Attention Raw Milk Producers: Rural Vermont Releases 5th Annual Raw Milk Production Survey
THANK YOU for helping Rural Vermont’s work to expand economic opportunity for farmers and food access for customers. Note: this survey is available to fill out electronically OR as a downloadable PDF at ruralvermont.org. Please consider sharing with other raw milk producers.
Read More Vermont Food Education Every Day Awarded $100K USDA Grant to Connect Northeast Schools and Local Farms
Vermont Food Education Every Day (VT FEED) is pleased to announce that a $100,000 grant received through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm to School Program will support its efforts to better connect school cafeterias and students with local farmers and healthy eating.
Read More Presentation Proposals for UVM Food Systems Summit Due Jan. 15
UVM and Vermont Law School are seeking presentation proposals for the 2015 Food Systems Summit on “The Right to Food.”
Read More Agriculture Secretary Chuck Ross Urges Dairy Producers to Enroll in Margin Protection Program Ahead of Dec. 5 Deadline
Montpelier -- Agriculture Secretary Chuck Ross is encouraging all Vermont dairy farmers to enroll in the Margin Protection Dairy Insurance Program (MPP) by Friday, December 5th, 2014.
Read More NOFA-VT Journey Farmer Program
NOFA-VT is currently accepting applications for their 2015 Journey Farmer Program.
Read More Governor Shumlin Harvests the Season’s First Christmas Tree
HUNTINGTON -- Vermont’s Christmas tree industry received one of its early customers yesterday when Gov. Peter Shumlin arrived at Purinton’s Christmas Tree Farm in Huntington, Vt., to select and cut a tree for the state Pavilion Office Building in Montpelier. The Governor’s annual tree-cutting event not only signals the start of tree-hunting season for many Vermonters, but also draws some well-deserved attention to Vermont’s robust Christmas Tree Industry, which supplies over 134,000 trees to Vermonters and customers throughout New England and as far away as Bermuda. Gov. Shumlin was joined by farm owner Peter Purinton, his sons Cody and Austin, state Rep. Tom Stevens, and the head of Vermont Agency of Agriculture’s Plant Industry Division, Tim Schmalz, along with several members of the press.
Read More VT SCHOOLS BOOST LOCAL FOOD SALES WITH “HARVEST OF THE MONTH”
Participation in the free Harvest of the Month (HOM) project is way up for Vermont schools this year and organizers report it’s having an impact on sales of local farm products.
Read More Winter issue of Vermont's Local Banquet now available!
Winter may have teased us with that snowstorm last week, but you know the season has changed when you see a brand new issue of Local Banquet in stores and online. Our current issue features articles on farming with kids, bees in Vermont, an intro to permaculture, and an essential topic for all you gardeners: how to cook (yes, cook) a pesky garden woodchuck...
Read More City Market's 17th Annual COTS Tree Sale
Burlington, VT – City Market’s COTS Tree Sale to benefit Burlington’s Committee on Temporary Shelter is now in its 17th year! Burlington’s downtown food co-op will once again sell fresh balsams from Moffatt’s Tree Farm in Craftsbury, Vermont. The sale will start with the first delivery from Moffatt’s on Wednesday, December 3 and end by Saturday, December 13 (or when all the trees are gone!).
Read More AGENCY OF AG CONSUMER PROTECTION CHIEF & MAPLE EXPERT HENRY MARCKRES RECOGNIZED FOR OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP WITHIN THE INTERNATIONAL MAPLE INDUSTRY
Henry Marckres, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture’s Consumer Protection Chief and resident maple syrup expert was awarded the prestigious Lynn Reynolds Award for Leadership in the Maple Industry at the annual meeting of the North American Maple Syrup Council and the International Maple Syrup Institute (IMSI) held October 21-23 in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Established in 1999 in honor of long-time IMSI supporter and director, Lynn Reynolds, the prestigious award is bestowed annually on a worthy IMSI member in recognition of outstanding leadership in the International Maple Syrup Industry.
Read More Farmland Access Network Task Force Seeking Farmer Focus Group Participants
Land For Good, together with the UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture, are working on a Farmland Investor Financing Research Project. The project team is now looking for up to 10 farmers to participate in a focus group to examine and critique investment models from 4 "values based" farmland investment companies operating and buying farmland in New England.
Read More VT SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE ISSUES DECISION ON REQUEST SEEKING MANDATORY BMPs
Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Ross issued a decision today denying a petition seeking to impose mandatory best management practices (BMPs) on farms in the Missisquoi Bay Basin. The decision directed the Agency’s Agricultural Water Quality Program to accelerate its agricultural water quality compliance and enforcement activities in the Missisquoi Bay Basin.
Read More
