Vermont Food Venture Center in Hardwick continues to experience kitchen usage growth

A program of the Center for an Agricultural Economy, the Vermont Food Venture Center is currently seeing a 50% increase in kitchen usage over last year. They plan to continue this trend and are slated to work with 15 farms across the state to supply institutions with 8 fresh cut or frozen products--very well aligned with Farm to Plate Goal 2: to increase consumption of local food in institutional settings. This growth is due to new market opportunities for farms, increased efficiencies, and the continuation of important partnerships and has helped the Venture Center supply fresh cut and frozen vegetables to Vermont instutituions. The plan is to continue this work with 15 farms throughout Vermont as well as partner with the Vermont Foodbank on multiple food access programs--aligning with Goal 15: increasing access to fresh, nutritionally balanced, affordable food for all Vermonters.

Read more about the Vermont Food Venture Center exceeding projections for facility use on the Center for an Agricultural Economy Blog.

The Vermont Food Venture Center provides small Vermont food businesses with a multi-use processing facility to incubate, develop, and co-pack value-added local food products. Through these services, the Venture Center is strengthening Vermont’s agricultural economy which aligns with the state’s Farm to Plate goals to increase food processing capacity and the amount of local food produced in Vermont. As much of the food processed at the Venture Center is distributed to local schools and processing and distribution support job creation, the Venture Center work also aligns with the Farm to Plate goals to increase local food at institutions and the number of food system establishments and employees, as well as supporting the Farm to Plate food access goal through partnerships.