Business Focus

A diversified family farm featuring a year-round CSA program and thriving wholesale business, offering vegetables; eggs; grass-fed beef and lamb; and pastured pork and chicken.

Loan Summary

After recovering from Tropical Storm Irene, Christa Alexander and Mark Fasching, husband and wife owners/farmers of Jericho Settlers Farm, undertook an ambitious, multi-stage project to increase their year-round growing and storing of vegetables, with the goal being to feed their community richly all year long.

From field to crate to storage, Jericho Settlers Farm

The Backstory

With their business maturing, Mark and Christa decided to redouble their focus on storage crops and off-season veggie production in 2013. The couple saw several benefits of implementing a multi-stage plan of year-round food production and sales, including higher prices for their crops during the winter, steadier cashflow and retaining their employees 12-months a year.

Year-round production feels more purposeful to us. We want to feed people all year with healthy, local food.

The farm’s ambitious plan included two large greenhouses to grow and harvest greens the majority of the year, and a large, new wash-pack house with optimized cold storage for differing crop needs. By giving each veggie the best conditions to preserve freshness, Christa and Mark could provide delicious winter crops right thru until May when spring crops could begin to be harvested.

Christa and Mark were well into the project in 2014 when they contacted the VFF for a $30,000 Business Builder Loan to help them finish up the new facility. With winter approaching, they still needed to insulate and button up the new building ahead of the snow, not to mention finish installing the second cooler and walk-in freezer before harvesting was complete.

The VFF provided a critical piece of financing for our project on a short timeline, when we needed it, with minimal hassle. Not only does the simple process let us focus on our business instead of paperwork, but we know that our payments will go on to help others in the VT farming community with their new loans.

The Bottom Line

Crates stuffed with storage crops piled high, Jericho Settlers Farm

Close to finishing their season-extending projects, Jericho Settlers is already seeing their investment have a impact. Last fall the farm was moving 12-15 700lb bins of veggies per day into the new cooler. Christa estimates that they cycled about 50 tons of storage crops through the cooler over the course of the year, keeping their CSA and wholesale accounts stocked with veggies through the winter and into the spring.

Having work available for their employees all year has helped the farm retain their most skilled workers. Some have moved into management positions. According to Christa, providing local food all year long is keeping winter flavorful and exciting!