Business Focus

A 20 acre, certified organic farm in Burlington’s Intervale, growing 40+ varieties of vegetables and herbs. Hyperlocal, the majority of Arethusa’s produce is distributed within 10 miles of the farm.

Loan Summary

The flood waters of Tropical Storm Irene dealt Arethusa a potentially devastating blow, covering all of their crops under silt and water. A VFF Emergency Loan, along with small grants, enabled the farm to pay its bills while it regrouped for the 2012 growing season.

The Backstory

Flooding in the Burlington, Vermont area wasn’t predicted until the Sunday of the weekend that Irene hit. Though co-owners Benner Dana and Thomas Case were notified that the Intervale was in danger of flooding the next day, neither had any way to get to the farm that Sunday.

The crew had done routine harvesting on Thursday and Friday. But, come Monday morning, there was still a lot to be done to beat the predicted rise of the Winooski. Thomas remembers it as a surreal morning, beautiful bright blue skies and dry, cool temps. Also extraordinary was the pace at which the crew and community volunteers were harvesting produce, loading wagons, and moving anything out that wasn’t in the ground.

When the flood waters finally reached the Intervale, the river rose over the banks in a matter of minutes. In a furious last ditch effort to save all that they could, Brenner and Thomas drove out of the field in two feet of water that covered the entire farm and left the crops in ruins. Even though their infrastructure and equipment were all saved, Thomas and Benner were still staring down a loss of more than $164,000.

“After the flood, we were stunned and disheartened to say the least. An email with a link to apply for a VFF Emergency Loan came just at the right time.”

The Bottom Line

“We really appreciated how much trust and ease there was in the VFF application process. Very simple, straightforward, and fast.”

Like all farms, Arethusa’s expenses didn’t magically disappear when their crops were unexpectedly lost. Payroll, rental fees, taxes, loan payments, and more still needed to be paid. With all income suspended until the next growing season, Arethusa was in danger of going out of business.

The Vermont Farm Fund zero-interest loan that Arethusa was able to secure in a couple of short weeks, helped them pay the bills until their crop insurance payment came in 2012. To decrease their costs further, Arethusa also used the VFF money to pay down the line of credit they had taken out in the spring that had a relatively high rate of interest.

After climbing back in 2012, the farm is looking good going into 2013 and beyond. Thomas is running the farm on his own now, and has been able to make some needed capital investments. These accomplishments have put Arethusa back into the Success on Farms program.

All photos for this story were provided by Arethusa Farm.