This is the first in a series of columns noting the contributions and accomplishments of young, beginning and small farmers. The young farm couple featured here is building a successful business with a little help from their family, their community and Farm Credit.

2001 was an amazing year for Christy and Scott Johnson because they won the New Hampshire Farm Bureau Farm Achievement Award and the New Hampshire Grange Young Farmer Award. These are impressive accomplishments for a young farm couple that started a business just seven years ago.

Both Christy and Scott had college degrees and full-time jobs when they decided to resurrect Scott's family farm in 1995. Scott is the fourth generation to work Johnson's Highland View Farm in Windham, N.H., a 35-acre operation that produces a variety of vegetables and plants.

The young couple expanded the traditional farming operation by adding a retail operation that sells spring annuals, mixed vegetables, hardy mums and pumpkins. They also added picnic tables, a walking path, an ice cream stand and a barnyard menagerie as incentives to draw traffic.

"Both awards were the highlights of our 2001 season," Scott Johnson says. "For me to be honored by the same group that honored my grandfather 50 years ago is a wonderful feeling. It connects me with other farmers and the Farm Bureau. And it connects me to my grandfather, who was bigger than life."

Scott says, "We owe the magic of our last seven years of farming to the help of our family, friends, neighbors and Farm Credit. These awards belong equally to the community that supports us."

Scott first credits his father for allowing Christy and him to carry on the Johnson farming legacy. "My father could have sold the farm for millions," Scott said, "but he chose to continue the family business because generations of our family have shared a love of farming and the preservation of agriculture."

Scott also credits the many volunteers that selflessly give their time and energy to their business — for free. "We are always amazed at the number of people who stop by to help us throw hay bales or pick pumpkins — all on their own time and for no wages."

Scott and Christy credit First Pioneer Farm Credit for helping them manage their business. Scott said, "We can keep farming in a large part due to First Pioneer, that is no secret. Kristen Kriebel, my loan officer is wonderful, and so is Carol Zintel, our record-keeping specialist.

"By working together with Farm Credit, Christy and I can be successful. Without Farm Credit — and also the Farm Service Agency - young, beginning and small farmers couldn't get started."