Slow Money Maine

Anonymous Investor puts $3 Million into MOOMilk

Slow Money Maine Admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:12:10 +0000

Anonymous investor puts $3 million into MOOMilk

Sharon Kiley Mack | BDN Dairy cows enjoy the sunshine recently at Tide Mill Farms in Edmunds, one of 10 Maine farms that sustains Maine’s Own Organic Milk, MOOMilk. Buy Photo

By Whit Richardson, BDN Staff

AUGUSTA, Maine — MOOMilk, a producer of organic milk, received the single largest investment in its existence this week, an amount large enough to stabilize the startup for the foreseeable future, according to its chief executive officer.

An anonymous benefactor from New Hampshire has invested $3 million in MOOMilk, which stands for Maine’s Own Organic Milk. The company launched in 2009 after H.P. Hood Inc. dropped 10 Maine organic dairy farmers.

It is organized as an L3C company — a low-profit, limited liability corporation that can receive grants and endowments as if it were a nonprofit or co-op.

MOOMilk produces 11,000 gallons of organic milk a week from 12 farms throughout the state. Last week, MOOMilk was able to sell 83 percent of that milk at organic prices, according to Bill Eldridge, MOOMilk’s CEO.

However, the company has been “pretty hardscrabbled since the beginning,” said Eldridge. This investment will help stabilize the Augusta dairy company.

“It puts us on firm financial footing for the first time in our existence and completely changes how we look at the company going forward,” Eldridge told the Bangor Daily News on Wednesday. “This will provide us the opportunity to support our brand and the company as we go forward with marketplace initiatives.”

The deal closed Monday, he said.

The $3 million is an equity investment, meaning the unnamed investor is now part owner. Eldridge wouldn’t say what percentage of the company $3 million buys, but that it is less than 50 percent.

The deal was facilitated through members of a growing network known as Slow Money Maine, a group of farmers, entrepreneurs and businesspeople interested in supporting local and sustainable food systems.

Eleanor Kinney, who lives in Bremen, is a member of Slow Money Maine and has been an investor in MOOMilk since the beginning. She said the $3 million investment “is huge” and will allow the company to pump up its marketing budget.

“We’ve been an undercapitalized startup and therefore have not been able to do the kind of marketing we want to do,” she said. “We need to redesign our carton, re-do our ads, all those things that help build a brand and grow our markets.”

The new investment also will allow new products to come online, Eldridge said.

We “hope to introduce chocolate milk by this fall and we’ll be looking at a whole number of other products as well,” he said.

Eldridge did offer the following hint as to the investor’s identity: “He is an individual who has been associated with and dealt with the organic and natural food business for the last 40 years, so he brings a lot to the game — not just money, but an incredible knowledge of the industry and how things operate.”

However, the investor did attach an usual precondition, Eldridge said.

A few years ago, when MOOMilk was undergoing financial restructuring, its farmers were forced to convert a portion of the money they were owed for milk into equity. That meant less cash for the farmers, an occupation that traditionally struggles with cash flow problems.

“This investor said the company had to repurchase those equity units,” Eldridge said, “and we implemented it today.”

That means five of MOOMilk’s original farmers, as well as three others that have since left, split a little less than $100,000 today, Eldridge said. That has made the farmers very happy, he said.

Kinney said the investment is the latest chapter in the company’s journey and indicates MOOMilk’s success.

“MOOMilk exists because of the dedicated farmers who hung in there, a CEO who hung in there and because of some very loyal investors who stuck with the company,” Kinney said. “It’s taken a lot of people believing in it even when it had no cash to keep it going.”

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/05/22/news/state/anonymous-investor-puts-3-million-into-moomilk/

MTI (Maine Technology Institute) Offers Funding Workshops

Slow Money Maine Admin — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:11:36 +0000

MTI is partnering with banks and offering a series of workshops to support existing and new business endeavors.

