The Vermont Community Loan Fund has financed Vermont's farms, food producers and natural resources entrepreneurs since 1995. We've loaned $11.6 million, leveraging $15.1 million in additional financing, to create or retain jobs for 1,249 Vermonters in this sector alone. We've financed businesses of all shapes and sizes at every stage of the food system, from farms and grower/producers through processing to both retail and wholesale distribution. We've financed forestry enterprises like sustainable loggers, sugar bushes, stewardship organizations, tree farms and a heating wood pellet manufacturer.

But we want to do more! So in 2015 we launched a new, focused loan fund, the Food, Farms & Forests Fund, to consolidate, grow and sustain the capital and supporting services that VCLF makes available to meet the needs of small farms, food producers, and the working landscape throughout Vermont. It’s an opportunity for philanthropists, foundations and other institutions to dedicate their VCLF investment and grant-making to creating positive impacts to benefit these critical drivers of our state’s economy, small communities and public health.

Since its 2015 launch, the Food, Farms & Forests Fund has provided over $670,000 in financing to eighteen entrepreneurs, creating or preserving jobs for 49 Vermonters managing over 698 acres of working landscape to produce 1.1 million pounds of food.