SUSTAINING OUR PEOPLE

Helping Customers Manage Their Environmental Footprint

Sustainable practices in Northeast agriculture, forestry and fishing operations are not new. However, with today’s technology advances, implementing some practices, such as those that produce renewable energy, can be costly and time consuming.

Farm Credit East provides educational and informative resources through its Knowledge Exchange program while also offering grant writing services to assist customers in obtaining funding to implement or improve upon sustainable initiatives.

Grant Assistance

With funding applications typically being quite involved, Farm Credit East’s knowledge of the available programs and working relationships with those administering them allows us to address the nuances of completing a successful application.

Farm Credit East’s goal in working with customers on grant applications is to understand what the customer is trying to achieve and then seeking funding sources to help cover project costs. Farm Credit East can also provide feasibility and economic analyses.

Services We Provide

Farm Credit East helps customers identify incentives and assists in completion of grant applications through programs like the USDA’s Renewable Energy for America Program (REAP), which funds renewable energy projects like solar, wind or anaerobic digestion to produce electricity, or renewable natural gas. Farm Credit East also helps customers arrange energy efficiency audits and works with utility companies that provide customer incentives for the installation of renewable or energy efficient systems.

Education & Resources

Farm Credit East has compiled a grants and incentives for Northeast agriculture report to provide a resource for Northeast producers to identify funding opportunities. The report includes grant programs, tax incentives and loan programs from various funding sources available to agricultural producers and other entities involved in agriculture or related industries. Visit FarmCreditEast.com/grants to download this report.

Satur Farms, Cutchogue, New York

Last October, Satur Farms, a vegetable farm on the eastern end of Long Island, connected their newly installed solar array on the grid. Farm Credit East played a key role in helping them secure grant funding to implement this project.

“The cost of electricity was distressing,” commented Paulette Satur. “Not to mention the important sustainability piece, so we engaged Farm Credit East’s grant writing services in late 2021 to apply for a REAP grant.”

The array was installed on a part of the property that was unsuitable for production. The array produces around 68 kilowatts to cover the majority of their farm’s electricity needs.

“We could have never done what we did without Farm Credit East and USDA,” continued Paulette. “It’s important for industry organizations, such as Farm Credit East, to keep producers apprised of this type of funding. We’re too busy to know what we don’t know, so this type of information is extremely valuable.”

Creating An Inclusive Work Environment

Delivering an outstanding customer experience starts with the employee experience. It’s our employee team who connects the cooperative to its customers and keeps the association operating. In a recent employee survey, our team indicated some of the following attributes are important to their Farm Credit East experience.

Growth Opportunities

Farm Credit East offers ongoing training and development and when opportunities arise, aims to promote from within the organization. In fact, nearly our entire senior leadership team was promoted over time to obtain their current positions, with many having worked for the cooperative for more than 25 years.

In 2016, we formalized a young professionals group. Their mission is to inspire and connect current and future generations at Farm Credit East. “Young Professionals has been a great opportunity to build relationships with likeminded staff at similar points in their careers,” said Austin Weaver, Farm Credit East Accounting Specialist and Young Professionals Chair. “The impact our initiatives have on the organization and overall involvement has been very rewarding, both professionally and personally.”

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

In 2020, Farm Credit East established a leading diversity workgroup with the goal of creating an employee culture that embraces the different skills, talents and experiences each employee brings to the table.

“We want each and every employee to be able to bring all of their skills, abilities, interests and experiences so that they can fully engage in their work. If those can’t be fully utilized because they are different in some way, we all miss out on opportunities,” said Erin Pirro, business consultant and leading diversity founding member.

Over the past three years, this group has evolved. One of its first initiatives is the Voices discussion series, which provides the entire Farm Credit East team a safe space to build community around diversity and inclusion. “I now realize that everybody has some layer of diversity to them and it’s important to understand those layers to be inclusive,” said Matt DiSciacca, loan officer and member of the leading diversity steering committee. “If someone doesn’t feel included or accepted — or they feel they need to hide a part of themselves at work — they won’t be engaged.”

“Everyone has unique knowledge, skills and intangible assets to contribute,” said Rodney Patterson, CEO of The Learner’s Group, Farm Credit East’s Diversity, Equity,

Inclusion and Engagement consultant. “And being able to contribute those provides higher levels of engagement for the employee and success for the business. This is the essence of the Human Equity strategy, and I’m excited to work with Farm Credit East to help implement Human Equity as the cornerstone of Farm Credit East’s Human Resources strategy.”

Employee Assistance Program

Farm Credit East employees have access to a third-party assistance and counseling service free of charge. From financial and legal assistance to resources for addressing issues surrounding family, relationship, work, career or other personal challenges, employees have 24/7 access to resources and counseling services.