Under Orion Farm

Of course, we get excited about every loan we make; the impact it will have on a small business, as well as the ag economy as a whole. But we really like how Will Ameden of Under Orion Farm is leveraging his $10,000 Innovation Loan to accomplish $18,000 worth of work. Under Orion Farm is a diversified family farm. They offer a wide variety of products and services from pastured meats and maple syrup, to certified organic hay and lumber services.

In addition to his own operation, Will has started a small incubator project to assure Under Orion’s land will be farmed and accessible to new generations. The project includes leasing a couple of greenhouses on an acre of land, as well as equipment, storage space, etc., to young, cash poor farmers. Under Orion’s expansion plan calls for:

• Adding a third hoop house to lease this winter to an organic vegetable farmer.

• Upgrading the shared veggie washing facilities.

• Increasing the farm store cold storage capacity for his pastured meat, as well as veggies from the incubator farms.

Under Orion wanted to take advantage of an NRCS (National Resource Conservation Service) grant to build the hoop house, but the NRCS requires that the hoop house be built before they will pay out the $8k grant. In order to properly manage his cash flow during construction, Will turned to the VFF for an Innovation loan. Under Orion’s plan is to use the $10k VFF loan to build the hoop house and make some minor infrastructure improvements. Once NRCS sends the check, the $8k will be reinvested into the washhouse and farm store upgrades.

“This loan allowed me to manage my cash flow, so I could build the high-tunnel without putting my farm in jeopardy. The VFF came through for me when other, more traditional loans did not.” – Will Ameden

All photos for this post were provided by Under Orion Farm.