Sheep Meadow Farm in Danville, VT received a VFF Business Builder Loan to purchase and install a 6-ton bulk grain bin, which will cut the cost of feed in half. They use whole corn to finish lambs before slaughter. This year they were able to raise 170 lambs for local markets.
Read MoreBased on a farm in Albany, Vermont, Wunderkammer Biermanufaktur is a small production, artisanal brewer of mixed-culture beer that features local malt and hops as well as produce and foraged ingredients. They are building a new brewhouse in an old cheese cave and will use the loan for purchasing equipment and start-up supplies and raw materials.
Read MoreBirdhous is a “co-working landscape” inviting young and beginning farmers to its residential “Roosting” program, which offers subsidized rent, tool and infrastructure sharing, and the built-in support offered by living communally in a like-minded cohort. Their VFF Business Builder loan was used to outfit a bus into a certified food production space for pierogi-making that can also work as a catering/food truck for pop-up VT Pierogi events.
Read MoreBlack Dirt Farm is a diversified family farm in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. They collect food scraps from the community, forage hens, make compost and worm castings with the excess food and manure, and use them to nourish our soils and crops. A VFF Business Builder loan will allow them to expand their egg operation. They will use it to construct and outfit a new 30’x96’ greenhouse, to house our new flock of 1,000 birds, with an attached wash and pack house.
Read MoreAdam’s Berry Farm in Charlotte is one of the largest certified organic berry farms in Vermont. They grow organic strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries for local distribution to wholesale accounts, restaurants, breweries, CSAs, and Burlington Farmers’ Market customers. A VFF Business Builder Loan will allow them to expand their blueberry production by adding 4.5 acres of blueberries and installing new packing equipment that will increase efficiency and provide higher quality fruit.
Read MoreHappy Bird Poultry Farm in Isle La Motte raises meat chickens for sale to wholesale restaurant customers as well as local customers from their small farm store. A Business Builder Loan from the Vermont Farm Fund allowed owners Ember and Stacey Boyle to expand their barn and more than double the number of chickens they raise.
Read MoreAllstad Farm is an 87-acre farm in Hardwick raising Angus beef and high quality mixed grass hay. Since moving onto the farm, they have experienced severe water flooding every spring affecting water quality, eroding soil, and damaging the barn. An Emergency Loan from the VFF will help to cover water damage expenses and repairs to the barn.
Read MoreAnanda Gardens is a diverse, small scale, certified organic farm, located 10 minutes from downtown Montpelier. They offer fresh, delicious, and nutritious organic veggies through a Convenient Home Delivery CSA, Farmstand CSA, and wholesale. With a Business Builder loan from the VFF, they plan to make improvements to their wash and pack station, which will allow them to expand to offer a winter CSA option.
Read MoreVermont Bean Crafters suffered smoke damage to their processing facility in Warren after a vehicle parked outside overnight caught on fire. As a result, much of their food processing equipment needed to be replaced or extensively cleaned. A $7,500 Emergency Loan from the VFF helped them cover these costs until their insurance claim could be processed.
Read MoreHoney Field Farm is a 25-acre organic vegetable farm located in Norwich, VT operated by husband and wife team Eli Hersh and Valerie Woodhouse. A $30,000 Business Builder Loan from the Vermont Farm Fund will help Eli and Valerie as they get established on this new property and help them to invest in equipment to be able to work efficiently, including a cultivating tractor, ice machine, golf cart, display cooler, and credit card machines.
Read MoreClearfield Farm is a Certified Organic mixed vegetable and cut flower farm located in Granville, VT serving the Mad River Valley. They grow 12 acres of produce, most of which goes to the Waitsfield Farmers Market and local grocery stores. A $10,000 Business Builder loan will allow Clearfield Farm to build soil fertility and improve their cold storage and processing facilities in the former dairy barn.
Read MoreDick Chase has farming in his blood. An 11th-generation family farmer, he spent most of his life in Newburyport, MA where he started farming in 1964 at Arrowhead Farm. In 2018 he purchased a farm in Alburgh, VT and established West Shore Farm. He plans to use a VFF Business Builder loan to build a 3500 square foot greenhouse. They raise vegetables, pork and beef to be sold through the family’s farmstand, CSA and farmer’s markets in MA.
Read MoreGolden Well Sanctuary is an organic vegetable producer and apiary in New Haven, VT that also offers farm events, agritourism opportunities, and educational workshops. An Emergency Loan from the Vermont Farm Fund will help Golden Well recover from 2 major floods within 2 weeks in the fall of 2019. Water levels on Halloween reached Irene levels and inundated their barn, flooded supplies, equipment, breached the well and flooded the basement, leaving their family without heat or hot water in the farmhouse.
Read MoreFamily Cow Farmstand (FCF) in Hinesburg, VT is currently Vermont’s largest direct to consumer raw milk producer by volume, selling roughly 9,000 gallons of 100% grass-fed raw cow’s milk to customers in the greater Burlington area. A Business Builder loan from the Vermont Farm Fund will allow Family Cow to establish a farrow-to-finish pork operation and a pastured chicken operation. They will also add frozen storage to their farmstand and renovate an existing pole barn on the property to serve as a space to repair farm equipment.
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