The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act” or the “Act”) was passed rapidly on a bipartisan basis by both houses of Congress. It was therefore not subject to the level of scrutiny that often accompanies such far-reaching legislation. As a result, while the general thrust of the legislation is clear, there are numerous ambiguities and questions regarding how it interacts with existing laws and regulations, some of which are fundamental to its implementation. We have highlighted these issues below.

One of the small business entrepreneurs invited to the White House on Thursday to join President Obamas for the Rose Garden signing ceremony for the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act was Samantha Abrams, 25, of emmy’s organics in Ithaca, NY. Her wholesale vegan and gluten-free food company, co-founded in 2008 with partner Ian Gaffney, 29, makes coconut macaroons, chocolate sauce and snack foods with certified non-GMO ingredients.  Abrams and Gaffney sourced capital in 2010, launching an online donation campaign to crowd-source $15,000 to grow “emmy’s.”

So what does JOBS Act mean for small food businesses?

1. The JOBS Act would legalize crowd-funding or crowd-sourcing for equity.  Just a minute, you say, haven’t people already been crowd-funding their businesses through sites like Kickstarter and ioby?  Yes and no.

While people have been getting money for their projects through crowd-funding, the business has not been able to offer equity or interest in return.  Until now, if you *invest* in a project through a crowd-funding online or just give a friend some funds to help him start his business, then the only thing you could get in return was actual product, tchotchkes, or a heartfelt thanks.  The “investor” was not planning on ever recouping that money or making a profit.

According to the current version of the JOBS Act, businesses would be able to offer equity in exchange for investment in their company or their project.  What makes this really exciting is that now investors may be willing to come into the small business market and invest more freely.

I’ve personally donated money to some crowd-funding projects before — but it’s always been little amounts.  However, I wasn’t willing to put a lot of money into play because it was neither an investment with a return nor a charitable donation with tax benefits.  Now many people (including me) might be willing to place larger amounts with trusted local companies.

It should be noted that the JOBS Act does restrict unaccredited investors (as defined by the Securities Exhchange Commission) from making investments that exceed $10,000 or 10% of our income – whichever is smaller – or, if you make less than $100,000 annually you can invest no more than $5,000 in a company in exchange for equity.  There are some folks out there – both companies and individuals – claiming that those restrictions aren’t fair but the Senate is only trying to prevent people from getting fleeced and losing all their investment funds.

Businesses seeking investment capital should probably require investors to certify in writing that their income (and assets) fall within the limits that permit any given investment amount conveyed.  However, it’s intriguing to think that an unaccredited investor may now be able to make several smaller investments in an array of different companies — despite the “per company” dollar limitations, laid out above.

According to an article in Forbes, the JOBS Bill would also require that any company that wanted to raise funds through a crowd-sourcing/equity exchange method would be required to file with the SEC and would be limited to raising no more than $1M annually or $2M if they publicly release audited financial statements.

2. The other part of the JOBS Act that most likely pertains to small food businesses is that the cap on the number of shareholders a business may have before they are required to publicly file their financial information has been increased from 500 to 2000.  This is great news if you don’t think that you’ll be able to find a few $10,000 investors but think you know a ton of folks who would be willing to invest $1,000 in your business instead.

For those seeking more depth and detailed legal information, check out “JOBS Act: Impact and Open Questions” prepared by corporate law firm White & Case.

(Note: This article represents the author’s opinion and should NOT be relied upon as legal advice. Please consult an attorney before taking any action related to this article)

On May 1, founders and leaders of socially and environmentally responsible businesses gathered at the Church Center at the United Nations to explore the opportunities and obstacles of growing an equitable green economy for all, reacting to the RIO+20 summit on sustainable planning for the planet.

The event featured key members of triple bottom line (people, planet, profit) business organizations sharing valuable experience from the field, as we discover together new ways for socially responsible enterprises to engage in Rio+20, and the future we want. Featured participants include members of:

• American Sustainable Business Council
• B Lab
• BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies)
• CSRwire
• Green America
• Social Venture Network
• Temple of Understanding

*This event was sponsored by CSRwire, a source for corporate social responsibility and sustainability news, views and trends.

