Pitchfork Farm is an organic vegetable farm located in Burlington's Intervale. They suffered 100% crop loss in July when the Winooski River overflowed its banks and flooded their fields and greenhouses. They used a VFF Emergency Loan to help cover the costs of replanting.
Read MoreAllstad Farm is an 87-acre farm in Hardwick raising Angus beef and high quality mixed grass hay. An Emergency Loan from the VFF helped to cover farm expenses and repairs to their property in the weeks following the July flood.
Read MoreJericho Settlers Farm received an Emergency Loan in July to help cover flood-related expenses on their 200-acre organic vegetable farm. The funds helped to keep them on track for their fall and winter root crops, which supply the VT Foodbank's Vermonters Feeding Vermonters program and are essential to the viability of their farm.
Read MoreAfter flooding caused significant crop loss on their 34-acre farm in South Royalton, Hurricane Flats used a VFF Emergency Loan to help cover the costs of re-planting their fall crops.
Read MoreAn Emergency Loan from VFF just days after July's catastrophic flooding helped Elmore Roots Nursery cover urgent recovery costs like road repairs to regain access to their fields and orchards.
Read MoreAt Thornhill Farm in Greensboro, owner Todd Hardie has been growing organic grain on his farm for seven years, serving local bakeries, retailers, and distilleries. Thornhill Farm received a $30,000 Business Builder loan from VFF for the purchase of a 48" New American stone mill. A stone mill keeps the milled grain and its oils and ingredients cool, resulting in a higher quality grain - and better-tasting bread and whiskey.
Read MoreZ Botanicals Apothecary & Herbal Sanctuary is an herb farm and apothecary that sells fresh herbs and value-added herbal medicinals. They also make a wide variety of herbal health and beauty products. Z Botanicals received a Business Builder loan to help owner Lyndsay Rose transition the farm to a new property with an on-site storefront in Hartland, VT.
Read MoreReturning VFF borrower Honey Field Farm received a $22,000 Business Builder loan to invest in new equipment for field tillage and cover cropping, giving them greater flexibility to respond to weather and real-time conditions on the ground. Farm owners Eli Hersh and Valerie Woodhouse first came to the Farm Fund in 2020 after purchasing their new 25-acre organic vegetable farm from Liz and Jake Guest, now the owners of Killdeer Farm.
Read MoreLiz and Jake Guest have been farming in the Upper Valley for nearly 40 years. After selling their large vegetable operation and farmstand several years ago, Liz and Jake now manage Killdeer Farm, a smaller organic mixed-vegetable farm on the Connecticut River where they focus on just a few main crops.
Killdeer Farm requested an $8,500 Business Builder loan for the installation of a new walk-in cooler and expansion of the bed of their pickup truck. Jake estimated that these improvements would yield efficiencies in their picking, packing, and delivery systems that would save the farm several thousand dollars each season. As they look toward their eventual retirement, an important goal for Liz and Jake is to maintain their land as a working organic farm now and into the future.
Read MorePaddy Hill Farm is a small diversified immuno-berry farm run by Leslie Polubinski in Moretown. Newly established in 2023, the farm’s primary focus is production of immune-boosting berries: elderberries, black currants, and aronia. This spring Paddy Hill Farm received an $8,000 New Producer Loan that Leslie will use to propel her business from hobby scale to commercial scale through investments in marketing and production. This year she plans to install 50 additional black currant and 30 additional aronia plantings.
Read MoreStine Orchard is an apple orchard and farm market on 32 acres in Monkton. Aaron and Kathleen Stine, co-owners of Bevo Catering in Colchester, purchased the business in early 2022. Aaron approached the VFF this spring for a $30,000 Business Builder loan to expand the kitchen and storage space in the market building. This will support their growing event offerings like the popular food and live music nights they introduced in their first season.
Read MoreJune Farm is a five acre flower farm in Burlington's Intervale, co-owned by Brooke Giard and Braden Lalancette. They grow cut flowers for the wedding/events market, CSAs, Burlington farmers market, grocery stores, and florists. Imported flowers are often full of chemicals and can be poor quality, leaving a huge demand for fresh, local, organically-grown blooms. Last year June Farm doubled their acreage and plan to increase the wholesale share of the business, eventually making it their primary market. They will use their New Producer loan for investments this spring to help them scale up to meet that demand.
Read MoreMoses Kauffman is a farmer and woodworker based in Brownington. He has an active furniture-making and builder/contractor business and in the last several years has begun raising pigs on farm. Moses will use his Business Builder loan to buy additional sows and grain to build up his breeding stock. He also has plans in the coming year to start work on the construction of a sow barn.
Read MoreBirdhous is a returning Farm Fund borrower who used their first Business Builder loan to outfit a bus into a certified food production space. With strong customer demand for their pierogi product, they approach the Farm Fund for a second loan to expand production into a new leased space with new equipment, including a reach-in refrigerator and freezer. The original bus will also receive some upgrades for a new life as a mobile food truck.
Read MoreFort Waite Farm is a 5th generation Vermont dairy farm in Corinth. When severe drought conditions caused their spring-fed well to run dry, farm owners Mary and Elijah White were forced to haul water from a neighbor's pond. In urgent need of capital, they reached out to the Farm Fund for help. In less than two weeks they had the funds in hand for a combination Emergency and Business Builder loan to drill a new water source for the farm.
Read MoreLaughing Child Farm is an organic sweet potato farm in Pawlet, VT. Owned and operated by Brooke and Timothy Hughes-Muse, Laughing Child sells three different varieties of sweet potatoes directly from their farm stand and to stores throughout Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York.
Brooke and Timothy are returning Farm Fund borrowers, receiving their first Farm Fund loan in 2018 to upgrade their packing house and sweet potato washing equipment. With demand for their product steadily growing, their latest Business Builder loan will help finance the purchase of a new delivery truck.
Read MoreHillside Homestead is a 50-cow dairy farm located in Albany, VT owned and operated by Renee and Chet Baker. With experience milking cows since 2013, the Bakers purchased a farm of their own in late 2019. Hillside Homestead is primarily a registered Holstein herd that sells milk conventionally but also operates a small farmstand that offers their own raw milk, local cheese products, maple syrup and some seasonal veggies. The Bakers will use their Business Builder loan to improve their grazing system by adding more paddocks and acres of pasture to allow them to utilize the full extent of their land more efficiently.
Read MoreBurdock Acres is a licensed farm and nursery in Hardwick, VT run by Ella & Kris Price. Once a working dairy that transitioned to beef, the family-owned operation now includes plant starts and cut flowers, and the Prices have plans to eventually add Christmas trees. With their New Producer Loan, Ella and Kris purchased a shed that they'll use for storage in the short-term, with the intent to eventually convert it into an on-farm retail space. The loan will also allow them to add power to the shed and adjacent greenhouse.
Read MoreNEK Grains is a new and upcoming business created by Shawn and Sara Gingue at the Gingue Family Farms in Waterford, VT. The business encompasses the growing, harvesting, processing and storage of wheat, barley, oats and soybeans for use in malting, baking, brewing and feed production in the region as well as custom seeding work and the sale of wheat berries and flour. NEK Grains will use their VFF Business Builder Loan to create a larger on-farm store to offer more retail products and to also house their 40" New American Stone Mill. They currently outsource all of their milling so by purchasing a mill they will be able to fill more orders, more efficiently.
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