Giving Compass' Take:

• Through Steward, a new online crowdfunding platform, individual investors can put as little as $100 into small, sustainable farms that otherwise have trouble gaining access to government and bank loans.

• What other early services can crush small farms? How can philanthropy help farm and food enterprises grow? 

• Here's an article on investing in local, organic, and small farming to help solve U.S. food problems. 

On Tuesday, October 1, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue made a grave statement about the lifespan of the country’s small dairy farms. “In America, the big get bigger and the small go out,” Perdue said after attending the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin. This extends to all types of small farming enterprises in the U.S., from fruit and vegetable to grain and livestock, which struggle to make ends meet.

“Almost all of the funding from agriculture comes through government policy [and] direct lending, either through the government or bank programs, and those programs aren’t flexible enough for the smaller, sustainable farms,” says Dan Miller, founder and CEO of Steward, a new online crowdfunding platform where individual investors can put money into modest, regenerative farms—and eventually get a return on their investment.

So far, Steward has invested more than $2.2 million across 16 different farms, mostly in the U.S. (though one is a vineyard located in Switzerland). Anyone in the U.S. can invest as little as $100 via an SEC regulated process in what is currently the Steward Farm Trust, a portfolio of loans made to the 16 farmers using Steward. Those who put money into the trust will receive dividends paid from the interest payments on those farmers’ loans. “Shortly, we’re going to roll out individual investments, so people will be able to invest directly in a single farm,” says Miller.

Read the full article on crowdfunding for small farms by Jessica Klein at Fast Company.