The Missing Rung on the Capital Ladder

A walk-in freezer doubled one Adirondack farm's poultry capacity. The loan that paid for it carried zero percent interest and came from a nonprofit lender.

Reber Rock Farm in Essex, New York raises the only pastured, certified organic poultry and pork within 150 miles. When cold storage became the bottleneck, a 0% SOIL Fund loan from ANCA and Foodshed Capital paid for the freezer. That is the first rung of the capital ladder, and it works.

The first rung holds

Foodshed Capital has made more than 187 loans totaling more than $6 million to regenerative farms and food businesses. These are borrowers many banks turn away.

The rung that is missing

The average loan at that first rung is about $32,000. The next step for a growing farm, whether land, a processing line or real working capital, costs ten to twenty times that. Mission lenders top out well below it, and conventional agricultural lenders rarely engage until far above it. Proven regenerative operators often fall into the gap at the moment they are ready to grow, and some end up in expensive, extractive debt.

Building for the gap

Our work is designed for that middle step. We help businesses build the financial systems and track record to raise capital at the next rung, from lenders, investors and public programs.

Funding or running a regenerative farm or food business in the Northeast? Talk to us at fullerfield.org/contact.