But a Slow Money Maine coordinator learned about their need and matched the farm with an investor, who loaned them $5,000, several years ago, at a rate of 5 percent, after visiting the farm. Kyle DePietro and Angie Trombley thought about asking relatives or going to a bank for the money. Most of the $38 million from 1,000 funders has been in loans, such as to Tarbox Farm, in Westport Island, Maine, which needed another greenhouse to raise winter greens and heat-loving summer crops such as peppers and eggplant.

It engages neighbors and people and it connects to each other and to the land.” “If you invest, and make a small loan to a small farmer near where you live, you don’t need somebody else to explain to you what the benefits are,” Tasch said. Then the interested investors deal directly with the businesses. Many of the Slow Money chapters organize events where entrepreneurs put on presentations to investors. The foreword was written by Slow Food International founder Carlo Petrini, who started a movement to counter fast-food lifestyles by focusing on home cooking with local, sustainable ingredients. The investment movement started after Tasch wrote his 2009 book “Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered” discussing investments that focus more on sustainability than consumption. The idea is to take “a little bit of our money out of the abstract craziness of the stock market” and instead put it to work closer to home, said Slow Money founder Woody Tasch, of Boulder, Colorado. Vermont - which has a vibrant local foods scene - is about to launch its own network on Tuesday.

Since the national network started in 2010, Slow Money networks and investment clubs around the country, including in Maine, Massachusetts, California, North Carolina, and in cities like Boston and New York, have made a total of $38 million in investments in 350 small food enterprises. They can make direct investments big or small into local food businesses through a national movement called Slow Money, which links investors with farmers and small food producers. (AP) - Consumers who want to support local food and farms aren’t limited anymore to buying locally produced veggies, meats and cheeses.

Ranch rush 2 out of money