An e-newsletter from the Natural Capital Investment Fund

Download a PDF of the NCIF October 2011 Quarterly Newsletter via the link above.

Helping Farmers Access Markets

Across the Southeast and Appalachia, the local foods movement depends on successfully creating links between consumers in metropolitan areas and producers in surrounding rural areas. To help forge these links, NCIF has been financing both ends of the value chain-retail markets and family farms.

In North Carolina, NCIF has helped farmers like Johnny Powell of Cofield earn more from their grains by obtaining on-farm storage capacity through NCIF's Grain Bin Project. Powell earned $10,000 more for his latest corn and wheat crops because he was able to hold and sell his harvests at the optimal time. The cost-share grants for the grain bin project were provided by the NC Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund.

All told, NCIF's five grain bin loans in 2011 bring the total number of limited resource and beginning farmers across Piedmont and Eastern North Carolina who have benefited from the program to 20. Due to the strong interest expressed by farmers and our partners in the grain bin cost-share initiative, NCIF is exploring the feasibility of similar programs for organic wheat growers and pasture-raised livestock producers.

Successful entrepreneur Eric Henry was tired of traveling to the larger cities around Burlington, North Carolina, to purchase organic and locally produced goods. So, in true entrepreneurial fashion, Henry and his neighbors raised capital to open Company Shops Market, a cooperative grocery store solidly committed to sourcing natural and organic produce and meats from local farmers. NCIF partnered with Fidelity Bank to provide working capital to Company Shops Market, Inc. NCIF funded the Company Shops Market loan with capital provided by the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission.

Located in a former A&P grocery store in downtown Burlington, Company Shops has created 25 full- and part-time jobs, has more than 2,250 members, and has quickly become a community center and gathering place. Says Henry, a sustainability pioneer with TS Designs and the Cotton of the Carolinas project: "We're lucky to live in a community that will work hard to make a project like the Market happen, and we're lucky to have lending partners like NCIF and Fidelity."

Tackling The Toughest Trash

Diverting construction waste and debris from landfills to recycling centers is difficult. But, by patiently developing markets for a variety of materials over its nine-year existence, Fayetteville, North Carolina based ICAN now successfully recycles more than 80 percent of the waste it collects from area construction sites, diverting 15,000 tons from landfills to recycling in the last year alone. ICAN is one of only two companies in North Carolina to recycle waste into an aggregate base that is certified by the state's Department of Transportation, and local landscapers buy its mulch and recovered topsoil by the truckload.

Now, an NCIF loan is helping the company increase its efficiency and effectiveness by investing in new equipment and improving work flow on its site. ICAN expects to increase its employment from 32 to 39 with the expansion.

NCIF partnered with Self-Help Credit Union and the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center on a financing package for Reflective Recycling, which will open a state-of-the-art glass recycling facility in Wilson, North Carolina. The facility will use optic sorting equipment to separate glass by color. The project is expected to create 40 jobs.

Making Every Drop Count

You could say Mike Ruck is used to reusing rainwater; he grew up with his grandparents and parents using rain barrels for gardening. He and his wife, Lynn, now own Rain Water Solutions in Raleigh, North Carolina, a growing business that designs and installs rain-harvesting systems, as well as manufactures and sells the 65-gallon Moby rain barrel (made of recycled plastic) to municipalities across the country.

To help Rain Water Solutions reduce costs and introduce new products, NCIF provided fixed asset and working capital financing to the company to purchase new molding equipment and expand its marketing efforts. Lynn and Mike say they expect the expansion to create four full-time jobs. Says Lynn: "Working with NCIF has given us an opportunity to move our company to the next level. It gives us peace of mind to have financial support from a lending source that supports sustainability and triple-bottomline businesses."

Investing To Save Energy

In West Virginia, with the support of the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and a recent grant from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, NCIF has combined technical assistance and capital to help businesses and farms reduce energy use. Carol and Kevin Fluharty, a mother and son team who are the primary owners of Salem IGA in Salem, West Virginia, obtained a WV Manufacturing Extension Partnership energy audit and a 25 percent cost-share grant from the USDA's Rural Energy for America Program to offset energy efficiency improvements. NCIF provided the rest of the financing needed to install high efficiency fluorescent bulbs and ballasts. Dave McCann, NCIF business lender in our Parkersburg, West Virginia, office, says: "Salem IGA will be able to save over 30 percent a year on their electric bill and enjoy much brighter lighting on the floor and in the open top display cases with this financing. We were really pleased to be able to partner with USDA Rural Development to fund the company."

NCIF also provided fixed asset financing to Split Britches Farm, a familyowned farm in Cool Ridge, West Virginia, to pay for the installation of a 6.24 KW solar PV, or photovoltaic, system.

NCIF is pleased to welcome Rita Gale Cruise as its Energy Program Manager! Rita Gale is a former regional director with Self Help Credit Union and runs a small organic farm on a restored historic farmstead in Stokes County, North Carolina. Through the WV Collaborative Energy Initiative funded by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, she has been developing public private partnerships to advance energy conservation and efficiency for rural West Virginia enterprises.

Says Rita Gale, "The small businesses we work with aren't only saving energy. The Initiative is a wonderful opportunity to help them reduce operational costs in this tough economy." In partnership with WV Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the WV Office of the USDA Rural Development, NCIF coordinates energy audits and provides energy efficiency upfit assistance to rural small businesses, like Salem IGA.

In Arden, North Carolina, Arden Dental Group has financed its green upfit with support from NCIF and First Citizens Bank. The dental group has been recognized by the American Dental Association for its green building innovation.

A Note from NCIF President Marten Jenkins

On behalf of the staff and board of the Natural Capital Investment Fund, I would like to thank our many partners for the opportunity to work together over the past year to assist the region's small business community and advance sustainable economic development in the Appalachia and the Southeast. If you believe in supporting communities, consider supporting us. We invest in community businesses so they can create and maintain jobs. How? NCIF provides affordable loans and hands-on technical assistance to "green" entrepreneurs who are building enterprises that make a difference with every kilowatt hour, paddle stroke and bushel they produce. Every single loan we make goes to Southeastern and Appalachian communities that have been largely left behind by traditional banks.

But we need you to make it happen. We depend on funding from foundations and socially motivated investors to support our businesses and improve lives. Please consider a gift today. To make a gift, click here