Our 2017 Annual Meeting featured presentations from four of our farmers. The farmers who spoke are from the Northern reaches of the country, representing Montana, Minnesota, and Vermont. These presentations offer a deep dive into the featured operations and are followed by a Q&A session with the investors and guests who attended the meeting.
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As a continuation of our Northwestern expansion, we are looking for more capital and investment partners. We would consider participations of $200,000 or more, or possibly an entire farm -- see the full 3,600 acre opportunity
here, including Wild Horse Farm.
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Iroquois Valley Farms' first purchased land for Doug and Anna in 2016, marking our first Western purchase. Based in the Northern Great Plains region,
Vilicus Farms grows organic specialty grains, legumes, oilseeds, and more over a few thousand acres. We purchased a second property for Doug and Anna in 2017 so that they could continue expanding their operation.
Vilicus Farms is designed holistically and has 25% of its acreage in non-crop conservation. On-farm energy consumption was net zero during 2016. Vilicus Farms also has an
apprenticeship program that offers apprentices the opportunity to learn about organic farming at scale.
Anna recently participated in the annual gathering of the
agriculture apprenticeship learning network
. This network is hosted by Tufts University and partially funded by a USDA Beginning Farmer & Rancher Development grant. The work of this network is geared towards formalizing best practices for meeting the learning goals of agriculture apprentices looking to gain management and production skills on commercial farms. Vilicus Training Institutes is one of 6 core partners on this project.
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Here's an update from Doug Crabtree & Anna Jones-Crabtree:
We're happy to be inside with solar panel-generated heat after seeing our thermometer bottom out at -30! Our jack russell terriers aren't thrilled to go outside, but lucky for us there are blue skies and sun that make the landscape wondrous! We are planning for the 2018 season and looking forward to:
- Hosting interns from Montana State University and University of Montana
- Reviewing apprentice applications through our partnership with Quivira Coalition's New Agrarian Program
- Hiring a longer-term employee enthusiastic about organic production, driving tractors, and living on the rural Northern Great Plains.
- Expanding our crop list to include rye, gluten free oats, and alfalfa, which will help handle emerging perennial weed challenges
- Improving resilience and mitigating climate variability with fall seeded crops
- Exploring Demeter Certification through the Biodynamic Association as a way to recognize our level of stewardship
We continue to be honored to be part of the expanding Iroquois Valley Farms family. If you find yourself in Montana please come visit!
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The Iroquois Valley Farms Board of Directors recently approved an extension for our
REIT equity offering
.
Subscriptions will be accepted until 1/15/2018 and final funding must be completed by 2/15/2018. The Soil Restoration Notes will remain open.
Contact Alex
at
[email protected]
to learn more about investing with Iroquois Valley Farms.
To date, Iroquois Valley Farms has funded over $40 million in financing to organic farmers. 2017 was our biggest year yet and we funded over $13 million -- see our closed transactions here. Iroquois Valley Farms is now beginning its 12th season; our farmers have transitioned to or maintained organic certification on over 8,500 acres of land.
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Connecting farm families, communities, and investors since 2007.
As a corporate guideline,
we do not look for specific farmland to purchase or finance. We develop relationships with farmers, mostly young and organic, who want to grow their farm business. We move forward if we have a ready, willing and able farmer in hand.
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