While some finance advice is specific to Vermont law, there is good coverage of alternative finance tactics for small farm enterprises, as well as federal business finance laws.
This 62 page guide touches on legal, accounting, financial agreements, investors, equity shareholders, and contracts. It can be downloaded for free by chapter or the complete guide.
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: Federal Securities Laws
- Chapter 2: State Securities Laws
- Chapter 3: Owner Financed Sales and Land Contracts
- Chapter 4: Considerations for Dealing with Farmland Investors
- Chapter 5: The Promissory Note
- Chapter 6: Demystifying Equity Financing
- Chapter 7: Revenue-Based Financing
- Chapter 8: The "Multi-Year CSA" Financing Model
- Chapter 9: The Share Lease Agreement
- Appendices: Community Financing Theory, Profit vs Non-Profit and Different Ways of Raising Capital, Contract Basics and Sample Promissory Notes
- Farm Case Studies: Bloomfield Farm, Highlighting Cohousing and Cooperative Land Ownership; Fair Food Farm, Highlighting Creative use of Promissory Notes; Bread and Butter Farm, Highlighting Purchasing the Farm and Community Financial Support; Sugar Mountain Farm, Highlighting Bootstrapping, Vendor Financing, Pre-buys and the Quest to Build On-Farm Slaughter Infrastructure.
