Increasing Access to Capital in New England: a two-year professional development project
Project Overview
UPDATE: 2015 Workshops Held in MA, VT & ME!
See full details on '2015 Workshops' page.
See full details on '2015 Workshops' page.
Farm and food businesses across New England are diversifying and expanding to meet growing demand for local food, and interest in investment in these businesses among all types of funders is growing.
With funding from the John Merck Fund and City Market in Burlington, VT, the project team conducted high quality trainings for agricultural service and capital providers in New England to increase their ability to assist farm and food business owners in accessing appropriate capital. The long-term goal of this professional development is for more entrepreneurs to successfully and expertly secure financing, and for more capital to go towards farm and food businesses.
With funding from the John Merck Fund and City Market in Burlington, VT, the project team conducted high quality trainings for agricultural service and capital providers in New England to increase their ability to assist farm and food business owners in accessing appropriate capital. The long-term goal of this professional development is for more entrepreneurs to successfully and expertly secure financing, and for more capital to go towards farm and food businesses.
Project Outcomes
Over the course of 2 years, the project team organized and hosted a series of conferences, workshops and one-on-one trainings for professionals across the agricultural financing spectrum, from entrepreneurs and agricultural service providers to traditional lenders and those seeking to provide innovative new financing. Anticipated immediate outcomes of this project for service and capital providers include:
- increased understanding of the breadth of financing options and how to use them;
- improved ability to refer clients to capital; and
- increased competency in helping entrepreneurs develop their pitches and secure financing
Project Background
Agricultural businesses of all types and sizes are diversifying and expanding to meet growing demand and have different financing needs depending on their size, stage of growth, and market outlets. Capital providers in New England are responding to support this increasingly diverse and larger number of farms; however, research has shown that significant challenges to accessing capital remain. Service
providers have insufficient knowledge to prepare entrepreneurs to access
appropriate capital. Many of today's agricultural
enterprises require complex, layered financing because of their slim
margins and large infrastructure costs.
Lack of sufficient capital often leads to missed opportunities for start-up entrepreneurs, early-stage businesses that need capital to grow, and growth stage businesses that need more than one source of funding to expand. Working to enhance the ability of these businesses to access capital is critical to the health and growth of our regional food system.
Lack of sufficient capital often leads to missed opportunities for start-up entrepreneurs, early-stage businesses that need capital to grow, and growth stage businesses that need more than one source of funding to expand. Working to enhance the ability of these businesses to access capital is critical to the health and growth of our regional food system.
