Once Michael Priebe and his wife Karolina decided to put down permanent roots in Nenana, Alaska, they never looked back. “I got stationed here in the army, and I retired from here,” he says. “My wife said, ‘Could we stay?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’” Having grown up around a family of farmers, farming felt like a natural next step for Michael. “I think I always wanted to get into farming—the bug was there. I just never thought I would.
“The biggest challenge we had initially was buying this farm. We couldn’t find financing in Alaska.” The Priebes tried multiple lenders, but the answer was always the same—sorry, we don’t finance bare land.
“I was talking to a land appraiser,” Michael explains, “and he said, ‘AgWest orders a lot of appraisals. Maybe call them.’ That’s how I got connected with [our AgWest Relationship Manager]. He said, ‘Absolutely, I’ll finance it.’ And he made it simple.”
AgWest is a financial cooperative that provides financing, crop insurance, and related services to agriculture producers and rural homeowners throughout the West, including Alaska.
After working to obtain financing with AgWest, the Priebes are now proud owners of KMP Farm, growing hay for customers throughout the area. While farming in Alaska does have its challenges, Karolina says working with AgWest isn’t one of them.
“Working with AgWest Farm Credit has probably been one of the easiest things that we’ve done as far as farming goes, because customer service is top-notch,” she says. “When I call, a live person answers the phone. They will always find somebody to help me with the questions I have.”
When it comes to living in Alaska, Karolina says, “Here you can be either surrounded by people in a great community, or you can escape and be totally in the wilderness, just you and nature, and nobody bothers you. You can have it both ways, really, and that’s what I love about Alaska.”
AgWest loves Alaska, too. Contact us today to see how we can help:
• Real estate and operating loans
• Equipment financing
• Rural residential home loans
• Educational opportunities and incentives
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