Major fire at Organic Valley headquarters

Slow Money Maine Admin — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:32:09 +0000

Organic Valley, the largest farmer-owned organic food cooperative in North America, with over 1800 farmer-owners sustained significant fire damage at its Wisconsin-based headquarters this week. Begun in 1988, this business has served countless growers (many in Maine), consumers and markets while maintaining a focus on organic products, regional farm diversity and economic stability. Its CEO, George Simeon, has been a committed and articulate advocate for sustainable food systems and a people-centered business model, since the company’s inception.

For more details, check out the link below:

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/organic-valley-planning-for-a-rebuild-after-fire/article_3a8f004c-bdde-11e2-9e5e-0019bb2963f4.html

SMM Welcomes Kari Luehman

Slow Money Maine Admin — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:28:08 +0000

As we all know, Bonnie speaks eloquently about the way SMM is a network organization which focuses on how we as a community promote investments in local sustainable food systems. She says “Our food choices, our farmers, producers, distributors and markets all contribute to healthy soil, thriving economies and vibrant communities.” And she encourages all of us to find ways to participate. Everyone has a place inside this network.

Kari found her way to SMM through a conversation with a friend where she felt powerfully drawn to contact Bonnie to figure out how she could participate. Bonnie and Kari were long time friends who had both served on the board of Avena Botanicals many years ago. It was wonderful to reconnect, and after a brief meeting last fall, Kari and Bonnie found some ways that she could volunteer her time to support Bonnie’s work in Slow Money Maine. This small volunteer position highlighted the need for more consistent help, so in January, Kari accepted a position as part time administrative assistant.

Working with SMM is a wonderful fit for Kari, who shines her light in the world in a variety of ways, always curious about the interconnectedness of it all. She is excited about helping support the amazing work that SMM is midwifing into Maine and beyond. Kari’s other work involves local foods cooking/catering, offering movement to the community through a dance practice called 5Rhythms movement, and helping people create more organization/structure/movement within their own business endeavors. In addition, Kari is an active part of the Waldorf school community in Rockport, Maine where her daughter Sadie is in 1st grade. She spends her free time dancing in assorted venues in the midcoast, playing with flowers in the garden and seeking the balance that is necessary in crafting a life that feels both full and empty at the same time.

Linzee’s Report on 4th Slow Money National Gathering

Slow Money Maine Admin — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:03:35 +0000

People from around the country and as far away as France and Australia gathered in Boulder at the end of April for the fourth national Slow Money conference. Woody Tasch launched the event with a rousing speech challenging fiduciaries who see their ‘moral responsibility to maximize returns and minimize risk’ as being in conflict with any ethical obligation to protect nature and build communities. He quoted John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard, as saying, “With the unfathomable complexity of credit default obligations and other financial innovations…financial legerdemain creates a modern version of alchemy…..We have in effect created a numeric economy that can easily undermine the real one.” Woody went on to argue for a different kind of accounting that finds value in, say, interest paid with a CSA share. He called on all of us to become food-ish-iaries and to move away from an economy that exploits nature to an economy that builds soil and the viability of family farms.

An all-star line up of farmers, scientists, economists and community activists inspired the crowd in the Boulder Theater. Jim Gerritsen spoke about the suit against Monsanto; Joan Gussow described the amount of life teeming in a handful of soil that gets napalmed by Round-up year after year as insecticides are sprayed on GMO crops; and Wes Jackson, of the Land Institute, cautioned people to look at the carbon impact of all of their investments. Some notable quotes were: “Hope is a verb that rolls up its sleeves” … “If you are working on something you are planning on finishing in your lifetime, you are thinking too small.”

For me the most inspiring part of Slow Money conferences is always the showcase of entrepreneurs who are working hard to create viable businesses to support family farms and increase the production of local food. This year’s crop included two sauerkraut makers, two feed grain mills, a grist mill, a butcher shop/charcuterie, a yogurt maker who shuns plastic packaging, three businesses working to retrain and franchise to veterans, and numerous people trying to figure out how to use new technologies to distribute food from local farms to individuals and businesses in their communities. Sam May presented for Maine’s Vitamin Sea, the seaweed harvesting, consumer and animal product company based in Buxton, Maine.

