To our beloved community—

We are excited to share some big news with you this week. This May we will be breaking ground on the next chapter of the journey to enhance food security in Tompkins County through farming and food processing. We have always been in this for the long-run— to be part of building the system which will sustain our communities through the climate and environmental crises ahead of us. We have had the pleasure of serving you over these past 14 years and plan to be here through the times ahead.

With significant financing now secured through the Black Farmer Fund, Inc. and the Southern Tier Regional Economic Development Council we are finally ready to begin construction. This 4,000 square foot facility is a major capital investment not only for Van Noble Farm but for Tompkins County as a whole. With it we will be able to expand our catering operation’s mission to source as much of the menu from local producers as possible, such as the ~400 organic chickens per year purchased from our farm partner José Aguilera at Four Leaf Farm. We will be able to develop wholesale markets for our pork products and meats from other local farmers through distributors, local restaurants, and institutional buyers. Furthermore, we will be able to expand the distribution of local meats to our food access partners such as Loaves & Fishes and No Más Lágrimas, and continue to donate a portion of sales to subsidize vegetable CSA shares for the Full Plate Collective & Fort Baptist Farm.

As you might imagine, construction costs are at an all-time high. Yet we still must create the systems to sustain ourselves before we are in a serious food crisis. That’s why we're calling on our community to make a direct investment in our collective food security. From now through June 1st, we're raising $40,000 to support the construction the walk-in cooler and freezer this smokehouse requires. Every dollar invested is a direct stake in sustaining ourselves and generations to come.

With unprecedented environmental challenges forcing farms and food businesses across Tompkins County to close their doors, investing in shared food infrastructure is essential. The scale of what we are trying to build simply exceeds what we can do alone, so it is critical for Van Noble Farm to ask for your help.

Your investment can help make Van Noble Farm Smokehouse a success for a small business, for the many farmers we work with, and for the Tompkins County community.

Join us on Saturday May 23 for a Farm Tour & Barbecue! We’ll explore the grounds at Van Noble Farm, see the pigs & chickens, the future building location, and then enjoy our Finger Lakes Barbecue.

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Please read below for further information about the project, and why we are coming to you for support:

Why are we expanding our facilities?

Under our current licensing with the New York State Department of Health, Van Noble Farm is only allowed to sell value-added products to the end-consumer of those meats. This means that we are not allowed to sell our bacons and sausages to restaurants, institutions, school systems, food pantries, nor through cooperatives like Greenstar or distributors like Regional Access. Although we are still allowed to sell a small amount of raw, packaged product through wholesale channels—this restriction has been a major limiting factor to the growth of our product line. In order to meet the standards of USDA meat-processing inspection, we needed to greatly upgrade the design and layout of our operation and our current commercial kitchen would not be able to the specifications necessary. I have been working with a range of consultants as well as received training through Penn State to ensure that the design of this new facility will meet USDA specifications.

What does the new facility offer?

Primarily this facility will offer the ability to keep raw meat products separate from produce, dry goods, and ready-to-eat meat products. With the construction of the walk-in cooler & freezer that you can support through this fundraising campaign, we will have a designated area for all raw items and the ability to easily wash-down the entire cooler into a drain in the floor. Similarly, there will be a designated “cut” room and pack room for meats that will stay separated from kitchen operations for catering, all of which will have their own drains as well.

Second this facility will have double-partition entry to all production areas, which will greatly improve the insulation value of these spaces, keeping them cooler, but also prevent entry of insects to the production rooms. There will be energy efficient heating & cooling systems installed in the production areas and the retail room, offering climate-control and fly-prevention that we have not had in our current facility.

Third, this building will give us the square footage needed to operate at the scale that Van Noble Farm has grown to. Although our current kitchen has been good to us, we are incredibly short on storage space, the dish room shares the same room with the kitchen, cooking equipment and prep areas— making it a hot, tight fit during our busy production days. Additionally, all of the doors in this facility will be pallet-sized, allowing for packaging and shipping out cases of products through the loading dock on the south-side of the building. We look forward to having the proper amount of space dedicated to each part of the operation, allowing us to continue processing local foods at the scale we have become accustomed to.

Last, we are extremely excited to have a designated retail store for local customers to pick up CSA shares on a more flexible basis and for folks to come to buy bacon, hams, and sausages or order specialty cuts at their leisure. We intend to make the shopping experience with your local butcher shop as pleasant and easy as possible, and we hope you will come find us starting us in spring 2027!

What will be the impact on the Tompkins County food system?

As residents of Tompkins County, you will be able to find unique locally-raised meats at our new retail store, such as our Portuguese Chorizo, Rustic Pate, and Pastrami Ham as well as traditional items like Bratwurst, Smokehouse Bacon, Pork Chops, and fresh roasts. Additionally you will have access to meats from a range of other local farmers including organic, pasture-raised chicken, beef, lamb, and turkey. Of course, we will continue to get these local meats into the hands of our food access partners, through a combination of donations and contract purchases. With USDA licensing, we will be able to secure contracts with regional school food programs through state-funded programs like New York Food for New York Families (NYFNYF), to make sure that children across Tompkins County and beyond are able to benefit from these healthy protein sources. Van Noble Farm Smokehouse will also serve local farmers by helping them to sell their livestock into both retail and wholesale markets, and to co-pack their meats with delicious, natural recipes that their customers will seek out.

Why are we calling for the community’s support for this project?

As a small business owner I have always taken pride in the fact that we have made our own way through the difficulties of farming and food business, neither of which are typically easy industries to survive in for the long run. However as we are seeing unprecedented changes in the environment and I have watched so many peers close their doors in Tompkins County due to economic volatility, I have come to accept that is time to ask for support. We want to be around for many more years and to share this community asset with consumers and farmers alike. While we have invested much of our own equity into this project, and we have found a wonderful team of investors through the Black Farmer Fund and the Southern Tier Economic Development Council (STREDC), we still need the community’s buy-in to make this facility a reality!

Your contribution will help to bring us over the funding finish-line and close the gap on our project budget. Primarily the community-raised funds will support the purchase of the critical walk-in cooler & freezer that we need for storage of carcasses and raw meats. As cold storage is the spearhead to a meat-processing facility, we need to make sure that we don’t shortchange the size or quality of these units so that they will support the facility’s operation for many years to come. We hope that you will help us build this vision of a resilient food future in Tompkins County, and if you can’t contribute directly, please share with others in the community so that we can reach our funding goal by June 1st, 2026.