As you may know, the Local Food and Farm Co-ops is launching the Fair Finance Fund this year to provide loans to local food and farm enterprises.
The Fund is raising capital through the issuance of community bonds, and has launched a retail investor survey to gauge interest on this investment opportunity.
If you would like to provide input, please fill out the survey here or share with those you think might be interested.
The Fair Finance Fund is a revolving loan fund offering patient capital (long-term or negotiated rates) for local food and farm social enterprises. Social enterprises in this sector include regional producers, markets and other regional food system partners that share social values and community benefit goals. The development is a collaborative between the Local Food and Farm Co-ops, RAIN and the Greenbelt Fund.
Loans will be offered in the mid-scale range, which is often seen by banks as too small, but is too large for micro-finance schemes. The Fund will launch the loan program and investment opportunity in early November.
The following are a few examples of similar projects:
– FarmWorks (Nova Scotia)
– Chantier de l’Economie Sociale (Montreal)
– La Montanita Fund (Arizona)