For Gregory Wortman, entrepreneurship was never just about building a business. It was about finding a balance between his past and present.
The founder of Farm 310, a growing agricultural enterprise in Allenstown, Wortman launched the farm after years of military service including a deployment to Iraq that would shape the company’s name and mission.
“310 refers to the zone I served in in Iraq,” Wortman says. “It was called the Triangle of Death. We had 55 die in a 15-month deployment.”
Wortman was an Army captain who served as a commissioned officer for a decade and he found himself searching for purpose after returning home. Farming became the answer.
“This farm was founded out of struggling,” he says. “Like most veterans from the War on Terror, I’m trying to figure out how do I take something full of death and destruction and bring balance to my life.”
That search evolved into a carefully planned business. Wortman and his family purchased a 7.5-acre property in 2018 and began transforming the heavily wooded land into a working farm. Today, Farm 310 is completing the first phase of a five-stage development plan centered on honey production and beekeeping products.
The farm sells raw honey, creamed honey, cut-comb honey, as well as honey sticks. Wortman is also developing recipes for hot honey and mead. Next comes a market garden for vegetables, followed by mushroom production, a bakery and eventually pasture-raised pork and poultry.
Unlike many startups that pursue rapid expansion through debt financing, Wortman has taken a measured approach.
“Honestly, the biggest challenge for me is growth—sustainable growth,” he says. “If I wanted to take out a $100,000 loan and build a dream farm tomorrow, I could, but I’m not going to go into debt to do this. It’s self-funded. Every piece of equipment I bought was intentional.”
That discipline has paid off. Through grants from veteran-focused organizations and agricultural programs, Wortman has secured nearly $35,000 to help build a commercial honey extraction operation and expand production capabilities.
The journey has not been easy. Wortman balances his startup ambitions with a full-time career and family responsibilities. He serves as equipment reliability manager for a manufacturing company while raising four children with his wife.
Wortman’s vision extends well beyond his own acreage. Inspired by growing reports of food insecurity, he’s developing the Valor Initiative, a nonprofit network designed to help veterans access land, learn business-focused farming practices and use agricultural production to address food insecurity.
“I’m looking at solving hunger in my community, then my region, then my state,” he says.
For Wortman, Farm 310 represents more than entrepreneurship. It is proof that purpose can emerge from hardship and that sustainable growth often begins with a mission larger than profit.
“Because I’m hungry, I want it,” he says when asked what drives him. “When you find the right idea, you’ll know because it will consume you. While it seems like a lot of work, it’s work that reenergizes me.”
