Author: Lacey Benz

Featherstone Farm: COVID Stories

Written by Lacey Benz on March 2, 2021. Posted in What We're Reading.

The coronavirus pandemic has put the food system in the spotlight in new ways. Our farmer partners at Featherstone Farm in Fillmore County, Minnesota share their experience navigating the pandemic as an organic vegetable operation in a video featuring three of their returning seasonal farmworkers. Iroquois Valley provided financing to Featherstone Farm. Featherstone is the only farm entirely dedicated to vegetable production within Iroquois Valleys’ portfolio.

Iroquois Valley named to the IA 50 for the ninth year in a row

Written by Lacey Benz on February 25, 2021. Posted in News & Media.

Iroquois Valley was named an Emeritus Manager by ImpactAssets in its annual IA 50. This year, ImpactAssets celebrates its tenth year curating its widely recognized list of impact investment fund managers. According to ImpactAssets, the IA 50 is an annual showcase of companies dedicated to making impact investments, offering a gateway into the world of impact investing for investors and their financial advisors. The IA 50 offers an easy way to identify experienced and emerging impact fund...

New Partnership Brings Tree-Range® Chicken to Americans’ Doorsteps

Written by Lacey Benz on February 3, 2021. Posted in What We're Reading.

We recently financed the purchase of 75 acres in Rice County, MN for Reginaldo & Amy Haslett-Marroquin to establish their home farm at Salvatierra Farm. Iroquois Valley is pleased to be a key financial partner to the BIPOC farmers and others who are central to seeing Tree-Range® chicken supply chain come alive. More info to come in a future newsletter. We’re sharing their good news about a partnership with Blue Nest Beef: NORTHFIELD, Minn., Jan. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Blue...

A partnership to support diverse, beginning farmers access more money

Written by Lacey Benz on January 23, 2021. Posted in News & Media.

A project funded in fall 2020, led by Food Finance Institute (FFI), is on a mission to lower the risk of beginning farm investments to make them more attractive to funders. The project is funded through a $387,000, three-year Beginning Farmer Rancher Development Program grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. FFI will work with funders, investors and beginning farmers to create and provide a financial technical assistance (TA) program that will provide beginning...

Animal welfare at Iroquois Valley partner farms

Written by Lacey Benz on December 8, 2020. Posted in What We're Reading.

Heritage pigs grazing at Singing Pastures, one of our partner farms in Maine We’re often asked why Iroquois Valley invests in operations that include livestock. Animal agriculture is an incredibly complex topic and it looks different across farms and across the food system. We support farmers who raise animals in ways that regenerate our soils and our ecosystems by only partnering with farmers who raise animals on pastures managed organically. There is an alternative to the dominant...

2020 Holiday Gift Guide

Written by Lacey Benz on December 1, 2020. Posted in Events.

Iroquois Valley is proud to share its annual gift guide featuring products grown by the farmers we partner with – 2020 has been unlike any other year and we hope it has deepened your connection to what nourishes you. This year’s gift guide is illustrated by Evanston-based artist, Hannah Bess Ross who sells prints, cards, and ceramics here. Scroll through for products available across the country as well as products available in certain locales (WA, MI, MN). Warm wishes for a healthy...

Innovative financing to help restore soil health

Written by Lacey Benz on November 10, 2020. Posted in News & Media.

Iroquois Valley’s Soil Restoration Notes are an innovative conservation financing tool that provides investors a return and enables farmers to invest in the land. These notes specifically target support for soil health and the organic transition. This work was partially funded by a Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Innovation Grant. Conservation Innovation Grants are three-year grants – ours was funded in 2016 and was completed in September 2019. Our final...

From the field: Farming regeneratively at Singing Pastures Farm

Written by Lacey Benz on October 20, 2020. Posted in What We're Reading.

This piece originally appeared in a newsletter and is shared with permission from the Arbuckles at Singing Pastures. Iroquois Valley provided mortgage financing to the Arbuckles to establish their operation in Maine. Singing Pastures has deep roots in farming. It’s not just a job, it’s a commitment to food and the global community we serve. We want to do the most good possible. We’ve decided that “sustainable” isn’t good enough. We want to be regenerative. In...

Rodale Institute invests $2 million into Iroquois Valley

Written by Lacey Benz on October 19, 2020. Posted in News & Media. 4 Comments on Rodale Institute invests $2 million into Iroquois Valley

Rodale Institute, the global leader of regenerative organic agriculture, is “putting its money where its mouth is” by investing 2 million dollars with Iroquois Valley Farmland Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), a farmland finance company that works with mission-driven investors to provide organic and regenerative farmers land security through long-term leases and mortgages. The Board of Directors at Rodale Institute approved the decision to invest a portion of the organization’s...

A day at Rock Creek Farm

Written by Lacey Benz on October 9, 2020. Posted in Events.

This week, the Rock Creek Farmhouse was designated a historic landmark and the Midwestern contingent of the Iroquois Valley team hosted a socially distant gathering to celebrate. The house is one of 57 historic landmarks in Will County, Illinois. Last spring, Iroquois Valley planted 10,000 trees at Rock Creek to create a windbreak. The trees planted at this event replaced some that had not made it through the hot and dry spells over the summer. At the event, the team planted trees...