Boldly Grown Farm and Viva Farms:

The Power of Supportive Community in Building a Successful Farm Business

Getting Started in Skagit Valley

Seven years ago, Amy Frye and Jacob Slosberg knew they wanted to farm and were sure that Skagit Valley was the ideal location to start. “We knew we wanted to be in Skagit Valley. We were drawn to the strong agricultural community and resources, the soil quality, the climate, and the access to markets,” Amy explains. So, when Jacob landed a job in the agricultural trade in Skagit, they saw it as the perfect springboard to getting established there.

Both Amy and Jacob come from academic backgrounds, each having studied different aspects of agriculture and business. Jacob is well-trained in the technical aspects of farming while Amy has a deep understanding of food systems, organizational management, and business. Together, they create a truly dynamic farming duo.

Finding a Community of Beginning Farmers at Viva Farms

Shortly after arriving in Skagit Valley in 2015, the two started looking for farmable land to purchase but quickly realized they weren’t ready for that big step. It was about this time that they both decided to take the beginning agriculture course, “Cultivating Success”, offered through Washington State University Skagit Extension which acted as a feeder program to Viva Farms’ Farm Business Incubator. They then reached out to Viva Farms, securing a  farm plot in the incubator shortly after a farm tour. Viva Farms was a great alternative, allowing them to start their farm with less of an investment.

Viva Farms was the perfect situation for them to incubate their dream of farming on their own land. Like any new farm, their venture needed a lot of expensive essentials including an array of farm equipment, access to a washing and packing shed, refrigeration, and a community of fellow farmers to collaborate with and exchange knowledge. Amy, well-versed in business, dove into the more technical topics like weed identification and pollination. Jacob focused on organic farm production while taking courses in business management. Both Amy and Jacob benefited from Viva Farm’s food safety training, a topic neither of them had previously studied. In each case, Viva Farms aided them in their journey to becoming farmers. Like any good community, there was a healthy mutually-supportive environment. In areas where they were more experienced, Amy and Jacob were able to lend their expertise to other incubating farmers, and vice-versa. It is this nurturing symbiosis that characterizes the community at Viva Farms.

Supporting The Early Equipment Needs of Beginning Farmers

In addition to personal enrichment and learning opportunities provided by Viva Farms, a lot of Boldly Grown Farm’s basic needs were also met. Access to land was critical but, according to Boldly Grown, not nearly the most important aspect of joining Viva Farms. “It’s not hard to find a couple of acres to till up and plant some vegetables. But to really run a farm business, you need access to basic but costly equipment and infrastructure. You need those essentials,” Jacob explains. Viva Farms provided those essentials including tractors, a tiller, a mower, and access to greenhouses, refrigeration, irrigation and a washing and packing shed to prepare their produce for market.

Beginning farmers face difficult decisions when making early investments in equipment. Oftentimes the decision comes down to buying a less efficient but general tool with many uses versus getting a more specialized tool that can make specific work easier. Viva Farms’ supports beginning farmers like Amy and Jacob by filling basic tool needs. The hope is that with the basics covered, individual farmers can use their resources to buy more specialized equipment to support their particular business, ultimately improving efficiency, product quality, and profitability.

Outgrowing Viva Farms by Design

Over time, Boldly Grown Farm incrementally outgrew the support that Viva Farms provided, exactly how the program is designed to work. “We outgrew their equipment over the years and then bought our own. Next, we outgrew their packing shed, so we built our own. Then we outgrew our Viva Farms plot, so we bought our own land,” Amy and Jacob explain. This is all very much by design where Viva Farms provides the support beginning farmers need with the intent that reducing barriers to early success enables farm businesses to scale their operations and achieve independence more quickly. Amy and Jacob both agree that it was Viva Farms’ support in those early years that helped make their current success possible.

Most first-year farmers at Viva start with a ¼-½ acre of land so that they can learn to manage production alongside business management without being overwhelmed by the scope of either. As they grow their abilities and find success, they can scale their operations up from the incubator to Viva Farms’ Ag Park, as Boldly Grown Farm did over the years. In their final season at Viva in 2021, Boldly Grown was producing vegetables on a total of 25 acres, half of which were in Viva Farms’ Ag Park. They had also built up a full set of equipment and infrastructure to support their business.

The seven years they spent at Viva Farms allowed them to establish a track record of success for potential lenders. They were able to show the business had history and wasn’t just a dream on paper but instead had repeatable sales, could show growth in profitability year-over-year and was on a healthy business trajectory for the foreseeable future. Not only was Boldly Grown ready to grow their business even further by launching off-site and purchasing their own land, but aspiring farmers were ready to start their farming journey by joining Viva Farms incubator, and other successful farm businesses in the program were ready to expand.

