Chicago Farms Fund Gets $1 Million Boost
The Conservation Fund has bought land for four farmers with ambitious goals for more
Investing in Land Access and Sustainability
The Conservation Fund non-profit established its Farms Fund to help small farms with sustainable practices to increase their land access and production, succeeding financially while protecting the environment.
Since launching in the Chicago area in 2022, the organization has bought land for the following four Chicago-area Illinois farms — Garlic eScape Farm in Woodstock, Chicago Urban Farm Solutions in Chicago Heights, Rustic Road Farm in Elburn, and Kakadoodle Farm in Matteson — under generous lease-to-buy terms, with ambitious plans to expand their activities.
Now those plans are coming closer to fruition, with a major new financial arrangement that The Conservation Fund announced last week.
The Proofing Station, founded in 2023, increases access to capital for small and mid-sized entities in the Midwest regional food and agriculture supply chain. And its first investment is a $1 million low-interest loan in The Conservation Fund’s Farms Fund.
According to Cortney Renton, The Proofing Station’s executive director,
The entry point to accessing land is unaffordable for many farmers. As more farmland in urban and peri-urban areas is purchased at significant valuations for development, there are negative impacts on the supply chain in the Midwest. The Farms Fund has designed an alternative solution, which impacts two of Proofing Station’s focus areas: first, it preserves the land as a farming asset at an affordable price, and second, it prioritizes farmland access for women, BIPOC, and other historically marginalized groups to grow our regional farmer pipeline.
The Conservation Fund will match the $1 million loan from The Proofing Station as a part of its goal to build a $10 million dedicated Revolving Fund for the program for the Chicago region. The Conservation Fund aims to have protected 20 farms serving dozens of farm businesses in the Chicago area in the next five years.
Click below to read the full press release by The Proofing Station.
Chicago Farms Fund Specialist Kelly Larsen provides a great primer about the Fund in a blog post published last Thursday. It provides comprehensive information about the Fund, its innovative Buy-Support-Protect-Sell model, and the four farms that are currently enrolled in the program.
I had the pleasure of joining Kelly on a visit to Dr. Silvia Abel-Caines at her Garlic eScape Farm last summer. Click below to read the Local Food Forum article about the farm.
Local Farmers Available for Earth Week Talks
Friday’s Local Food Forum promoted the April 20 showing of The Smell of Money, an exposé on factory farming, at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. Following the film, there will be a panel discussion that includes Jody Osmund of Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm in Ottawa, Illinois.
Jody and his wife Beth are longtime advocates for sustainable farming and humane treatment of farm animals. And they have asked me to share their availability for speaking engagements during Earth Week, kicking off with the April 20 documentary event.
To learn more about Jody and Beth and obtain a form to apply for them to speak, click the button below.