For information about the proceedings, please contact: Joan Kirby UN Representative, Temple of Understanding jkirby@templeofunderstanding.org Phone: 212-573-9223 x25

• “Why Food? Why Now?” by Dr. Marion Nestle
• Food + Cities | Sarah Rich, author of Urban Farms and co-founder of Foodprint Project
• “Hungry City” with sustainable thought-leader Carolyn Steel
• Food + Media + Movements | Christophe Hille, Writer, Co-Owner, Northern Spy Food Co. (moderator); Evelyn J. Kim, Founder, Edo Ergo Sum; Severine Von Tscharner Fleming, Founder, The Greenhorns; Whit Jones, Writer; Co-Field Director, Energy Action Coalition

The Fair will be home to a pop-up book store featuring 100 hand-selectecd titles, over 20 author signings, unique events and intimate dinners throughout the weekend.

The Food Book Fair will highlight cookbooks, memoirs, magazines, and books about science, food systems, agriculture, urban design and food art and culture, and serve as a meeting place for enthusiasts from all food disciplines.

May 4 – The Garden Gather Dinner will be held Friday night in the subterranean private dining room at the Wythe Hotel featuring young farmers and foragers and authors Eugenia Bone and Gary Lincoff celebrating the centennial of John Cage, co-founder of The New York Mycological Society.  The six-course tasting menu will highlight local gardened and gathered ingredients from the likes of Showcase Entrepreneur Brooklyn Grange and forager Evan Strusinski prepared by San Francisco based Chef-Artist Leif Hedendal and Mark Andrew Gravel, cook, designer and author of the forthcoming book, Kill the Recipe. Tickets support GrowNYC’s New Farmer Development Project.

May 5 – Saturday night kicks off with Foodieodicals, a marketplace celebrating over a dozen small, independently published zines, quarterlies and periodicals like Lucky Peach, Diner Journal, Edible Brooklyn, Gastronomica, Laphams Quarterly: The Food Issue, Meatpaper, Put A Egg on It, Remedy Quarterly, Swallow Magazine, The Art of Eating, The Runcible Spoon, White Zinfandel, and Wilder Quarterly. Directly after will be PechaKucha Night, a presentation-based event originating in Japan in which presenters show 20 slides for 20 seconds each. Creative food projects will be the focus and will featuring George Motz of Hamburger America, Dave Kyrejko of Industry City Distillery, Sharon Franke of Good Housekeeping Technology Institute and more.

May 6 – Save the best for last!  Concluding the weekend will be Sunday night’s Cooking the Book Dinner inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises at the newly opened Parish Hall, first project funded by food angels of NYC LION.   Parish Hall’s Owner George Weld and Chef Evan Hanczor have conceptualized a four-course dining experience evoking travel, writing and – of course – drinking. The menu will span re-creations of dishes from the text and more loosely connected items inspired by culinary musings in the book such as an homage to Jake Barnes roast chicken dinner in Paris, apple pie with cheese, and a dish reimagined from a fishing scene in Spain.  Tickets benefit PS 84 Greenhouse Classroom.

To purchase tickets to panels and events, please visit nycfoodbookfair.eventbrite.com

For more information check out foodbookfair.com or follow the Fair on twitter @foodbookfair

In order to participate, individuals will sign an online pledge at ShopYourValues.com to support businesses that ‘do good’ with their everyday practices. By signing the pledge, participants agree to the following:

1. Pledge to shop locally, ethically, & sustainably from May 3rd – 10th in NYC.
2. Receive discounts at participating stores across NYC & free admission to special events.
3. Feel good about contributing to a NYC economy that they believe in.

Shop Your Values Week is a city-wide event created by a collaboration of local non-profits, community organizers, small business groups and business improvement districts brought together by the silicon-alley startup ethikus, which connects people with ethical and sustainable businesses across New York City. The ultimate mission  for Shop Your Values Week is to create support for ethical, local, and sustainable economies in NYC.

Major partners of the week include Meatless Monday, Just Food, BSR, Eco Biz NYC, Green Map NYC, Fab NYC, Solar One, Realty Collective, Social Innovators Collective, Nona Brooklyn, M&M Pest Control,  Green Mountain Energy, ThinkEco, Just Food, GrowNYC, Epicurean Management,14th Street Y, IOBY, Brooklyn Food Coalition, Eat Well Guide, Restaurant Opportunities Center of NY, COMMON, and the Bard MBA in Sustainability.

Brooklyn Food Conference

Over 5,000 people are expected to attend Brooklyn Food Conference. It’s free! This all day event will be filled with keynotes from notable food activists, workshops, panel discussions, food demos, family programming, art and more.92 Page Program PDF with maps, schedules

The 2012 Conference will help strengthen the cooperative effort of individuals, groups and organizations working for a healthy, sustainable and fair food system. Here’s theSchedule.

