By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

DUNKIRK, Ind. — Fate has a strange way of popping up at the most inopportune time and changing the course of life forever. That is exactly what happened to Erin Hamilton.

Just as she and her husband, John, were about to make the purchase of a lifetime, a new farm, a tragic turn of events nearly changed it all. The young couple had painstakingly planned just what kind of ag industry to enter, knowing the farm life was the way they wanted to live and raise their two small children.

Erin Hamilton came from the family farm but her husband was a “city boy,” as she put it. Still, the two were sure the farm was the right thing and they were excited about the prospect.

Unfortunately her John, at the age of 29, unexpectedly suffered a heart attack and died, leaving Hamilton and her children devastated and unsure what would happen to them.

“I was left at 24 with two kids and no idea of what I was going to do,” she said. “Farming was something we could do together as a family. We could take our kids with us for the most part and as they got older, we could give them the ag background that we wanted them to have. But as a young couple we didn’t have anything set up to cover us the rest of our lives.”

The Hamiltons were at the critical financing point in the planning phase of their farm when tragedy struck. That planning started in 2004 when the two were looking to supplement their income.
“I was working two jobs and he was working and going back to school, and it wasn’t the life we wanted,” said Hamilton. “We thought supplementing our income in an ag-related way would be the best venture for us. It was a matter of us wanting to do this, and where do we find the money?”

Their plan was to keep him in school while being the office manager for her father’s construction business, while she would stay at home with the children and be the mainstay on the farm. After a couple of loan denials, the couple finally found a bank to work with them, but still they would require additional funding to get all the money they would need to establish their hog farm.

“My dad suggested we try for a first time farmer loan, so that was our goal. The day before we were to meet with our bank, my husband had a heart attack and passed away,” said Hamilton.

She added for a time, uncertainty was the prevalent feeling for the family, but soon that was replaced by determination to make the dream come true. “Surely there was a reason we had come upon this venture and I was going to continue on,” said Hamilton.

And continue she did – but financing the farm took a new turn. Instead of a couple applying for the loan, there was just a widow. At this point the local Farm Service Agency (FSA) entered the picture.
Greg Foulke, chief farm loan officer for Indiana FSA, said while there is money each year earmarked for the socially disadvantaged farmers (SDA) programs (see related article), there are still not enough applicants to use up all those funds.

“I would say in many years, all the money targeted for socially disadvantaged farmers does not get spent because we don’t have the applicants,” he said. “It’s not that we’re not willing and able, it’s just that we don’t get them in the door.”

Foulke added it is his hope that through information about loan availabilities at FSA, more eligible applicants will become aware and take advantage of their programs. Hamilton did just that and with the help of her FSA office, obtained her loan.

Four years after the untimely death of her husband, she is the owner and operator, along with her children – Nathan, 9, and Leah, 7 – of a 4,000 head hog farm in Jay County, Ind.

“The farm is beginning to look like I want it to. It’s taking longer but I have done it myself,” she said. “My kids are now at the age where they are fabulous help, especially when we have the little pigs. I just hope I’m teaching them the work ethic their dad and I wanted them to have.”

Hamilton added that while there may have been those who thought she could never accomplish her goal of becoming a full-time farmer, she was only encouraged and helped by family and friends, the company she contracts with that supplies her and buys her hogs and, of course, the people at her bank and the local FSA office.
“I would not be where I am without them,” she said. “This would not have happened if the FSA had not come through.”