Iroquois Valley Announces 
Board Expansion at Annual Meeting

Voting members approve diverse slate with more women and more farmers   



Sally Dodge of Manchester, Vermont, is one of the new managers elected. Sally has a lifetime of commitment to  sustainable farming, green business formation  and land trust advocacy. She has been  instrumental in promoting small, diversified farms in Vermont.

Other major announcements included a pending credit line with RSF Social Finance, longtime visionary leader in financing sustainable agriculture. Pictured above are Patrick Meara, Iroquois Valley's CFO and Kate Danaher, Lending Manager at RSF in their San Francisco headquarters. The new facility will support member redemptions and liquidity, farm acquisitions and help to solidify social/environmental impacts.

As a corporate guideline, we do not look for specific farmland to purchase. We  develop relationships with farmers, mostly young and organic, that want to start or grow their sustainable farm business. We only move to purchase if we have a ready, willing and able farm tenant in hand.

Land access notes (private debt) as well as private equity membership interests are being offered by the company under our 2015 Private Placement Memorandum (click here for a copy of the PPM). Recently the Company announced record earnings through June 30, 2015.
  

After completing balloting at the July 18 Annual Meeting, Iroquois Valley was pleased to announce the increase to nine Board Managers (from seven), including two women, Sally Dodge (above) and Coleen Reedy (below), as well as Harold Wilken, legacy Iroquois County farmer and tenant. Retiring from the Board were John Emrich of Evergreen, Colorado and Janet Bischoff of Wilmette, Illinois, both of whom completed three year terms. Many thanks to John and Janet for their longstanding service and commitment. During their tenure, we grew our portfolio fivefold to 25 farms in total.

While Iroquois Valley is Board managed and democratically governed, membership in the company does not immediately carry voting rights. Voting requires a three year vesting. This is generally the same time frame required for a farmer to complete a transition of the land to organic certification. This is one of multiple ways that we transition a social discipline and longer term perspective to our investors. As we know, committed capital supports a more sustainable farm business.  

Building a more socially aware and just Board is perhaps the single most important job of the Co-Founders and current Board. There are now three farmers on the Board and that is good business for many reasons. We take our farmer commitments very seriously and are excited to welcome our new managers. 

David Miller, CEO, Co-Founder and returning Board Manager 

Click here for our most recent Fact Sheet.  

 "We are committed to improving public health by supporting those farmers wishing to grow food organically. I would like to revolutionize how we grow food  in this country." Dr. Stephen Rivard, Co-Founder/Board Chair.                

 
Shown in our Evanston offices are Arnold Lau, renewing Board Manager and Northwestern MBA graduate, and  Coleen Reedy of Wilmette, Illinois, newly elected to a three year term.        
 
Conferring before the annual meeting were Co-Founders David Miller (returning to the Board) and Dr. Stephen Rivard (Board Chair). The meeting was held at the Institute of Environmental Sustainability (Loyola Univ. of Chicago)                     

Connecting farm families, communities and investors since 2007.  

 

For more information, please contact David Miller or Kevin Egolf at the emails below or visit (www.iroquoisvalleyfarms.com).    


David Miller, Co-Founder and CEO
dmiller@iroquoisvalleyfarms.com   

 

Kevin Egolf, Managing Director of Business Operations

kegolf@iroquoisvalleyfarms.com  

 

Iroquois Valley Farms LLC
708 Church Street   #227
Evanston, Illinois 60201
847 736-0076
www.iroquoisvalleyfarms.com