Business is booming for the LaFaver Family Farm.
The first-generation, family owned establishment is nestled on a plot between Shartlesville and Hamburg in Berks County.
It began in 2012 as a beef farm offering non-GMO, grass-fed meat, free of injections or hormones.
During the warm months, the LaFaver’s cattle graze freely in the fields. The steer are tended to by owners Travis and Emily LaFaver, with the help of their daughters, Ellie, Isabella and Lyla.
The LaFavers’ products have been a runaway hit with the local community and beyond, with the farms success enabling the family to open an on-site farm store in 2019, followed by a second store in Wyomissing in November 2023.
“The support from the local community is amazing,” Travis LaFaver told MediaNews Group. “Over the last few years, the demand for good, clean homegrown food has really exploded.”
LaFaver said the family often find themselves running low on different items in the stores.
“My wife and our three daughters are constantly restocking shelves and coolers,” LaFaver said. “(It’s) a good problem to have.”
To meet that demand, the LaFavers are planning to grow their herd, which also means expanding their facilities.
They plan to install a steer barn that will house 80 cattle during the winter months.
That plan came about with the help of the Greater Berks Development Fund, an affiliate of the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance.
The development fund assisted the LaFavers in securing a low-interest, $180,000 Pennsylvania Catalyst loan to build the barn.
“Low-interest funding through the PA Catalyst program was critical in the overall feasibility of the project,” LaFaver said.
The PA Catalyst Fund is an initiative in which the state Department of Community and Economic Development allocates a pool of funding to small businesses in eight counties.
Berks County was allocated $2.3 million in PA Catalyst funds for small-business loans, said Debra Millman, development fund president.
The loans can range from $10,000 to $200,000, and come with a 5% fixed interest rate. A separate, non-governmental loan is required to provide at least half of a project’s financing.
“The role of Greater Berks Development Fund is to work with our local businesses in structuring their project and completing a (funding) application,” Millman said.
She noted the development fund has also assisted Jesse and Emma Zook, vendors at Wyomissing Farmers Market, in acquiring a produce/flower farm via Catalyst funding.
““We are pleased to be able to assist the LaFavers with their project and to continue to provide financial resources,” Millman said.
Millman said the fund has also assisted local farmers through the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority program, which provides low-interest loans and lines of credit for eligible businesses that aim to create full-time jobs.
“We currently have approximately 40 active loans in our portfolio, totaling over $15 million in PIDA loans leveraging over $44 million in project capital investment,” Millman said.
She noted the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance maintains a website offering agricultural resources: GrowTogetherBerks.com.
The site features tools and updates for the ag community, along with a local food map that helps residents “buy Berks” and support local farms.
