Math, along with numbers in general, scare many small business owners. Rather than deal with this fear, they often stick their heads in the sand and ignore the hard truths and opportunities that come from understanding the financials. Helping farmers …
This article is a guest post by Laura Meister of Farm Girl Farm in Sheffield, MA. When I started growing vegetables ten years ago, it was all I could do to keep up with the start-up math: how many square …
We’re now at the height of farming season, and all the work of helping clients manage cash flow has paid off. Not only do they have lots of produce to sell, but they’re far enough into the season that they …
Last month, Noelle and I had the pleasure of attending the SBN Local Food Trade Show. Fifty vendors and hundreds of other food producers and buyers were in attendance for a lively day of networking and discussions focused on buying and …
As you may have read in the paper a few weeks ago, Blood Farms just burned down. Why is this a big deal? They were one of only three slaughterhouses in Massachusetts who service the nearly 100 livestock producers in the area. All of these farmers rely on this limited number of slaughterhouses to process their animals, so the loss of just one facility puts the local meat industry in a tight situation.
by Lisa Sebesta How can we finance a sustainable food system in New England? In late January, 125 people gathered for a one-day session to tackle this question. Obviously, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to answer this in a single day. …
I’ve been hearing a lot about food hubs lately, but it wasn’t until Iattended a workshop at NESAWG this past February that I fully understood what they are. What I’ve been calling aggregators (companies like Farmers to You and Boston Organics) are, in fact, …
Here’s an overview of the different articles we’ve written in the past four years. They’re always available in full on our website.
Already at the forefront of the local food movement, Boston continues to become a better city for restauranteurs committed to sourcing foods locally and sustainably. The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), in conjunction with the Mayor’s Food Council and Office of Food Initiatives, is hard at work developing plans to modify the city’s zoning regulations to permit and even encourage urban agriculture.
A few years ago, I heard a presentation by Acción about their loan packages for food and beverage entrepreneurs. I was shocked to learn that their interest rates were around 16%, marginally lower than a credit card. For an organization with a …