A recent report from RSF Social Finance analyzes investment opportunities in emerging producer-owned farms and customer-owned food retail that have traditionally lacked the collateral or financing needed to ease start-up. Interviewing established food cooperatives as well as financial organizations and service providers that work with cooperatives, this paper finds that investors should engage cooperatives with more risk-tolerant funds in the early stages of development and continue to build a relationship as the cooperative matures. Lenders can reduce the risk associated with financing new cooperatives by partnering with organizations that understand the initial phases of cooperative development.