Category: What We’re Reading

Iroquois Valley joins Will County, IL farm alliance to improve soil health, water quality and local economies

Written by Lacey Benz on August 20, 2021. Posted in What We're Reading.

Iroquois Valley signed on to a letter to the editor of the Chicago Tribune in opposition to a proposed airport project. The letter is shared below. The issue was taken up by reporter, Ted Slowik, in the Daily Southtown and Chicago Tribune. Read his response here. Northeastern Illinois boasts some of the planet’s most fertile soils. Yet the state of Illinois has spent decades dismissing farmland’s enduring value by pushing a misguided scheme to build a commercial airport near...

Financing organic farmers: opportunity intertwined with a challenge

Written by Lacey Benz on July 20, 2021. Posted in What We're Reading.

We are pleased to announce Donna Holmes as our new VP, Investor Relations. She replaces Alex Mackay in this position as Alex has left Iroquois Valley to pursue other opportunities. Donna joins us with more than 15 years of experience in business development and investor relations. Her extensive educational background in law and taxation and her enthusiasm for organic farming make her an invaluable addition to Iroquois Valley. Outside of work, Donna enjoys gardening in her downtown Chicago apartment...

5 Things We Must Do To Improve the U.S. Healthcare System

Written by Lacey Benz on June 9, 2021. Posted in What We're Reading.

“Shifting to organic practices on a large scale has enormous potential to regenerate soils, ecosystems, rural economies, our food system, and so much more.”Dr. Stephen Rivard Authority Magazine, a Medium publication, is devoted to sharing interviews to draw out stories that are both empowering and actionable. As a part of Authority Magazine’s interview series called “5 Things We Must Do To Improve the U.S. Healthcare System”, Luke Kervin, Co-Founder of PatientPop, had the pleasure...

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.

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...

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...

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...

Walton Family Foundation & USDA-NRCS support agroforestry and wetlands restoration in Mississippi River Valley

Written by Lacey Benz on August 7, 2020. Posted in What We're Reading.

We’re excited to read about the partnership between the Walton Family Foundation and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to restore forests and wetlands in the Mississippi watershed. Over the last decade, this partnership has resulted in the restoration of more than 104,000 acres and the planting of more than 30 million trees in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Read more about this partnership here. We are embarking on an agroforestry and wetlands restoration project...

Flour Shortage? Amber Waves of Regional Grains to the Rescue

Written by Lacey Benz on April 23, 2020. Posted in What We're Reading.

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been highly visible in the food system. Amy Halloran writes on the grain economy in her latest for Civil Eats, highlighting the role of small and regional mills in supplying flour during this crisis. The article includes a mention of Iroquois Valley-financed farmers, John & Halee Wepking, who farm at Meadowlark Organics. Key quote: “Outside of this industrial baking complex, there exists a world of farmer-cultivated grain systems that not...