State Leadership Reacts to Preliminary Ag Census Data: New Numbers Paint Positive Picture of Vermont Agriculture
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agriculture Statistic Service (NASS) released preliminary findings from the 2012 census. Conducted every five years, the ag census provides the most comprehensive data available about agriculture in Vermont and across the nation (see attached .pdf for the NASS report).
Read More Vermont College Students with Dairy Career Goals Eligible for VDIA Scholarships
The Vermont Dairy Industry Association (VDIA) proudly announces the availability of the 2014-2015 Memorial Scholarship. Applicants must be enrolling in any year at an accredited college or university and seeking a degree in dairy business, dairy science, or a related field. Only Vermont residents are eligible. Past recipients may re-apply each year they remain eligible.
Read More EPA Proposes New Safety Measures to Protect Farm Workers from Pesticide Exposure
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced proposed revisions to the Worker Protection Standard in order to protect the nation’s two million farm workers and their families from pesticide exposure.
Read More Lot Tracking software selected for Vermont value-added food businesses
Waitsfield, Vermont - February 19, 2014 -- The Mad River Food Hub today announced that they have selected the DEAR Inventory application to provide every small-scale food processor in Vermont with an affordable, easy to implement, and easy to use lot tracking system, especially food businesses using food hub facilities, in order to meet FDA, USDA, and market-enforced food traceability requirements.
Read More Sterling College Announces Second Cheese Course
Sterling College announced that it will be holding a second session of its popular Artisan Cheesemaking Course, held in partnership with the Cellars at Jasper Hill. The class will be held from May 27-June 6, 2014.
Read More Charcuterie Course To Be Held at Sterling College
Over two weeks, students will learn the practical and scientific knowledge involved in creating small-scale artisan meat products. Students will learn the processes for butchering, processing, fermenting, curing and dry-aging multiple animal types. The class will be held from June 23-July 3, 2014.
Read More New Writing Workshop Announced at Sterling College
—John Elder, Ginger Strand, Rowan Jacobsen, and Clare Walker Leslie Are Faculty for Summer Course— CRAFTSBURY COMMON, VERMONT— Sterling College is proud to announce that that it will host a new, two-week writing workshop this summer, with several noteworthy writers and artists as part of its visiting faculty. This workshop, “Writing in Place: Nature, Food, and Culture,” is an immersive writing course for students interested in humanities, food systems, and environmental writing. The course will empower students to explore connections between place, culture, and themselves in their writing. The class will be held from June 9-20, 2014.
Read More Sandor Katz to Teach at Sterling College
Bestselling Author and Fermentation Expert Will Teach Two-Week Course in Summer 2014 CRAFTSBURY COMMON, VERMONT— Sterling College is proud to announce that Sandor Katz—fermentation expert, New York Times bestselling author, and James Beard award winner—will be a visiting faculty member this summer. Katz will be teaching the two-week course “Fermentation with Sandor Katz.” Students will work one-on-one with Katz to create small-scale, artisan fermented foods. The class will be held on July 7-18, 2014. The class is open to the public, as well as to Sterling College students. The class is part of the college’s recently launched continuing education program: two- and four-week courses that offer learning opportunities that complement Sterling College’s majors in Ecology, Environmental Humanities, Outdoor Education, and Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems. The inaugural continuing education course was the recently completed Artisan Cheese Institute, offered in partnership with the Cellars at Jasper Hill.
Read More Inn at Weathersfield Announces New Executive Chef Jean-Luc Matécat
The Inn at Weathersfield in Perkinsville, VT, noted as one of the top 10 culinary inns by Bon Appetit magazine, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jean-Luc Matécat as executive chef. Chef Jean-Luc's responsibilities include creating and overseeing the culinary experience for both inn and dinner guests, teaching classes at the inn's non-professional classroom studio, The Hidden Kitchen, and managing the inn's organic vegetable and herb garden.
Read More Hemp Happening: Rural Vermont, Full Sun Company of Middlebury, VT and Vote Hemp Host a Hemp Networking Event
In light of President Obama signing the federal Farm Bill that included a section which allows hemp cultivation by higher educational institutions, and Vermont’s passage of transformative hemp legislation last year, Rural Vermont, Full Sun Company of Middlebury, VT, and Vote Hemp will be hosting a hemp networking gathering and special screening of the hemp documentary, Bringing it Home. The event is intended for all those interested in cultivating hemp, and networking with other Vermont farmers, processors and advocates. The event will be held on Wednesday March 19, 6pm-9pm, at the Ilsley Public Library in Middlebury.
Read More Conservation Helps Farmers Purchase Pawlet Farm
Tim and Brooke Hughes-Muse and their four young daughters are now the happy owners of a 39-acre sweet potato farm aptly called The Laughing Child. The purchase of their farm was made possible through the Vermont Land Trust’s Farmland Access Program, which helps farmers connect with affordable farmland through conservation.
Read More New England Meat Industry Professionals will Convene in March
Registration is now open for the 2014 New England Meat Conference
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