These articles are written resources that provide insights into building and funding profitable food, beverage and value-added farm businesses. They include editions of our free Edible-Alpha® Insights newsletter, Edible-Alpha’s® twice monthly roundup of the best food and beverage finance news, events and resources from Edible-Alpha® and around the web. These emails will be coming to you as “Edible-Alpha® Insights” from info@edible-alpha.org every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month. These are currently all free. Learn more about our Premium Subscription to unlock everything Edible-Alpha® has to offer.
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Building Investment Cases for Regenerative Farming
10 minute read of Free article by Edible-Alpha®
Farming is hard work, but financing a new organic or regenerative endeavor is its own beast. Land can be expensive and tough to access,...
Article about Financial Management for businesses that are Growing and Scaling
Why Aren’t There More Meat Processors?
10 minute read of Free article by Edible-Alpha®
The lack of meat processing facilities in the U.S. has been a big problem for decades. Continued consolidation has led to larger but far...
Article about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling | Startups | Pre-Venture
3 Lessons from a Leading Food Hub
10 minute read of Free article by Edible-Alpha®
We’ve been talking a lot about food hubs lately. These vital organizations—sometimes structured as nonprofits, sometimes as for-profits and sometimes as a blend—build up...
5 Financial Tips for Farm Business Success
10 minute read of Free article by Edible-Alpha®
After starting from scratch just over a decade ago, Marc and Luis Bernard have grown Rustic Road Farm on the fringes of suburban Chicago into something really special. Today, they sell organic produce, pastured meats and eggs, and a range of value-added products direct to consumers, and they love hosting the community on-farm. In this podcast, Marc shares their fascinating journey and offers excellent advice for launching and growing a viable ag business.
Article about Financial Management for businesses that are Growing and Scaling
7 Reasons to Launch an Agritourism Business
10 minute read of Free article by Edible-Alpha®
From creating cash flow efficiencies to building brand awareness, agritourism can provide plenty of perks to a farm business. Learn how hosting farm tours, events, or other neat experiences can benefit farm businesses.
Article about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling
Is Equity Financing Right for Your Farm?
10 minute read of Free article by Edible-Alpha®
Emerging farmers may benefit from looking beyond traditional farm financing for capital. Could courting equity investors be the best move? Get 6 tips for acing this strategy.
Article about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling
Reality Keeps Your Food Business Grounded
10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®
Being a food entrepreneur is in some ways about balancing empirical reality and a belief in something you cannot see clearly, like where your business will be in 3-5 years. Food entrepreneursshould clearly state their assumptions about the future and test their assumptions constantly, asking the advice of people who they can trust to ground-truth their ideas.
Article about Operations for businesses that are Growing and Scaling
Define It: Categories In Action
10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®
What category means in the context of a grocery store is difficult to define. Categories could be defined as groups of products that meet a similar consumer need or that can substitute for each other. This allows something like snacks, as a category, to cover many different types of products and have a plethora of sub-categories (salty snacks, sweet snacks, etc.).
Article about Business Models for businesses that are Pre-Venture | Startups | Growing and Scaling
Taking Investment in Your Food Business Changes Your Business (And You)
10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®
Food entrepreneurs themselves often feel changed when taking outside investor capital. They feel the weight of the responsibility of paying back those investors with a return. They often work even harder than they were before because others are sharing the risk with them and are emotionally invested in their business as well.
Article about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling
Should I Manufacture Food In-House Or Use A Co-Packer?
10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®
The inevitable question food entrepreneurs face when scaling is "should I manufacture food in-house or use a co-packer?" The food entrepreneur's business model, stage of business, financing capacity (i.e. how well they can raise money) and the availability of co-packing capacity for their specific needs all make a difference in deciding how to answer that question.
Article about Operations for businesses that are Growing and Scaling