NCIF Loan Helps Stacy Family Farm Grow
Stacy family on their farm in Ohio. Photo courtesy Stacy family.
At A Glance
- For more than a century, the Stacy family has raised dairy cattle and tended fruit trees on 24 acres in Marietta, Ohio.
- In 2012, the Stacys used a $200,000 loan from our Natural Capital Investment Fund (NCIF), leveraged with $800,000 from the Farm Credit Service, to purchase 95 more acres and expand business.
- NCIF has helped small businesses leverage $44 million in critical growth capital since 2001.
Fun Fact:
About 2 acres of the Stacy family's newly acquired land is under state supervision and non-development limitations as an endangered plant site for the willow tree.
The Stacy family can date their Ohio agricultural roots back to 1899, when Albert and Lina Frost Stacy purchased land outside of Marietta for dairy production and orchard harvesting. Today, Stacy Family Farm is owned by Bill, known as “Farmer Stacy,” and his wife Janet. The farm provides a variety of fresh local food to farmers’ markets, grocery stores and restaurants in the surrounding communities.
Together with their three children, the Stacys grow sweet corn, popcorn, broccoli cauliflower, green beans pumpkins, cucumbers and renowned pick-your-own strawberries.
For years, Bill and Janet wanted to increase their production and saw an opportunity to do so when the Marietta State Nursery, nearly 100 acres along State Route 7, went up for sale. All they needed was financing to help them purchase the land.
The Fund’s Natural Capital Investment Fund In Action
The Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet) and Rural Action referred the Stacy’s to the Fund’s Natural Capital Investment Fund (NCIF). Using a $200,000 small business loan from NCIF, Farmer Stacy was able to leverage an additional $800,000 from Farm Credit Services and pay for the expansion.
The acquired 95 acres have been protected from non-farm development under a land preservation agreement and will be converted to an irrigated specialty crop production farm. Farmer Stacy’s oldest son, William, will take over the management and development of the new farm land under his parents’ supervision and will plant several acres of blueberry bushes that will expand the variety of pick-your-own produce offered at the farm.
Over the next two years, the farm’s increased operations are expected to create 6 full-time, 2 part-time and 30 new seasonal jobs.
