Farm to Institution Grant Funding Available
The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) announces $40,000 available to agricultural producers and food hubs serving institutional markets through the Local Food Market Development Grant program for 2014.
Read More RURAL VERMONT RELEASES 2013-2014 REPORT ON RAW MILK PRODUCTION AND SALES and Legislative Priorities for Improvements to the Raw Milk Law
Rural Vermont has released the 2013-2014 Report on raw milk production and sales. For the fifth year since the passage of Act 62, which enables the direct sale of raw milk by farmers to consumers, Rural Vermont has presented to the legislature an overview of how the current law is working for farmers and the economic impact of raw milk sales. Although, there is growing consumer demand for raw milk, Vermont famers consistently report that current regulations need to be amended to make raw milk production more economically viable for farmers and practical for consumers.
Read More UVM to Be Key Sponsor of Food Systems Journal
The University of Vermont is one of four new sponsors supporting the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (the Food Systems Journal), along with three other leading North American university programs focused on food systems.
Read More Vermont Digital Economy Project partners, VCRD and VtSBDC, are offering free digital advising for farm and forest businesses
The Vermont Digital Economy Project is committed to assisting farm and forest businesses adopt digital technologies that, if used appropriately, will result in working landscape businesses becoming more profitable and more productive. The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) is accomplishing this through a combination of one-one advising conducted by the Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC), workshops at the upcoming NOFA Winter Conference on Feb 15 and 16th, and a Food Systems Hackathon held in conjunction with Code for BTV, Room 9 Redevelopment and the New Moran Team, and the University of Vermont.
Read More New Farm to Plate Energy Success Stories
The Energy Cross-cutting Team of the Farm to Plate Network released 7 Energy Success Stories at the 2014 Farm Show. The Energy Success Stories showcase farms, businesses, vendors, installers, and technical assistance providers that have made a difference with energy efficiency savings and renewable energy production.
Read More Trained culinary students ready for employment: Community Kitchen Academy graduating students
Looking for skilled kitchen or food manufacturing employees? In February and March, the Community Kitchen Academy in Barre and Burlington will be graduating students who are ready to enter the workplace. CKA is a statewide program of the Vermont Foodbank in local partnership with Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf and Central Vermont Community Action Council. CKA is accredited to provide qualifying graduates 9 college-level academic credits, and graduates have ServSafe certification, extensive knife skills, and 13 consecutive weeks of working and receiving instruction in a high volume production kitchen.
Read More USDA-AFRI Site Reports and Farmer Survey
Small and Medium Scale Farm Growth and Persistence at the Rural-Urban Interface: Balancing Family, Goals, Opportunities and Risks.
Read More Best Management Practices to Log-Based Shiitake Cultivation in the Northeast Published
Full A-Z Shiitake mushroom production and marketing guide available for free download www.uvm.edu/~susagctr/resources/ShiitakeGuide.pdf
Read More Winter webinars and workshops: “Extreme Home Composting” taught by Highfields staff
This winter, Vermonters will have a chance to attend a number of free home composting classes to help them reduce the amount of organic waste they send to the landfills. In a series of USDA-sponsored online “webinars” and in-person workshops in January, February and March, staff of the Highfields Center for Composting will show participants about the benefits of compost, compost system options, and how to maintain their pile to produce high-quality, nutrient-rich compost.
Read More 2013 Farm to Plate Annual Report Released
Since 2009—when Farm to Plate legislation was passed and the national recession ended—Vermont’s food system added at least 2,162 jobs and 199 establishments! All over the country, Vermont is now being looked to as the leading example of how to transform our food system. Public and philanthropic investment (grants and loans) in farms and food system enterprises was more than $70 million in 2013. In this annual report we share three Blue Ribbon Stories that illustrate activities that are emerging across the Network.
Read More Stonyfield launches project to increase organic dairy production in Northeast
In June of 2013 Stonyfield launched a project to investigate the opportunities for growing organic dairy production in the Northeast. We have spent the months since then talking to farmers, agriculture extension agents, state departments of agriculture, researchers, economists, investors and lenders, feed suppliers, land trusts, farming organizations, and other dairy related businesses in the Northeast to get their input on the challenges and opportunities for growing organic dairy in this region.
Read More Food Cycle Coalition is the Farm to Plate Task Force Linking Food Systems and Waste Management
The Farm to Plate Network’s Food Cycle Coalition Task Force, which includes staff members from the Agency of Natural Resources, is playing a big role in helping to plan and implement the actions needed to reach the goal of 100% diversion of all organic materials from our landfills by 2020!
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