Partners - Whaleback Partners

Whaleback's Partners

We are collaborating with people who are doing some of the best work to build essential pieces of the local and sustainable economy and community in New England-- farms, distribution, infrastructure, cooperatives and more. Here are some of them:

Blue Ox Malthouse seeks to push the possibilities of craft beer and spirits and support Maine agriculture by providing high quality Maine-made malt. Reinvigorating a centuries old craft, we are committed growing the connection between brewers and farmers while striving to grow communities and serve as a model for sustainable and environmental practices.

Fiddler's Green Farm is a growing business involving a band of young entrepreneurs with guidance from the family owners who have run Fiddler's for the past 17 years! We make delicious cereals, pancake & baking mixes. All the high quality ALL ORGANIC grains are stone ground to order in small batches for vitamin richness and superior flavor. We have been milling grains in the midcoast Maine area for the past 16 years, and our cereals have won critical acclaim nationally!

Food Co-op brings local producers and consumers together in a member-owned marketplace to grow a healthier community and a more sustainable food system. We model cooperative values, operate with transparency, and foster trusting relationships with our customers, employees, and suppliers.

Artisan sheep, goat and cow's milk cheese in Whitefield, Maine. Fuzzy Udder Creamery makes a variety of fresh and aged cheeses from sheep, goat and cow’s milk including fresh hand-stretched mozzarella, brie, washed rinds, gouda, tomme, alpine-style, baby provolone, fresh sheep cheese and sheep’s milk yogurt.

The Gardiner Food Co-op grew out of the Kennebec Local Food Initiative. The vision for the Gardiner Food Co-op & Café is of a vibrant space owned by the community, dedicated to offering wholesome, fairly-priced food with an emphasis on local, organic, and fair trade. In addition, there will be a café where friends and neighbors can gather to enjoy a warm soup, do work or brainstorm ways to bring about positive actions in our local community.

No Small Potatoes Investment Club strengthens Maine’s local food economy by making small loans to farms, fishermen and the food businesses they supply to help them thrive. With roots in Slow Money Maine and the movement to strengthen Maine’s local food economy, No Small Potatoes is the first private investment club in the nation to make small loans that help established farms, fisheries and food businesses thrive and become more profitable. These loans support improvements in physical infrastructure and special projects that increase the processing, marketing and distribution capacities and efficiencies of food businesses statewide. In turn, these loans help expand access to healthy Maine-grown food.

Equal Exchange’s aims to build long-term trade partnerships that are economically just and environmentally sound, to foster mutually beneficial relationships between farmers and consumers and to demonstrate, through their success, the contribution of worker co-operatives and Fair Trade to a more equitable, democratic and sustainable world.

Fresh Source Capital invests in businesses that are building a better food system. We look for strong management teams with compelling strategies that are meeting changing consumer demand for how their food is produced, sold and delivered. We focus on seed and growth stage companies operating in North America

Mousam Valley Mushrooms grows & sells healthy, certified organic specialty mushrooms. Mousam Valley grows its mushrooms sustainably on substrate made from agricultural waste eligible for organic production, using advanced automation and control systems to achieve superior fruit yields in precisely controlled environments.