Six local women food entrepreneurs selected for new business accelerator program

Six local women have been selected for a new development program to help women farmers and food entrepreneurs expand into new markets.

Gov. Steve Sisolak, the Nevada Department of Agriculture and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture Foundation recently announced the selection of 11 Nevada women for the Farm2Food Accelerator program, which launched on Wednesday. 

Six of those women are in northwest Nevada, including Lyndsey Langsdale of Reno Food Systems and Crystal Leon of The Radish Hotel, a backyard urban farm in Sparks that sells fresh produce and goods online and at local farmers markets.

Selected participants will join women from Oregon and Washington for a free 15-week online program funded by the Nevada Specialty Crop Block Grant program. The program will help these women entrepreneurs and farmers to learn about food safety, product development, marketing and connect with peers and food experts in other states. 

“The women selected come from all over the state, producing a variety of specialty crops used to make products such as jams, dried culinary herbs, mushroom jerky, hot sauce and wine,” Nevada Department of Agriculture Director Jennifer Ott said in a statement. “This program will support these women running small businesses to grow their operations, develop new business strategies and increase their chance of success.”

Here are the Nevada women accepted into the program:

Cortney Bloomer — Rural Health & Nutrition Initiative, Dayton

Stacy Fisk — Fisk Farm Herbs, Fallon, 

Teri and Megan Harasha — Jazi’s Greens, Carson City

Lyndsey T. Langsdale — Reno Food Systems

Crystal Leon — The Radish Hotel, Sparks

Leslie Lotspeich — Lotspeich Family Farm, Deeth

Eva Sara Luna — Desert Moon Farms, LLC, North Las Vegas

Sara Thomas — NO BS Farm, Fernley

Evelynn Thompson — Zoot Poultry Company, Spring Creek

Betsy L. Whipple — River Ranch Vineyard, Hiko

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