Come visit Slow Money NYC all day at our Expo Table in 7th Floor Cafeteria!

Having a hard time choosing which of the 170 workshops to attend? Look no further.  We’ve made it easy on you.

Slow Money NYC has coordinated a consecutive series of

FOUR FOOD BUSINESS WORKSHOPS (All in Room 6S6)

SLOW MONEY NYC WORKSHOPS:

Session 1: 11:00-12:15 pm | Bring Money Down To Earth: Everyone is an Investor in Food | Room 6S6 (6th Floor)

The food system and the finance system are both broken. How can we fix them? First, buy local. Next, invest local. Slow Money NYC presents an informative workshop about new opportunities to shift your money to build the local, sustainable food system.

Speakers: Brian Kaminer, Slow Money NYC (NYC LION and FarmCityFund); Elizabeth Bueno, Acción USA; Erin Barnes, IOBY.org and Jay Lee, SmallKnot.com.

Session 2: 12:30-1:45 pm | Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’? Financing Food & Farm Business | Room 6S6 (6th Floor)

Do you have a small, sustainable food or farming business that needs capital to start up or grow? Slow Money NYC leads a workshop exploring diverse new models of funding available to food businesses in NYC from several aligned organizations.

Speakers: Derek Denckla, Slow Money NYC (NYC LION, FarmCityFund.org); Elizabeth Bueno, Acción USA; Erin Barnes, IOBY; Michelle Hughes, GROWNYC New Farmer Development Project and Jay Lee, SmallKnot.

PARTNER WORKSHOPS:

Session 3: 2:00-3:15p | Entrepreneur Mentoring with Acción | Room 6S6

Participants and entrepreneurs in this workshop will hear a brief introduction from industry experts serving as business coaches. Afterwards, participants meet in small groups for two 20-minute “speed coaching” rounds. Entrepreneurs will leave this workshop ready to tackle or improve their business’ marketing, labeling/ packaging, market share, cash flow

Mentors: Erica Dorn, Business Development Officer, AcciónUSA; Elizabeth Bueno, Senior Loan Consultant at AcciónUSA; Amelia Ekus, Director of Community Development at Epicurean (Restaurant) Management;Rich Awn, Co-Founder of Market Share, Media Professional and Master Brewer of Mombucha; Amanda Neville, Marketing Consultant; Mandy Gresh, Coach/Consultant;Beth Linskey, Owner, Beth’s Farm Kitchen LLC.

Session 4: 3:30-4:45p | B Corporations: Creating Impact Through the Food Chain | Room 6S6

Learn about 3 Brooklyn Certified B Corps in the food/beverage industry that are providing healthy products AND creating impact through their supply chains. B Corporations meet higher standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and legal accountability, and redefine success in business.  Certification leads to investor and consumer confidence and reduces “greenwashing”.

Speakers: Nathan Gilbert, B Lab (Certified B Corps); Dan MacCombie, Runa (Tea); Amy Osekowsky, Liga Masiva; and Dawn Techow, Peeled Snacks

Other Recommended Workshops in Business and Economic Development Series:

• The Dinner Party Method for Business Planning and Social Venture Development| Claire Hartten & Christin Rico, Green Rabbits
• Food and Tech: Data, Collaboration and Digital Innovation | Danielle Gould et al.
• $ Need Money? Fundraising Strategies for Your Green Project | Maria Giamperi, ioby et al
• How Food Law Can Help you Build Better Food Business | Jason Foscolo, Attorney et al
• Choosing the Best Legal Structure for Your Food Venture | Neil Stevenson, Lawyers’ Alliance et al
• Manufacturing Food in a Big City | Alissa Weiss, NYC City Council (Quinn) et al

Perks for Parents: Free Childcare all day!!! 8th Floor Teachers’ Lounge.

Kids’ Activities in 1st Floor Gym from 11:00 am – 3:00pm

Youth Summit in 8th Floor Gym from 11:00 – 4:45 pm

Reprinted from The New York Times

Frank Dagele Jr., with his son Chris, at the family farm in the village of Florida in Orange County, N.Y.

Produce from across the country and Mexico at the Hunts Point produce market in the South Bronx.

By MIREYA NAVARRO
Published: April 25, 2012

Decades after the slow-food movement began championing the benefits of locally grown fruits and vegetables, pressure is mounting for New York City to stand up to big vendors and make room for the region’s midsize farms at the Hunts Point wholesale produce market in the South Bronx.