Before the conference began, local leaders from 25 regions and states, as well as activists from France and Australia, met to share best practices for starting a chapter and investing locally. Whereas the oldest chapters are only three years old, and a lot of innovation is happening on the ground, there was a clear desire to share models that have been successful in various parts of the country so that people do not need to reinvent the wheel. A steering committee of local leaders including people from Northern California, North Carolina and Maine will come up with a work plan for capturing the ‘intellectual capital’ created to date to assist emerging Slow Money local organizations around the country. One resource for Slow Money lenders is Carol Peppe Hewitt’s new book, Financing our Foodshed, which shares stories about the robust peer-to-peer lending that has taken place in North Carolina.

I returned to Maine enthusiastic about the great network we have created and the increasing collaboration around bringing financing and technical assistance to farmers and food businesses. I kept thinking, not so humbly but very gratefully, “Yep, Maine: the way life should be!” Linzee Weld

5-day food system business accelerator program

Slow Money Maine Admin — Sat, 11 May 2013 22:43:28 +0000

Fair Food Network has launched the Fair Food Fund-Northeast to invest in local food enterprises. Alex Linkow of FFN is partnering with College of the Atlantic to develop a 5-day intensive business accelerator program for high potential, early-stage food infrastructure enterprises. Entrepreneurs would engage in a competitive application process and selected candidates would be funded to participate.

Alex is requesting that if you are a food system entrepreneur, please take 3-5 minutes to complete the survey linked below. This will help to gauge interest in the program. All results will be confidential. Your feedback is appreciated!

Here’s the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TX7YTSB and here’s Alex’s contact info:
alinkow@fairfoodnetwork.org; 734-730-3558

Invitation to support “FARMS” Community Kitchen at the Rising Tide Co-op

Slow Money Maine Admin — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:57:09 +0000

Support this FARMS – “Focus on Agriculture in Rural Maine Schools” project to raise funds for the new Community Kitchen. Read all about the project and this crowd-funding opportunity below!

Get IT
Cook IT
Grow IT
Share IT
Learn all about IT
at the FARMS Community Kitchen!

www.mefarms.org

Click Here to Support the FARMS Community Kitchen Kickstarter Campaign– Helping Build the new Maine Food Economy

An Interview with Chris Hallweaver of Northern Girl

Slow Money Maine Admin — Mon, 06 May 2013 02:10:46 +0000

Check out MCED’s recent newsletter featuring SMM’s Chris Hallweaver, business partner and manager of Northern Girl in Aroostook County, in an interview about entrepreneurship.
Issue: # 29
May 2013
5 minutes with Chris Hallweaver
General Manager
Northern Girl, LLC, Limestone, ME

Leah and Marada Cook, along with business partner and general manager Chris Hallweaver, have brought Northern Girl, LLC, to the marketplace. The premise is simple: sell the top notch percentage of each of our farmer’s crops on the fresh market, and process the culls and surplus to feed locavores the rest of the year. Its the kind of thinking that keeps farms in business, and draws young farmers to Aroostook.

“At Northern Girl, LLC, we hope to bring opportunity to growers in Maine’s largest and most remote county. We hope to keep our economy thriving through building added-value for the products of a multitude of small farms. We hope to bring delicious local options to schools, restaurants, and retailers across New England. We hope to keep Maine at the forefront of the local foods movement by rebuilding Maine’s lost food processing infrastructure.”

1. How did you come to be an entrepreneur?
When I was a kid my Dad deemed me worthy of 50 cents a week allowance. But a quarter had to go into the collection plate on Sunday and a dime had to go to my savings fund so to get those desired coins in my pocket I had to get creative and be enterprising. I sent away for all the money-making schemes in the classified back-pages of Boys Life. I had successes. And failures. Besides my dad, I credit my older brother who is truly enterprising, having started a landscaping company that I took over for him when he went to college. The fun of running the landscaping company got me hooked.

