Donahue’s Livestock Farms to use small farm loan for new butcher shop

NORTH BANGOR, N.Y. — Donahue’s Livestock Farms in North Bangor in Franklin County is the second farm to receive a loan through a revolving loan fund for small-scale food producers in the northern New York region.

The Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) works with Foodshed Capital, which operates in Virginia, to offer the loan fund, which is called the SOIL Loan Fund. 

The 0-percent interest loan will help Donahue’s renovate and purchase equipment for a specialty butcher shop. 

The new retail operation, dubbed Donahue’s Chop Shop, will provide farm-fresh beef, pork, and lamb for local customers, including families who participate in the federal supplemental nutrition assistance program (or SNAP). 

The renovation project at 255 West Main Street in Malone, also in Franklin County, will begin in Spring 2023.

“Farmers like the Donahue’s are exactly who these SOIL loans are designed to support — experienced operators who are looking to expand their business,” Adam Dewbury, director of ANCA’s local food systems program, said in a release. “This project will provide Donahue’s Livestock Farms with a year-round retail outlet for direct-to-consumer sales, which they previously lacked. Expansion of their retail capacity will be a great complement to their wholesale operation.”

Founded in 2016, the Donahue family markets its products to restaurants, businesses, schools, institutions and stores across the North Country. The new shop will allow the business to sell directly to more consumers. 

Owners Brandon and Katie Donahue, who have been farming since 2007, have long-term plans to open a federally certified facility to serve the meat-processing needs of their own farm and other local farms.

“The funds from ANCA and Foodshed Capital will help us to grow our business and increase community access to our local, natural meat products,” Katie Donahue said in the ANCA release. “Customers will also be able to buy our products with their SNAP benefit cards, which we now could technically take, but are just not currently set up for logistically. We anticipate that our new meat shop will increase beef, pork and lamb sales dramatically with the Main Street exposure. We’re very grateful for the SOIL Loan Fund loan from ANCA and Foodshed Capital.”

ANCA, a regional economic nonprofit that serves businesses and communities in northern New York, partnered with Foodshed Capital to launch its SOIL Loan Fund in 2022. Foodshed Capital is a certified Community Development Financial Institution that centers mission-driven lending and customized business support for underserved farmers.

The program was designed to address the challenges many small farms have accessing capital through conventional loan programs. 

Capital for the loan program came from private donations as well as grants from Adirondack Bank, Adirondack Foundation’s Generous Acts Fund, the Glen and Carol Pearsall Adirondack Fund, Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation, and NBT Bank.

“We hear time and again from our livestock farmer partners that processing is a massive bottleneck. There are too few processors who work with small-scale producers, they’re too far away, or they don’t offer the kind of certification needed for direct-to-consumer sales,” Erica Hellen, director of strategy and development at Foodshed Capital, said. “We were so excited to deepen our partnership with ANCA to collaboratively finance the Donahues’ project. Not only will it support their immediate retail sales and short-term viability, but it will [also] support them as they expand their vision for a processing facility that will benefit regenerative producers throughout the region.”