Crop Insurance Feature

Coverage & Stewardship

Crop Insurance Customer Feature

Mark D. Zacharda grew up on Zacharda Farms, which was owned and operated by his dad and uncle.

He helped milk cows until they sold them at the turn of the century, and then he helped them cash crop. However, he didn’t go straight from school to the farm. He graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in agriculture science and earned a teaching certification from Saginaw Valley State University, and then he moved to Virginia to teach high school biology. “I really enjoyed being a teacher,” Mark said. “Farming can be stressful, but teaching can be even more so. They’re similar in a lot of ways. There are farmers who just get by…if yields aren’t terrible, and if prices aren’t bad, and you have crop insurance to back it up, they can make it. Some teachers also just phone it in, but if you want to really do what’s best by the students or optimize your farm’s profitability while doing what’s best by the environment, you have to really work.”

➡ Mark Klett uses

GreenStone’s exclusive crop insurance analysis tool, Optimum, to present options to his customers, including the Zachardas.

Mark married his wife Stephanie, and they have two daughters, Edie and Maisie. After living in Virginia for four years, a trip home to Michigan for the holidays inspired Mark to consider going into farming full-time. “My dad Mark and uncle Bob were getting older, and I wanted to work on the farm,” he said. “We moved back to Michigan in 2012 and my uncle retired in 2014, and since then my dad and I have been partners. So, I’ve been working on the farm for a majority of my life, but full-time for nine years.”

Job change

Mark made the change from teaching to farming for many lifestyle reasons. “I enjoy working outside,” Mark said. “When I was teaching all day under fluorescent lights, it started to eat away at me after a while. Now I’m out in the field, an eagle flies by, there are deer running around – I’m closer to nature.” Mark likes working with his hands, plus appreciates the autonomy. “It’s really gratifying when something breaks and you can repair it yourself,” he said. “I’m always tinkering and looking for ways to increase efficiency. For instance, if I build a rack on the trailer, it can hold two more bales, which means each trip is more efficient…Plus, I also like being my own boss.” Not only is being outside good for his mental health, but he also sees how it benefits the larger population. “More people being aware of the natural world is a potential game-changer for the health of the planet,” he said. “People aren’t going to care about things like climate change and waste reduction if they don’t spend any time outside. Production farmers have a huge and exciting role to play in enhancing the health of the planet.”

Legacy

Mark’s family had already worked with GreenStone for 30 years when he came back to the farm. He got an operating loan through financial services officer Barb Dinsmore, and he worked with specialist Mark Klett on crop insurance. “I really enjoy working with Mark,” he said. “He farmed himself, so he totally gets it. He’s also super responsive. I don’t like to bug people outside of business hours, but this is farming, so when I text him, he responds even if it’s 9:00 p.m. on a Sunday night.”