Capital
Foodshed Capital provides flexible, affordable loans to farms and food businesses committed to regenerative practices, soil health, biodiversity, and healthy communities. We prioritize low-income borrowers who struggle to access capital elsewhere.
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Our high-touch approach keeps interest rates low—often 0% for low-income business owners—and tailors loans to each borrower’s needs. We ensure debt is appropriate and aligned with business revenue. We structure repayments around seasonal cash flow, and avoid fees, credit scores, and personal asset requirements. Collateral is rarely used.
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Our results speak for themselves: 99.31% of loans have been successfully repaid.
Coaching
Farms can only achieve positive long-term outcomes for communities and climate if they stay in business.
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Our services catalyze profitable, resilient, enduring businesses. We provide hands-on, coaching services to build up financial literacy, set up or reorganize bookkeeping systems, and develop financial documents necessary to access capital.
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Unlike other programs, we provide these services entirely free of charge, including periodic cost coverage and stipends.
Our Story
Foodshed Capital began in 2018 as a passion project inspired by Slow Money principles—moving capital into local food systems, connecting investors to their communities, and redefining fiduciary responsibility to “bring money back down to earth.”
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Like many passion projects, it quickly took on a life of its own. Seeing the urgent need for affordable capital in small-scale farming, we launched as Slow Money Central Virginia, serving farms near Charlottesville and Richmond. Our first loan was issued in January 2019, and we became a 501(c)(3) that spring.
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In 2020, we were certified as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and soon expanded beyond Virginia, making our first loan in Pennsylvania. Since then, we've grown to serve farmers in 23 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico—while keeping Virginia as our home base.
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With six years of growth, deep expertise, and strong partnerships, Foodshed Capital is now one of the most innovative food and farming nonprofits in the country. Yet as financing for equitable food and farming becomes more challenging, demand for our services has never been higher. Too few lenders are stepping up to meet the needs of small-scale regenerative farmers.
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That’s why we are committed to growing our fund in 2025. Our work isn’t just about capital access—it’s about creating real pathways for farmers to build viable, resilient businesses in an uncertain world. We remain dedicated to making funding as accessible and affordable as possible while helping farmers achieve profitability and long-term financial health.
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