December 18, 2019

By Lynda Kiernan

Shenandoah Valley Organic (SVO) announced it has closed on $15 million in funding led by NRV, and including commitments from Open Prairie, existing investor S2G Ventures, and Middleland Capital’s VTC Innovation Fund. 

Founded in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in 2014, SVO is the brainchild of sixth-generation farmer Corwin Heatwole, who aims to revolutionize the meat industry through integrating a process through which farms can be sustainable while remaining profitable for the next generation.

“We are pleased to add investors and advisors to the SVO team who share in our vision and mission, and offer deep expertise across the retail and supply chain,” explained Heatwole.

SVO’s mission and values-driven brand, Farmer Focus™ provides best-in-class traceability by creating sustainable, innovative partnerships between itself and family farms. Under its business framework, farmers are true partners, and retain ownership of their operations, while producing and providing traceable, high-quality, clean-label, organic meat.

“Shenandoah Valley Organic is an incredible growth story out of Harrisonburg, VA, and NRV is excited to be part of their future as they continue to expand the Farmer Focus organic meat brand,” said Laura Markley, managing director at NRV, a Richmond, Virginia-based venture capital firm.

“Their best-in-class traceability links products on the shelf back to the specific family farm that sourced them, providing transparency along with a high-quality, clean-label, organic product.”

Next Level

As consumers become more engaged with, and knowledgeable about their food supply chains, demand for organic foods continues to increase. Organic production systems can satisfy demands for clean food labels, less agro-chemical use, more reliance on regenerative farming methods, better natural resource management, and traceability, while still providing higher returns for farmers. 

Last year, the U.S. organic food market posted record sales of $52.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 6.3 percent, according to the 2018 Organic Industry Survey released by the Organic Trade Association. 

Since 2010, organic food sales in the U.S. have more than doubled, according to the report, with 5.7 percent of all food sold in the country today, now being organic.

Focusing on organic meat and poultry, a new report issued in the spring of this year concluded that the global organic meat and poultry market is expected to reach a value of $15.6 billion by 2026, citing greater support through government regulations as being a driver for such growth. 

 This growth is also showing no signs of slowing, according to a report released by TechSci Research, that forecasted that the global organic food market will continue to grow at a CAGR exceeding 14 percent between 2016 and 2021. 

With market expectations such as these, SVO plans to use the capital from this funding to expand its retail footprint, and Farmer Focus branded products, through modernizing its plant to increase throughput volumes, and to expand its market and brand outreach initiatives for its fresh and value-added product lines.

“SVO truly embodies the spirit of rural America and is well positioned for explosive growth,” said Jason Wrone, partner with Open Prairie, who invested in SVO through its Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund. 

“The Farmer Focus brand personifies the company’s emphasis on developing and maintaining strong relationships with its growers and preserving smaller, independent family farms while also implementing innovative technologies to produce high-quality products for today’s health and environmentally-conscious consumers.”

– Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to the GAI News and Agtech Intel platforms. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.