Young Farmer Realizes Dream of Owning a Dairy Operation

Persistence and an FSA loan helped Matt Hartwig realize his dream of becoming a dairy farmer. “I never really wanted to do anything else but be a dairy farmer,” said Hartwig. But obtaining funding to purchase an operation or buy farmland seemed impossible for a 20-something who grew up on a farm in Minnesota. With dairying a distant dream, Hartwig decided to take up veterinary medicine, earning a degree in dairy science management and later interning on a dairy farm in Oregon. He continued to save his money and when the opportunity came, he dipped into his $60,000 nest egg and qualified for an FSA beginning farmer loan to make his dream a reality. Read more (Agriculture.com).