The region has no big wholesale hub for local produce, and advocates of local food and farmers argue that this is the logical time to make it happen. The city is deep in lease negotiations with the cooperative that owns the 45-year-old market, which stretches across 105 acres of city land, and is exploring how to pay for much-needed renovations there.

Complicating matters, New Jersey is hoping to lure the cooperative and its 3,000 jobs across the Hudson River, which gives the city less leverage in pushing for change. And the cooperative’s owners are wary of competition from the smaller farmers, whose costs do not include expensive labor contracts.

Proponents of adding a wholesale farmers’ market at Hunts Point say that even as the Bloomberg administration supports sustainability, only 4 percent of the $2.3 billion worth of food sold annually at Hunts Point comes from New York State, and only 8 percent from New Jersey. The rest is brought in from 49 states and an estimated 55 countries, according to the cooperative.

“It is critical that state and city officials seize this opportunity,” said Mark A. Izeman, a senior lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, which advocates for farmland preservation in New York State and the environmental benefits of growing food locally. He said it was “crazy” that New York had not created a central wholesale hub for local food as cities like Paris and Toronto have.

In an interview in his office at the terminal, the co-op’s co-president, Matthew D’Arrigo, said the issue of including midsize regional growers had not come up in negotiations with the city, but “it’s there.”

Mr. D’Arrigo said he was concerned that oversupply problems could worsen if midsize farmers were admitted. And New York State’s limited growing season, about five months of the year, might not make the hub as successful as its supporters predict in any case, he added.

The city and the cooperative, which pays about $4.5 million a year in rent, are in exclusive negotiations on a new lease with the goal of reaching an accord by June 29. If they do not, New Jersey officials say, they are ready to reopen talks.

Local farm supporters want the city to insist that a new lease include year-round indoor space for New York growers that are modest in size yet too large to profit from the small green markets in the New York area’s parks and streets. Such farms are typically under 300 acres in the Hudson Valley, on Long Island and in the upstate areas that can supply the city, according to studies.

Pressed on the issue, city officials would say only that their first priority is reaching an accord on the lease and on resolving nagging storage, refrigeration and traffic issues.

“Our current focus is on securing a long-term lease with the market co-op and creating a larger, modernized market,” said Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s office. So far, the city and state have committed to shouldering $137 million of an anticipated $350 million in renovation costs.

Advocates of a local presence say that a local wholesale hub would help keep struggling farms afloat while helping to satisfy the demand from New York institutions and grocery stores for fresh local food.

Andrew Rigie, an executive vice president of the New York State Restaurant Association, pointed out that more restaurants were promoting the freshness of their ingredients and local sourcing. Creating an attractive, convenient hub to buy those ingredients in bulk, he said, would give restaurants access to more quantity and variety of produce.

Other potential buyers, like Rhys W. Powell, president of Red Rabbit, a farm-fresh and organic food provider that serves about 10,000 meals a day in New York City schools, said that such an outlet would simplify his currently frenzied buying routine. “It’s like shopping at 12 different grocery stores,” he said.

The 150 or so New York farmers selling through Hunts Point now, state agricultural experts said, are mostly large-scale growers of state staples like onions and apples that sell enough volume to absorb the 12 percent to 15 percent commissions set by the cooperative’s wholesalers.

At the other end of the growing spectrum are small-scale farmers that can profitably sell directly to customers at retail farmers’ markets like the one in Union Square.

But most upstate farmers fall into the middle, and they say they are falling through the cracks in the distribution system.

GrowNYC, the agency that runs a network of 57 retail green markets with 240 small-scale farmers, has proposed a $12 million center at or near the Hunts Point terminal. It would have indoor space providing refrigeration and storage for 80 farmers and space for complementary businesses like makers of local cheeses and preserves. The plan also envisions an outdoor site for an additional 50 farmers.

Marcel Van Ooyen, the agency’s executive director, said that such a hub would allow farmers to set their own prices, sell directly to wholesale customers and keep more money in their pockets, just as the small farmers do. “We think this is a huge game changer,” he said.

Frank Dagele Jr., a fourth-generation farmer with Dagele Brothers Produce, 60 miles north of the city in the Orange County village of Florida, said his dream was to introduce his family’s artichokes to the Hunts Point market. “When people think of artichokes,” he said with regret, “they think of California.”

