Natural Capital Investment Fund (NCIFund) and EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems (EMFS) are teaming up to provide affordable financing and support to small– and mid-scale and limited resource farmers and food businesses to obtain the infrastructure they need to expand and grow their businesses.

What’s the Program For?

This grant/loan program is designed to “buy down” the cost of purchasing equipment or infrastructure for farm and food businesses. Eligible uses can range from cold storage and value-added processing equipment to planting and harvesting equipment.

Who’s Eligible?

North Carolina businesses who:

  • Farm in, produce in, or purchase from producers in the seven western counties of NC (Haywood, Graham, Jackson, Macon, Swain, Cherokee, or Clay) or on the Qualla Boundary.
  • Currently sell or process vegetables, fruit, meat or other agricultural products or run other food-related businesses.
  • Have a business plan in place for their business.
  • Attend at least one counseling session with their local Small Business Center prior to financing.
How Does the Financing Work?

The program is eligible for equipment/infrastructure purchases of $15,000 or more.

EMFS will be providing additional grant and loan programs with Mountain BizWorks, Thread Capital, and Sequoyah Fund in early 2020. Fill out this interest form to see if you are eligible: http://bit.ly/foodfarmloans.

Read more about the program and get all the details here.