SUNDERLAND — As farmers know, seasonal changes often bring many other changes, but at Kitchen Garden Farm, this spring brings the biggest change.
The farm will soon change hands for the first time since it was established in Hadley in 2006. Longtime employees Lily Israel, 31, and Max Traunstein, 31, plan to purchase the farm, buildings and equipment with current owner Caroline Pam. . Tim Wilcox.
The deal transfers ownership of the 65-acre farm, known for its peppers, salsa and sriracha, to Traunstein and Israel, who each have 10 and eight years of experience at Kitchen Garden Farm. With this sale, Pam and Wilcox aim to ensure that their “life’s work” continues to be a success.
“I have always wanted to have the opportunity to enable people who want to do more to do more. I believe that you are the ones who will make the decisions that will keep this farm alive and lead it into the future.” ” he told Israel and Traunstein during an interview at the farm. “And I wanted to give you that opportunity when you were ready.”
While the new owners certainly have some trepidation about taking over the farm they've grown (Kitchen Garden Farm was Traunstein's first job out of college), this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. He said it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
“I feel like this farm really humanizes me and has the structure of a farm that I want,” Israel said. “The way the community works here, the size of the farm, the way we create value-added businesses that support the farm economy…I couldn't imagine ever leaving this place.”
“When you go to college to study agriculture, you think that one day you will own a farm. … After working on a farm for a long time and seeing it grow, The fear grew. “Oh, I could start something on my own, but I'd have to start from scratch again, and that would be hard.'' “We've grown as a management team and have a very good understanding of how this farm operates, and the idea of starting over was scary; the idea of starting from scratch was scary.” Traunstein added. That's out of the question. ”
After starting a farm in Hadley, Pam and Wilcox purchased a location on South Silver Lane in 2007 and began farming the property in 2008. From there, the two continued to expand the farm, building a new kitchen, adding new products, and eventually building a farm. He increased his staff to 25 people and established a mini-community.
“Caroline and I are good at spotting opportunities and imagining what new and ambitious goals can be set. And every step of the way, we have people supporting us in responsible roles. It was necessary,” Wilcox said. “We realized that by about 2020, we had actually built an organization here and it became as important as the work that we were actually doing physically. It became important.”
Now, 18 years later, Wilcox and Pam hope to remain in farming in some capacity, but are exploring some new opportunities. Pam has expressed interest in doing consulting work with other farms in the Valley, but Wilcox said he wouldn't be opposed to returning to the farm someday.
Pam said, “We provide turnkey services to help them start operating at a viable scale,” adding that she and Wilcox “don't want to rush into anything. ” he added.
Israel said that with her personal experience and the support of Pam and Wilcox, she and Traunstein are well-positioned to ensure the farm's future success.
“It's a proven model. We've looked at all the financials. We know that unless something big bad happens, at least theoretically we can make a profit. That's because Tim and Caroline It's not about what I did, which is jump into a completely unknown world and build something from scratch,'' Israel said.
Part of this positioning is a unique purchase condition that includes “significant owner capital” contributed by Pam and Wilcox as a “thank you” for the new owners' contributions over the years, along with farm equipment and buildings. It has also received financing from Farm Service Agency, Farm Credit East, Carrot Project and Lotta Agricultural Fund.
Another aspect of the deal, which allows Israel and Traunstein to avoid putting personal capital into the sale, is available on the community GoFundMe for closing costs (bit.ly/49E8CnE ).
Traunstein and Israel are preparing to take over the farm, but said the only thing that will change is the owner's name.
“The change is that we now run the farm, and just a change in our role is enough,” Israel said. “What we do on the farm is a proven model and I don’t want to mess with that because I’m going to be taking on a whole new role with a lot of new responsibilities that I haven’t done before.”
For more information about Kitchen Garden Farm, visit its website (kitchengardenfarm.com) or Instagram page (@kitchengarden.farm).
