South Farms, in Morris, CT, has been in general manager Ben Paletsky’s family for generations. Started as a dairy farm in the early 50’s, Paletsky has upended the original dairy farm with a vision to redefine New England agriculture. To support that vision, Paletsky needed a partner, not just a lender, so he turned to Union Savings Bank, where he has had a long term relationship.
Paletsky’s built a business based on reimaging how agricultural and farm products, services and attractions can be a center piece for the growth of a community. By co-locating a portfolio of unique, entrepreneurial, and complementing businesses onto his homestead, South Farms intends to emerge as a great American farmland destination accessible to anyone between New York and Boston. Taking a barn that was about to collapse and converting it into a venue that can accommodate weddings, concerts, food events and trade shows, is just one of the unique projects that Ben has tackled on the farm. On Sunday’s in the summer you can find one of the best farmer’s markets in New England happening at South Farms.
South Farms, just one of the 10,000 business banking stories Union Savings Bank helps to tell.
Video Transcript:
Farming’s all about storytelling, you didn’t get a manual and read up, it’s all tribal knowledge, it’s all passed down information. I’m Ben Paletsky, general manager at South Farms in Morris Connecticut. This has been in our family since the early 50’s. my grandfather ran it as a dairy farm. There was a whole economy just around the livestock. The farm has really been in a stagnant state as dairy became less viable we’ve decided to think about a formula solution that really makes this farm take on a new life. If we’re able to create a venue here that can create new business, create a livelihood; create something really unique for the community, then great. For this type of project, being so unconventional and having such a value to the community local banks were really the only way to go. The people down at Union Savings are people I’ve had a long term relationship with. They knew the property, they didn’t always know what I was up to but they knew I’d always come in with interesting ideas. At about two years ago this entire space right here was about to collapse. I decided to rebuild it and I turned it in to this venue that can accommodate weddings, it can accommodate concerts, food events, trade shows. The whole space is designed to go with what our customer’s needs are. We didn’t just need a lender, we really needed a partner. And Union had the means to deliver that.