New Hampshire Public Radio Focuses on Farm to Plate

"When it comes to farming, which side of the Connecticut River you’re on makes a big difference when it comes to what kind of state resources you can access.  Vermont’s Agency of Agriculture receives almost three times as much funding from the state as New Hampshire’s Department.

Just about everything that happens with food in Vermont is influenced by Farm to Plate, the state’s ten year strategic plan.  It got its start in 2007 with Vermont Senator Christopher Bray, who says the state had always been involved in its dairy industry.  But back in 2007, dairy farms were shuttering, one after another.  Bray says "I felt like we needed to step away from this very Reactive mode and say let's think about this as a system."

The Farm to Plate law was passed with $100,000 of seed money from the government. And the resulting strategic plan led to millions of dollars in state grants to people and organizations involved in local food, like the grant that will fund Farmer Joe Buley’s automatic potato peeler."

Read or listen to the full article by Emily Corwin, "Across the River, Vermont Puts Its Money on Local Food," at New Hampshire Public Radio.