Pitchfest
Public helps farmers fund projects
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Nicole Jarvis of Ploughshare Farm in Moiese, left, speaks with people at the Pitchfest in Missoula. Her $6,000 loan for a seeding project was crowdfunded at the event.
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karl Sutton pitches his idea for an ice pop made from organic fruits he grows on Fresh Roots Farm in Polson.
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
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MISSOULA – Crowdfunded loans are the newest thing growing in Montana.
“There are ways to make your dreams a reality,” according to Annie Heuscher, program director for the Community Food and Agriculture Coalition.
On Thursday, Jan. 26, all three of the farms that presented at the nation’s first ever Farm Fresh Pitchfest at the Montgomery Distillery in Missoula had ties to Lake County.
“We work with a lot of farmers in Lake County,” Heuscher said. “A lot of beginning farmers are choosing to start up there.”
In the short explanation, the farmer gets a crowdfunded loan by going through an application process, outlining their project for the public to see on a website, and then, anyone can give them a zero-interest loan, if they want.
The Community Food and Agriculture Coalition of Missoula checks each loan application for risk, and if they qualify, the farmer is given an endorsement demonstrating CFAC’s confidence in their ability to repay the loan.
The loans are a big relief to many farmers because they are given at zero percent interest with no fees for up to three years.
"This presents such a unique opportunity for community members to take money from their savings accounts, where it’s likely not earning much interest, and invest it into a local business where it will make a real, meaningful difference to the farm’s opportunity for success,” she said.
Farmers pitch their loans to the public through an international, nonprofit group called Kiva. The public has the ability to give the farmers loans of $25 to $10,000 through Kiva’s website at Kiva.org.
“The community vouches for the loans instead of a bank,” Heuscher said.
In addition to the webpage, two farmers stood in front of a crowd and pitched their project in the first live Pitchfest in Missoula.
Darci Jones and Karl Sutton of Fresh Roots Farm in Polson want to make ice pops out of fresh fruit to sell at farmers markets, but they need a $3,000 loan to get a freezer that doesn’t create ice crystals on their product.
“We could get the loan with a credit card, but it would be more challenging,” Jones said.
The idea for the project started when the couple’s daughter mashed organic strawberries and froze them for a summer treat.
“We grow a lot of strawberries,” she said. “We want to do something with the ones we don’t sell.”
As of Monday, they had 95 percent of their loan funded, with $150 to go and about two weeks to the deadline. If they don’t reach their goal, they don’t get the money they’ve earned. They can be found at www.kiva. org/lend/1218385.
Nicole Jarvis runs Ploughshare Farm with her family in Moiese. She needs a $6,000 loan for seasonal start up costs including seeds for her vegetable farm, and by the end of the Pitchfest, her loan was funded. She usually puts the supplies on a credit card, and she takes a second job to pay for the credit-card interest in the winter months.
“This loan lets us focus more time on farming,” she said.
She enjoys digging her hands into the soil and growing vegetables.
“I love providing food for people,” she said. “For me, it’s an artistic outlet to feed people organic produce in our own creative way.”
She really likes growing vegetables that people don’t often get.
“People are excited to see things like the lemon cucumbers,” she said, “and the kohlrabi cabbage.”
Before the two farmers went on stage to pitch their ideas, Tracy Potter-Fins of County Rail Farm described her experience with a recent crowdfunded loan through Kiva. She was able to raise $10,000 in several days for more equipment to produce more vegetable greens.
“Kiva is an excellent way to contribute to your local food system, and you get it back,” she said.
She leased a farm in Dixon for 6 years but recently purchased her own place in Huson with her partner.
“It can be uncomfortable asking for donations, and bank loans charge at least 3 percent interest,” she said. “Kiva loans don’t feel uncomfortable.”
She is currently working towards paying back her Kiva loan, and, if she needs to, she said she wouldn’t hesitate to ask for another crowd-funded loan.
