Farm in Pittsfield, Maine. (Source: Shutterstock)
The $368 million Five County Credit Union said it officially launched last week a new department, Maine Harvest Solutions, to deliver specialized financial services to farmers and food entrepreneurs, which historically has been an underbanked sector in the Pine Tree State, according to the Bath-based financial cooperative.
The department is a result of Five County's merger with Maine Harvest Federal Credit Union in December 2022.
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Chartered in August 2019, Maine Harvest's goal was to close the estimated $186 million financing gap in the state's agricultural sector which, in turn, would increase the availability of local food, strengthen rural economies, preserve working farms and help capitalize startups and food entrepreneurs.
But its mission was short lived, through no fault of its own, as Maine Harvest opened its doors less than six months before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"While the pandemic presented numerous challenges, we proved that loan demand in this sector exists and that these are great farms and businesses to work with. We also simply needed to make larger loans to our members," Maine Harvest's co-founder, Scott Budde, said. "We approached Five County because its mission aligned with ours and it felt like a natural advancement of our work."
Maine Harvest entered the merger process with $2.6 million in assets, a $1 million loan portfolio and 86 members.
Post-merger, it now can increase loan sizes from its previous cap of $225,000 to between $500,000 and $1 million, Budde said in a CU Times interview last year. In addition to originating larger loans, Maine Harvest Solutions also provides other products and services such as lines of credit, business checking accounts, and personal and business online banking.
Five County's 130 employees operate 15 locations and serve more than 29,000 members.
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Peter Strozniak
Credit Union Times reporter covering credit union operations, fraud, M&As, leagues, business continuity, and breaking news.
