The journey to acquiring farmland in Vermont can be a long and winding road. Kagen Dewey and Elise Magnant, owners of Blackbird Organics, know the ins and outs of the land transfer process better than most. They first met working together on an organic vegetable farm in 2014 and began their journey to find their forever farm in 2017.

Early on in that process, they were connected with the Intervale Center’s Farm Business Services team, which provides aspiring, new, and established farm business owners in Vermont with business planning and development services. Kagen and Elise first began working with Maggie Donin in 2018 when she still worked at the Intervale Center, and later were connected with Nikki Lennart as part of the Intervale Center’s Beginning Farmer Program – which offers information, assistance, and encouragement to new farmers in Vermont through one-on-one coaching.

In 2018 the couple started their own operation on leased land at Littlewood Farm in Plainfield. They had both been in managerial roles on organic vegetable farms and were well versed in crop production, record keeping, and organic certification, but they had never done anything with bookkeeping before. Kagen noted, “we had never filed our own taxes as a business, we didn’t have an entity - all of that stuff. So, I think that was bullet point number one of where the Intervale Center really helped us out.”

As they took over the operations at Littlewood Farm and began building Blackbird Organics from the ground up, support from Nikki was key. “I’m really glad we had the Intervale guiding us,” Kagen said, underscoring the value of having “somebody that had our back, that understood our situation and where we were coming from, that could help us keep marching forward while keeping our own goals and values in mind.”

Transferring land between owners isn’t simple or easy – the process can include some roadblocks and disappointment. After two years working with Nikki on planning a farm transfer, their first attempt at purchasing land fell through. Kagen reflected that “Maggie, now in her capacity at the Vermont Land Trust, called us like a week after the first deal fell through and told us there was a new farm that was being conserved two miles up the road.” After checking it out, Kagen and Elise had a good feeling, “the place is beautiful, and it checked off a lot of boxes for us. But we had to wait for the appraisal to come back to see what the price tag was.” Having been through this process before, they knew the drill. They had experts come to assess the property and test the soil.

When they knew they were serious, they had to move quickly. With the continued support of the Intervale Center, they focused on writing a narrative business plan and creating business projections. Kagen explained “it was like, alright, we’ve got to make a proposal to these people who don’t know us now. And we need to seek out financing from a lender and so that was a little bit of a scramble.” Within two months they were signing a purchase and sale agreement and getting their funding squared away.

Nikki’s work with Kagen and Elise involved identifying strengths and weaknesses, setting goals, creating a vision, conducting a financial analysis, cash flow planning, and much more. The financing process was able to move quickly because of the work they had already put in – for years now they were slowly building a strong foundation for their business. Kagen recalled the loan officer saying that “what you guys have is a really solid plan, it’s obvious you have done your homework, so we can sign off on this.” The loan officer also added that “it’s kind of obvious to us when people apply for a loan, and they were a part of the Intervale Center’s Farm Business Planning Services for the past few years.’”

They had learned by now that speedbumps are par for the course. Because the town of Plainfield had their municipal water supply up on the hill, they had the first right of refusal to subdivide the property that Kagen and Elise were trying to buy – a process that would end up taking another year and involve three bureaucracies. Eventually the subdivision was approved, giving the town 12.6 acres for their water supply and Kagen and Elise 74 acres for their farm. Kagen reflected on the process saying “we have plenty of land to work with here. Really the only part of it that was regrettable was that they delayed closing for about a year.”

Not all was lost in that year though. Kagen and Elise developed a trusting relationship with the seller and were able to move in and get started on the farm in late 2022 before they closed in October of 2023.

Before Blackbird Organics made its new home on this 74-acre parcel of land, the property was in hay production. Their vision looks a bit different from that. Kagen explained that “about 50 of those acres are forest that we have a limited, very hands-off forest management plan for. We have about six acres that we have plowed up and put into cover crops and are utilizing for production this year.” That is just the start though. Kagen said they have already added three greenhouses, are in the process of building a wash-pack facility, and have plans to eventually use some of their steeper slopes for either perennial production or small livestock. There is certainly room for them to keep growing, and Kagen reflected that “we want to push this farm to its full sustainable capacity and then continue to grow into all of the markets we have using that capacity.”

This year Kagen and Elise formally enrolled in the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board’s Farm and Forest Viability Program, with Nikki as their advisor. Together they are working on updating and expanding the business plan as a lot has evolved over the past two years. Nikki has helped them develop the skills to work with their own cash flow workbooks and projections. “Pretty much every time I’m doing that work, I call Nikki for a quick phone call where we look it over and get her input on it and her thoughts on it – it is always good to touch base with Nikki and get a reality check, and ask does this feel right? Am I missing something here?”

The Intervale Center’s Farm Business Planning team helps farmers create the foundation they need to run a successful business. Kagen added, “I look back sometimes on that first meeting with Maggie where she was really encouraging us to think about what our actual goals were for farming, like is land ownership actually important to you? or is the business viable and stable? or what size farm do you want? where do you want to be?” He added “if I was to give advice to somebody entering into the situation we were in six years ago I would say to take the program’s sequence and advice to heart, even if you think you already have the answers to those values-based questions, truly answer them.”

The Farm Business Team has been there to nudge Kagen and Elise along in the right direction for years, and the effort from everyone shows as Blackbird Organics continues to thrive and grow.

Finding a home for Blackbird Organics