Category: News & Media

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...

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...

Our Public Benefit Report

Written by Lacey Benz on July 6, 2020. Posted in News & Media.

Iroquois Valley is proud to release its first public benefit report. We incorporated our company as a public benefit corporation in 2016 to build into our structure our intent to create public benefit. We intend to create public benefit by enabling healthy food production, restoring soil, and improving water quality through the establishment of secure and sustainable farmland tenure. Read our public benefit report here. This report builds on our history of impact reports, which measure...

Iroquois Valley partners with the Organic Farming Research Foundation

Written by Lacey Benz on April 30, 2020. Posted in News & Media.

Iroquois Valley is proud to partner with the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) by supporting their research to learn more about the challenges and research priorities of organic farmers and ranchers, as well as farmers and ranchers transitioning land to certified organic production. The project includes two national surveys—one for certified organic producers, and the other for producers transitioning to organic certification. The project includes two national surveys—one for certified...

Iroquois Valley awarded a 2019 Conservation Innovation Grant

Written by Lacey Benz on January 3, 2020. Posted in News & Media.

Iroquois Valley was awarded a $700,000 Conservation Innovation Grant from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS). Our project will focus on supporting our farmers beyond land tenure through operating capital and improving farm viability. The funding is provided through the Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program, which is funding the future of agriculture and conservation through grants to organizations and universities that are developing the next generation of...

Holiday Gift Guide

Written by Lacey Benz on December 10, 2019. Posted in News & Media.

Iroquois Valley is pleased to release its first annual holiday gift guide, featuring products grown by our farmers. All products below can be purchased online. View the gift guide as a PDF here. Make sure to check our Instagram & Facebook pages for more gift ideas from our farmers available at select farmers markets. Organic Milled GrainsMeadowlark Organics – WisconsinVisit their online store here Organic Milled Grains & Gift Boxes Janie’s Mill – IllinoisView their...

Organic farmers to harvest record acres in 2019

Written by Lacey Benz on November 14, 2019. Posted in News & Media.

Organic agriculture is growing – in 2019, 8.3 million acres were planted and certified organic in the US. This equates to 18,155 organic farms and a 3% jump from 2018. Mercaris, a leading data provider for organic and non-gmo markets, recently released their Annual Acreage Report and Organic Farm Heat Map, which highlights density and distribution of US organic farm operations. Highlights of the report include: Organic grain farmers will harvest a record amount of acres in 2019, measuring...

Foundations Can Unlock a Food System to Feed the World

Written by Lacey Benz on November 14, 2019. Posted in News & Media.

Iroquois Valley was featured in the Swift Foundation‘s piece for Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Summer 2019 issue. Their article looks at a few organizations, including California FarmLink and RSF Social Finance, who are working to support regional food systems through finance. It also identifies a role for foundations to accelerate investment into food system transformation. Read the full article here.

If We Want to Change Our Food System, We Need to Change Our Finance System

Written by Lacey Benz on November 8, 2019. Posted in News & Media.

Heritage breed pigs at Yker Acres Farm in Carlton County, MN While organic farming is growing, only 1% of all U.S. farmland is farmed organically. We’re looking to change that by providing secure, long-term land access for regenerative farmers. Key quotes: Our investment theory is that land security enables land stewardship — we believe that farmers will thrive when they’re backed by long-term capital that shares risk. In our experience, there’s no shortage of farmers who...

A Best for the World Company

Written by Lacey Benz on September 4, 2019. Posted in News & Media.

Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT, PBC is recognized as a “Best For The World” B Corp for customers, governance and overall. Iroquois Valley, a Certified B Corporation, has been named a Best For The World honoree in recognition of their significant positive impact in their innovative governance structures, supportive customer service, and across all categories. Ranking in the top 10% of all B Corps for their overall impact, Iroquois Valley earned this honor because of their overall mission,...