Facing Challenges, Finding Support

In 2021, Boldly Grown finally realized their dream and purchased a 58-acre farm of their own. That’s not to say that buying their own land didn’t come with all kinds of challenges. The search stretched well beyond eighteen months and three offers fell through before they landed on the property they now own. Their advice to other farmers looking to buy their own land? Do all the financial training you can and start working with bankers sooner rather than later. “If this is this hard for us, seeing how everyone was impressed with the package we had put together, we realize just how hard it is for those that are unprepared. Beginning farmers need to get familiar with spreadsheets and be comfortable with the financial side of your business including proformas and the ability to forecast 5-6 seasons out,” Amy explains.

Even with their hard-fought successes, Amy and Jacob acknowledge the many setbacks and challenges they encountered. “Farming is not for the faint of heart,” says Amy. Farmers, of course, have the usual challenges like weather, pests, disease, crop failures, and much more. To be successful, you have to be constantly failing, learning and adjusting, and trying again.

For example, Amy and Jacob had one season where $30,000 of their storage crops became contaminated while in storage, rendering them non-organic. It was a big blow. They also faced many challenges when buying their newly acquired property. They are quick to explain it was one of the biggest hurdles in their farming career. It was difficult in terms of finding a suitable property to meet their many needs including water access, good land, the ability to be certified organic, availability of existing infrastructure, and the possibility to build new infrastructure. They needed all those things at a price they could afford and a lender willing to approve their loan and sellers willing to wait for the longer closing period that farm loan programs require. Despite these challenges, they found a way to succeed, learning and adjusting as they went along.

Boldly Grown Farm’s Hard-Fought Successes

There were also some hard-fought victories along the way, although they readily admit that they aren’t great at celebrating their successes and instead are always looking for ways to improve. The success of Boldly Grown Farm speaks for itself in many ways. Amy and Jacob feel they haven’t yet reached the limits on demand for their products, continually having more demand than supply even in light of their ongoing growth. They also continue to expand their reach into new markets, having recently sold into California for the first time. Inquiries are coming from further afield now, including some from as far as Montana! 

They’ve built a team of 13 employees this season who seem content in the work they are doing at Boldly Grown Farm, which Amy and Jacob attribute to the pride they put into being a good employer. “We think we grow really beautiful, high-quality produce and are excited about feeding it to our community,” Jacob said. The farm has also been nominated for two innovative farmer awards.

“I think there’s no one thing that stands out as a huge win. We’ve focused on steady, incremental building from the ground up using our skills and experience gained from both before our time at Viva Farms and while at Viva Farms. We used all of those experiences to build a business that has a solid foundation and will hopefully be around for the long term. Obviously, buying land is so far the biggest win of all, and I think speaks to our dedication, and is a bit of a testament to the growth of our business sense over the years to have a lender so impressed by our business management and excited to work with us” Amy explains.

Jacob and Amy tell aspiring farmers that an experience like Viva Farm’s Practicum in Sustainable Agriculture would be important for giving them a foundation in what it takes to be a farmer. “Farming is challenging on so many fronts, so having the opportunity to learn and practice in this sort of environment with dedicated mentors is sure to be a boost. I would highly recommend any person interested in farming get a taste of it, whether through a practicum program or working on other farms or both before diving in and starting their own farm,” says Jacob.

The Value of the Viva Farms’ Community

Viva Farms is, at its core, a community and much of the value in joining Viva Farms was in the community Amy and Jacob became a part of.  “It’s really important to remember we don’t farm by ourselves. It was important to be part of this community and gain those friendships that would prove invaluable over time. Everyone has to support their neighbors in farming. Even things as simple as sharing employees during the inevitable ebb and flow of work or just turning off a neighbor’s irrigation system at night to help them out,” Jacob says.

The adventure and challenge of running their farm on their own land is just beginning, but Amy and Jacob feel as ready as they can be after their time at Viva Farms. They are now focused on managing a whole farm, setting up their own infrastructure, and building soil health for the long term. They will tell you it was great to have Viva Farms when they needed it, and that Viva Farms does a phenomenal job with the resources they have, meeting the needs of a lot of different farmers, all at the same time. They are thankful for Viva Farms and the entire Viva community for their support in helping their farming dream a reality.

Interested in growing your own successful farm business? Learn more about Viva Farms and its Practicum in Sustainable Agriculture at www.vivafarms.org. To learn more about Boldly Grown Farm visit www.boldlygrownfarm.com.