SALEM, Ohio — Food artisan Irene Kim Chin Vincent’s dream was to run her own food business someday. She finally took the leap after she found a sense of belonging in the community at the farmers market and the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet) in her hometown of Athens, Ohio, three years ago.
The support she felt networking at ACEnet in the food and agriculture industry helped get her new business, Hei Hei Kitchens, running in 2024. Now, she processes locally-grown produce into dumplings and fermented products.
“When you become a part of a network like the one that ACEnet has fostered, you become connected to every piece of the puzzle that running a business requires,” Vincent said.
She is one of 12 entrepreneurial food artisans and farmers who founded new businesses in 2024 with support from ACEnet in southeast Ohio. The nonprofit corporation creates rural business opportunities with program grants and loans from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ohio Department of Development and other sources of revenue.
ACEnet comprises two campuses, the Athens Business Incubator and the Nelsonville Business Center. This year, ACEnet is celebrating a milestone anniversary for regional economic development and small business incubation.
“In 2025, ACEnet will be celebrating its 40th year of supporting entrepreneurs in Appalachian Ohio,” said Avery Snyder, a multimedia designer at ACEnet.
Other recent awards for building local food businesses in Appalachia-designated states and regions include USDA funding of nearly $17 million throughout 2027 to ACEnet’s partner organization, Appalachian Regional Food Business Center, which distributes resources to farmers and food business owners through its “Business Builder” program.
Starting small
Incubating food businesses is a solution to food insecurity in Appalachia, where in some school districts nine out of 10 students qualify for the federal Free and Reduced Lunch program. In rural areas, small communities may rely on a local “champion,” someone who advocates for sourcing locally produced food for families and schools, according to a recent Food Insecurity in the Appalachian Region report by the Appalachian Regional Commission.
ACEnet empowers local small businesses by advocating for and providing “resources that would be out of reach to me otherwise,” Vincent said.
Resources include ACEnet’s licensed commercial kitchens, which “allowed me to start small and without going into debt,” she said. “All of Hei Hei Kitchen’s production takes place at the ACEnet Food Ventures Center.”
Vincent learned from ACEnet how to connect her new business with networking opportunities at the Athens Farmers’ Market and Kindred Market.
“From putting together a business plan to figuring out how to use a dough sheeter, ACEnet has worked with me throughout the whole process,” she said.
In 2024, Hei Hei will be shifting production to access the inspected meat-processing room and grow the wholesale viability of its pork dumpling product line, Snyder said.
Absorbing risk
ACENet also helped first-generation farmers Molly Sowash and CJ Morgan keep costs low and stay debt-free as they get their pastured meats business going.
Sowash and Morgan began MoSo Farm in 2020 when they purchased eight Lowline Angus calves. They raise cattle and pigs in Athens, Ohio on leased family land. They formed their LLC in 2022, and in 2024, Morgan left his career in the U.S. Forest Service to work full-time at MoSo Farm.
They’re establishing silvopasture at MoSo Farm to integrate trees and foraging with grazing. Within the last two years, they planted nearly 2,000 trees into 17 acres of pastures, Sowash said. This includes eight species of fruit, nut and shade trees with 1,400 being hazelnut trees alone.
“These trees will provide invaluable shade for cattle and feed for hogs, as well as help our pastures retain water during drought periods,” Sowash said.
Butchering and meat processing are also a local endeavor. The couple take their cattle and hogs to The Local Butcher, in Athens, Ohio, a 15-minute drive from their farm, Sowash said. They rent walk-in freezer space to store their meat from ACENet for under $200 a month.
“A new walk-in freezer might cost $10,000 plus operating and maintenance costs,” Sowash said. “Purchasing a walk-in would be a huge risk for our new business, having ACEnet allows us to keep overhead low while maintaining flexibility.”
INSPIRE
ACEnet also invests millions of dollars in Appalachian workforce development, which includes agricultural labor, through its partner ARC’s Investments Supporting Partnerships in Recovery Ecosystems (INSPIRE) Initiative grant program.
The INSPIRE program allows the federal government, nonfederal public sector and private sector to work together to establish “recovery-ready workplaces” to create workforce development opportunities amid the substance-use disorder crisis, according to the Labor Department.
INSPIRE could help locals in the region to get back on their feet through recovery and return to working at their family farms or be a source of inspiration for people in recovery who want to work in farm and ag, said Adam Kody, ACEnet’s director of operations.
“There has been a diverse range of work sites,” he said. “The INSPIRE program has hosted program participants at ACEnet’s Food Ventures Center, Rural Action’s Makerspace, Passion Works Studio and Integration Acres farm. Those are the places that come to mind, but I know we have had some other local small farms host INSPIRE participants as well.”
Additionally, ARC awarded ACEnet a $499,945 INSPIRE grant to support ACEnet’s Expanding Networks in Recovery Initiatives for Collective Health project for creating a regional recovery-to-work model and will help more than 100 people re-enter the workforce in Ohio.
“ARC’s INSPIRE Initiative helps remove the barriers to workforce participation entry when it comes to recovery-to-work projects across the region, ensuring that all Appalachians have an opportunity at a bright future,” ARC Federal Co-Chair Gayle Manchin said in a news release on Jan. 13.