2. What creative things do you do to develop a likeable company culture?
We really don’t have specific goals to develop a likeable company culture. We try to be authentic and focus on producing delicious veggies and if that comes through as likeable then great. And we are wicked creative. We’re taking the once lowly rutabaga and turning it into a superstar veggie. We’re putting beets back regularly on Maine families’ plates. We’re getting kids to eat blue, gold, and red potatoes. In addition to serving to Maine school children thousands of pounds of Maine-grown carrot sticks, we also turn kohlrabi, Chioggia beets, and turnip into fresh sticks for the kids. It’s fun to be creative with food. We are trying to do justice with our ‘Bounty from the County’.

3. What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
1. You need a certain amount of courage and to offset any lack of courage, learn to work well alongside your fear.
2. You are always needing to quickly calculate, manage, and reduce risks.
3. You better be able to sell.

4. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Frankly, during the first two years of Northern Girl, we focused more on product development and less on marketing. And now we are pleased with our product line so they’ll be no excuses for 2013 not being the year our marketing plan shines. Our big goal is to
improve our customer feedback loops within all of our segments. Today’s cloud based tools and social media makes this a lot easier
than ever before.

5. How do you define success?
Positive cash flow is a good start in realizing success
But nobody is getting into the local food business to become rich. We need to be financially successful because we are working to
re-develop Maine’s economy based on one of our most wonderful
resources: our family farms. We can attract young families to farm in Maine. We can attract new,creative businesses. We can help Mainers eat healthier and stay healthier. Tell me that doesn’t help the economy. Please help us succeed by purchasing your food from people that you know and trust. And let’s feed our school kids more Maine-grown food.

To subscribe to this newsletter:: www.MCED.biz

SMM National Gathering in Boulder

Slow Money Maine Admin — Mon, 06 May 2013 02:03:34 +0000

Slow Money just held its 4th national gathering in Boulder with over 600 people attending from the U.S. and beyond. The two days were packed with presentations from entrepreneurs, perspectives from well-known authors and activists, and breakout sessions on relevant topics.
Here’s a link to a NY Times article about the event. Linzee Weld will be sharing a synopsis of the event in an upcoming post.

An Effort to Add a Key Ingredient to the Slow Food Movement: Investor Money

May 15th Slow Money Maine gathering

Slow Money Maine Admin — Mon, 06 May 2013 02:01:04 +0000

Please join us for our May 15th Slow Money Maine gathering
at the Viles Arboretum in Augusta, from 1-4 p.m.

Greetings all! Planting season is here at last and we’re pleased to be hosting another opportunity for you to hear presenters, make connections with each other, and enjoy learning about ways to participate in the work of Slow Money Maine.

Here are the offerings for our gathering:
Networking opportunities on both ends of our gathering
Tasty healthful snacks from local producers

Food System Presentations:
Barbara Brooks/Seal Cove Farm in Lamoine
Ben Slayton/Farmer’s Gate in Wales
John Piotti/Maine Farmland Trust
John D’Anieri & Joe Grady/Harpswell Coastal Academy
Joel Alex/Blue Ox Malthouse in central Maine

Updates from Slow Money Maine participants:
Clara Coleman/Four-Season Forward
Gray Harris/CEI
Elizabeth Sprague/Maine Farmland Trust
Taryn Hammer/Sheepscot General Store
David Whittlesey/BCDI
Vicki Schmidt/Troika Drafts
Ryan Wilson & Gina Simmons/Commonwealth Poultry Company
Bonnie Rukin/Grantham Foundation PRI & more

Hope to see you on the 15th, Bonnie

No RSVP is necessary
Prompt arrival and carpooling are encouraged

Please check our web site, www.slowmoneymaine.org for a full schedule of 2013 meetings and all minutes of past meetings in case you’ve missed any gatherings