Mr. Dagele, 53, sells 5 percent of his 40 varieties of vegetables in the New York metropolitan area through various channels, including direct purchases by Whole Foods and sales to a Hunts Point wholesaler under the commission system. The bulk of his production goes to upstate supermarkets.

If he could sell directly from a year-round wholesale market, he said, he could plant an extra 50 acres on his farm, ramp up his fledgling greenhouse production and quadruple his sales in New York City.

The idea for the local hub has long been talked up by officials from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. More recently, it has drawn support from Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, who has said that her office is pushing for it, and from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who last year outlined how it could benefit the upstate economy.

Whether the tight-knit cooperative of 38 companies at Hunts Point will ever agree to it remains unclear.

Mr. D’Arrigo, the co-op’s president, said some members were worried about being outflanked by farmers with advantages like potential city subsidies and not being required to hire unionized labor. If the midsize farms are to sell there, he added, he would agree only to their selling outdoors.

But that would fall short of what advocates of local food have in mind.

“We call New York the restaurant capital of the world,” Mr. Rigie said of the industry association, “and we should have the most cutting-edge, accessible market in the world for local produce.”

By JESSE HIRSCH

Our beekeepers will also undertake a full-scale bee breeding program to create a line of local queens, genetically adapted to New York City’s climate.We are thrilled to be undertaking this project and ask you to help with a small contribution to ensure that the apiary is well-equipped. Bees are not only excellent honey-makers, but they serve a critical environmental role in New York City’s ecosystem, pollinating the millions of flowering plants and trees in our parks, community gardens, and urban farms. Without bees our food supply and our City would suffer, and we are opening this apiary with the goal of promoting the local beekeeping movement and educating New Yorkers about the many wonderful contributions that bees make.

Slow Money and Local Investment Opportunities
Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture

Press Release (with Images): PDF | Word

TICKETS $75 at Stone Barns Website (http://bit.ly/EarthDayEntrepreneur)

Featuring Woody Tasch, Author of Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money and
Eliot Coleman, Author and Farmer, Four Season Farm, Maine
EVENT SCHEDULE.

What better way to spend Earth Day than with a group of food entrepreneurs and investors who are working to “bring money down to earth”?

Slow Money NYC is one of 15 chapters nationwide. More than $16 million has been invested over the past 18 months in 96 small food enterprises under the Slow Money banner, using a variety of new engagement strategies – investment clubs, investor networks and entrepreneur showcases.

Please join us for a program featuring remarks by Chris Lindstrom, Derek Denckla and Brian Kaminer, leaders of Slow Money NYC, and five pioneering food entrepreneurs now seeking capital who will make brief presentations about their enterprises:

• Brooklyn Grange, commercial rooftop farm in NYC building a second airy acre;
• First Field Ketchup, NJ organic farm expanding its line of value-added products;
• Farm to Table CoPackers, growing food processing facility for small farms;
• Window Farms, manufacturing a DIY kit for home-grown food; and
• New York Mouth, online source for local, indie food makers from NY area.

Eliot Coleman, a Director of Slow Money, will lay out an opportunity for partners to create ventures based on his open source farm technology called: Slow Tools.
READ MORE on Speakers and Their Companies.
If you are a good food activist, an impact investor, asustainable business entrepreneur, a foundation trustee or program officer, or an individual who is wondering whether there is life after fast money and fast food, this program presents a wonderful opportunity to participate in what Entrepreneur.comcalled “one of the top five trends in finance” and Rodale called “one of the top ten trends in organics.”

Make an “Earth” Day of it at Stone Barns and visit its cultivated fields, rolling pastures, dense woodlands and verdant wetlands.  It’s a beautiful place, an historic landscape, and a working farm — dynamically blending experimentation, demonstration and learning.  Open to the public from 10am-5pm. Other Events at Stone Barns: http://www.stonebarnscenter.org/visit/program-calendar/?month=apr&yr=2012 and a self-guided tour http://www.stonebarnscenter.org/visit/self-guided-tours/

“On the shoulders of giants,” is a way to acknowledge the legendary people who have made the path before us. For those of us who want a healthy food system, Professor Joan Gussow is one of our longtime guides. On this night, she will talk with her good friend, Woody Tasch, Founder and Chairman of Slow Money, about using our money to support local sustainable food businesses. Together they will explore a fundamental question in Tasch’s book Inquiries into The Nature of Slow Money: Our money is out there doing something – just what is it? Everyone is an investor in food – come one, come all. Get your tickets here! http://www.92y.org/Uptown/Event/Woody-Tasch-with-Joan-Gussow.aspx