the down payment in 1983, Deansboro, N.Y., became the permanent home of “Gallagher’s Unregistered Holsteins.” Fast forward to 2013, my son and I are partners in the farm that has grown to 525 cows, 450 young-stock on 600 acres owned and another 350 acres of rented land. Through the years there have been six direct loans, several subordinations, deferrals and one guarantee with the Farm Service Agency. I apologize for taking over 33 years to finally pay off and graduate from FSA but there have been some bumps along the way. These financial bumps are where the value of the people you work with get established.

Edward Gallagher’s letter to Agriculture Secretary Vilsack thanks the Farm Service Agency for helping his dairy farm grow to 600 acres with 525 cows.

The FSA office run by Linda Whiteman in Marcy, N.Y., has been a joy to do business with for they have the vision to say yes, the courage to say no, and the ability to manage these decisions without the hint of arrogance — a rare combination to be sure. Only in the last few years has our farm employed 11 full-time and several part-time people, grossing between $2.5 and $3 million per year and has a solid net worth. It’s all because of a program that allows capital to take a detour from its normal channels of bank lending to be used by someone with youth, drive and passion for farming. So thank you FSA for your lending policies and thank you Linda Whiteman for your ability to administer those policies in a way that helps the borrowers and at the same time safeguards the taxpayers.

Sincerely,
Edward R. Gallagher
Deansboror, N.Y.