Roughly twenty miles West of the Georgia-South Carolina border sits Waynesboro, Georgia, home to 5,688 residents and a history dating back to the Revolutionary War. While the town bills itself as“The Bird Dog Capital of the World,” its economy was largely builton agriculture and industry.
Soon to be among those agricultural players is Hart Dairy, a company with an existing facility in nearby Girard that approached NAC will plans to construct a state-of-the-art dairy processing and packaging plant in a spec building in Waynesboro.
Securing the sizable funding Hart Dairy required record persistence from all parties involved, but NAC’s team of rural lending experts never lost motivation. That persistence paid off mightily when new options arose in the middle of the application process.
Partway through the application process, the USDA introduced a new program: the Food Supply Chain Loan Program. The new offering presented Hart Dairy with an even more competitive opportunity: more funding at a lower cost. Under the standard Business & Industry Loan Program, Hart would have been limited to $25 million in funding, but the USDA’s stated commitment to the American food supply chain was backedby action in the form of a $40 million max.
Hart Dairy secured the full $40 million – funds that will bankroll the construction of new plant and create 214 jobs in Waynesboro
“Arriving at the finish line alongside Hart Dairy was no small feat, explained NAC founder Eric Johnson. “But the tireless commitment of the USDA, client, and knowledgeable NAC lending team paid off. NAC’s largest FSC loan to date will have significant impact on the people of Waynesboro and beyond.”
