Adrian Brochu, along with his brothers Luke and Guy, had operated a mill with Canadian partners since the 1970s. However, as that partnership neared its tenure, the brothers still had an appetite to be in the lumber industry.

Together, with the next generation of Brochus and a couple additional partners, Pleasant River Lumber purchased its first sawmill in 2004. Today, brothers Chris and Jason, the next generation, manage the business along with their father and two partners. In addition to owning and managing timberland, Pleasant River Lumber operates four sawmills that produce more than 235 million board feet of spruce dimensional lumber and eastern white pine annually. In 2016, they also purchased their own trucking company. Pleasant River Lumber’s products are shipped predominately along the Eastern seaboard, from Maine through the Virginias.

“A natural fit”

“When it came time to open our own mill, Farm Credit East was a natural fit,” said Jason Brochu. “Our loan officer, Scott Kenney, put together that first lending package for us to purchase the mill and he has grown with us ever since.”

“Farm Credit East has been instrumental in our growth, providing guidance along the way – a true partner.” Jason continued. “Scott can analyze things for us from a different point of view that compliments the information we receive from our own internal accounting team.”

Farm Credit is there in good times and bad

Jason and Chris noted that the importance and strength of their relationship with Farm Credit East was exemplified in 2009, during the worst collapse the industry has ever seen.“ Farm Credit understands the industry and the ups and downs that come with it,” said Chris. “We’ve experienced some pretty low downturns, and Farm Credit stood by us when most other lenders would not have.”

“Scott and his team are creative in putting deals together for us, and help us to communicate,” said Jason. “Farm Credit East has been key in allowing us to do the things we’ve done, and also the success of those endeavors.”