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Posted on August 10, 2011

Director John Ryan will manage growth of value-added food enterprises in Vermont

Montpelier, Vt. —The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) today announced a new program designed to promote agricultural business development in Vermont. The Vermont Agriculture Development Program (VADP) will provide comprehensive technical support to help the state’s value-added food enterprises manage their growth.

John Ryan, a development consultant with 25 years of experience managing projects for public and private clients, will serve as its director.

Each year the VADP will assist a small number of promising entrepreneurs whose ideas for new businesses, or new enterprises at existing businesses, have the potential to advance agricultural development in our region.

It will provide critical venture coaching to help select businesses obtain the right match of growth capital for their size, scale and stage of business. Eligible applicants include value-added producers, processors and distributors of Vermont-grown food and fiber; and businesses devoted to agricultural infrastructure such as cheese aging, composting, marketing or distribution. In addition to adding value to Vermont’s working landscape, companies selected for this program will already have seasoned managers, at least two years of operating history and average annual sales in excess of $200,000.

“The VADP is intended to help value-added agricultural enterprises expand faster than they could on their own,” said Ellen Kahler, executive director of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund.

“We’re working with these businesses at a particular point in their development. Most entrepreneurs have not gone to school to learn how to run a company, and few have the experience of raising equity capital or putting complicated financing together. Once they complete this stage, other state and local assistance providers, such as the VT-Small Business Development Center, regional development corporations or private consultants, can help them with the next steps in their development.”

The VADP grew out of discussions between the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and the John Merck Fund in 2008.  Rather than establishing a new stand-alone non-profit organization, the VSJF and the Farm Viability Enhancement Program at the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board agreed to partner and manage this new program.

For the past 25 years, Ryan has been the Principal of Development Cycles, a consulting firm in the Springfield, Mass., area, where he managed projects involving residential, commercial, agricultural and neighborhood economic development efforts. Ryan has conducted feasibility and planning tasks for educational and resort clients including Shelburne Farms, the Stratton Mountain Corporation and the Mt. Mansfield Company; provided market feasibility and business planning services for more than 30 farms as part of the Massachusetts Department of Food & Agriculture’s Farm Viability Program; and performed commercial feasibility assessments for Grafton Village Cheese, Shelburne Farms and the Cellars at Jasper Hill.

In addition, he has performed assessments of civic and housing needs for numerous communities in Vermont and Massachusetts and consulted on more than 100 residential care and assisted-living facilities throughout New England. He has also provided training to non-profit housing agencies in Vermont at the request of the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board.

“I am excited to apply my experience in strategic business development and project management to the Vermont Agriculture Development Program at the VSJF,” Ryan said. “In our first year, we will work with eight to ten pretty remarkable Vermont companies. These entrepreneurs face significant obstacles, particularly as they seek to develop new products, increase their markets and effectively and sustainably grow their operations. They all need capital, but perhaps more significantly, these entrepreneurs need help to navigate the array of funders and assemble appropriate financing packages.”

So far the VADP is engaged with six Vermont companies: The Royal Butcher (Randolph); Westminster Meats (Westminster); Grow Compost (Moretown); Aqua Vitea (Salisbury); Vermont Soy (Hardwick) and Freedom Foods (Randolph).

Funding for this new program is provided by the Vermont Agriculture Innovation Center at the Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets, the John Merck Fund, the High Meadows Fund and the Castanea Foundation.

ABOUT THE VERMONT SUSTAINABLE JOBS FUND

The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) provides grants, loans and technical assistance to new entrepreneurs and growth-stage companies in Vermont’s sustainable agriculture, forest products, waste management and bioenergy market sectors. Markets, just like businesses, require different types of technical assistance and capital at different stages of development. VSJF works to accelerate the development of green products and services in Vermont.

Learn more at www.vsjf.org.

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