Vermont Farm to Plate

Features

Growing Community & Skills at the School of the New American Farmstead

Fermentation, cheesemaking, bread baking and more on the menu at the School of the New American Farmstead at Sterling College this summer. Read More »
The Lunchbox serves a record number of free meals to kids & teens

The summer meal site and mobile learning kitchen is reaching more youth than ever before. Read More »
Mad River Food Hub focuses on local food promotion and business support

August 3-10: The Second Annual Mad River Taste Week will highlight the farmers and food producers of the Mad River Valley. Read More »
Vermont Food Co-ops Meet Need for Local Food from Community

Vermont’s food co-ops have been integral to efforts over the last decade to increase the amount of local food purchased and consumed in Vermont. Read More »
New England Ranching for Profit School

Vermont’s emergent grass-fed beef industry. Read More »
Bringing Crepes and a Mission to the Table

Vermont Community Loan Fund Lends $609,500 in Q4 2018. Read More »
Growing Local Food Sales in Face of New Market Challenges

Agricultural opportunities threatened by consolidation in the retail food industry. Read More »
Livestock Profitability School in Vermont

The leading livestock profitability business school is coming to Burlington, Vermont, February 3-9, 2019. Register now (space is limited). Read More »
VT Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship Program

Center for Sustainable Ag’s Pasture Program in partnership with the Vermont Farm to Plate Network launches the first accredited apprenticeship for farming in the country. Read More »
Faces of Farming: Molly Brook Farm

A Story of Respect and Resilience Read More »
Faces of Farming: Snug Valley Farm

Snug Valley Farm Finds Success in its Story Read More »
Vermont Foodbank launches Vermonters Feeding Vermonters

A brand new program that will purchase high quality fruits and vegetables directly from Vermont growers to distribute to Vermonters facing hunger. Read More »
Legal Support for Farmers Markets

The Farmers Market Legal Toolkit combines the expertise of legal, advocacy, and outreach organizations to bolster the legal health of farmers markets in Vermont and across the country. Read More »
The Vermont Produce Program

Turning Regulation into Opportunity Read More »
Vermont Beer Makers Brew up Energy Savings

Big things are brewing at Magic Hat Brewing Company in South Burlington. Read More »
Summer Meals Combat Hunger and Learning Loss

Providing food and fun to kids across Vermont during summer break Read More »
Vermont Farm Fund & VLT Help Bring Home the Bacon

The Vermont Farm Fund is expanding to partner with the Vermont Land Trust to offer loans to farmers who have gone through VLT’s Farmland Access Program. Read More »
Green Mountain Farm to School Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Coupon Program

Increasing access to fresh fruits and vegetables for all NEK residents Read More »
Tracking Institutional Local Purchasing

The Story Behind Vermont First's Numbers Read More »
Vermont’s workforce dilemma

Labor force does not match employer needs; a deeper look into growing the food system workforce Read More »
Jericho Settlers Farm grows year-round

Solar power, biomass heating & energy efficiency extends the growing season pretty at Jericho Settlers Farm Read More »
Farm to College

Strategies and Opportunities for Greater Local Food Procurement in Vermont Higher Education Food Service Read More »
Economic Development in the Local Food Economy

Vermont food system businesses are building a values-based supply chain to succeed in the local, regional, and national marketplace Read More »
Gathering the Herd

Challenges and progress moving meat from farm to plate Read More »
Retail training to boost local food sales

Take 5 video series helps local food merchandising & sales at Vermont retail stores Read More »
Rooted in Vermont

Get involved in the grassroots movement to increase consumer demand of local food Read More »
Agricultural Land Use Planning Modules

A series of 5 agricultural land use planning modules covering food system planning, farmland conservation, farmland and taxes, and local and state regulations. Read More »

Featured Resources

2018 Farm to Plate Annual Report

Since 2010 purchases of local food in Vermont have increased by $176 million to $310 million in total (13.9% of total food and beverage sales); 6,559 net new jobs and 742 net new businesses have been created; and the percentage of food insecure Vermont households has dropped to 9.8% from 13.2%.
A 2018 Exploration of the Future of Vermont Agriculture: Ideas to Seed a Conversation and a Call to Action

An assessment of how to respond to ongoing negative trends in Vermont agriculture.
Charting a Path: Food System Workforce Needs Assessment

This study gives 10 recommendations to better align Vermont's food system education with the needs of today's farm and food businesses.
Exploring the Next Frontier: Increasing Local Food Sales at Vermont's Independent Retailers

This report provides an understanding of the kinds of products independent grocery stores currently sell and what real and perceived barriers exist to selling more or different products at independent grocery stores.
Food System Career Profiles and Pathways (2016)

Created by students piloting curriculum developed by the Career Image and Pathways Task Force, these 12 profiles highlight key skills and experiences useful for the career paths profiled.
Gathering the Herd: Vermont Meat Processing Case Study

Gathering the Herd captures lessons learned over a three year period from by the Farm to Plate Meat Processing Task…
Vermont Dairy and Water Collaborative - A Call to Action

Over the past year, 22 citizen-leaders have worked together to learn, to articulate a shared vision and goals, and to call upon Vermonters to act in the face of the crisis in dairy and in water quality.
Retail Training Collection

The Retail Collection includes the Take 5 video series along with written resources designed to help retailers more effectively source and merchandise local food.

Farm to Plate is Vermont’s food system plan being implemented statewide
to increase economic development and jobs in the farm and food sector
and improve access to healthy local food for all Vermonters.

Newsfeed

Local Libraries Dishing Up Events Exploring Food in the Backyard

09/18/2019

Grow it. Hunt it. Find it. That’s the theme as the Vermont Department of Libraries and Rooted in Vermont, the Vermont Farm to Plate Network’s grassroots campaign celebrating how all Vermonters enjoy local food, partner up to bring “Exploring Food in Your Backyard” events across the state from Sept. 30 through Oct. 6. Local libraries will be hosting community discussions, hands-on activities, and kid-centric events that feature and discuss local food activities that Vermonters have been doing for generations such as hunting and fishing, gardening, and foraging

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Announcement: Health Care's Climate Footprint report released

09/11/2019

The Health Care's Climate Footprint report establishes the first-ever global estimate of health care’s climate footprint, identifies key sources of health care emissions, and makes a series of recommendations to align global health goals with global climate goals. Health care’s climate footprint is equivalent to 4.4% of global net emissions. The lion’s share of emissions – 71% are primarily derived from the health care supply chain through the production, transport, and disposal of goods and services, such as food and agricultural products. Part of decarbonizing the health care supply chain is leveraging health care’s purchasing power toward sustainably and locally grown food and plant-centered meals.

To further distill the report and the findings as they relate to the food sector:
This report is an important first step in an ongoing process to fully understand the channels of GHG impact from the health care sector. The current analysis does not yet provide enough detail to articulate the contribution of food procurement by the health sector. We have great interest in doing so but will need to conduct a structural path analysis which will require an additional scope of research which we hope to be able to undertake in 2020.

The report notes that 9% of health care emissions can be attributed to agriculture, however this includes food as well as other agricultural products such as cotton for hospital gowns and other materials. The report also notes that 11% attributable to 'other manufactured products and 3% attributable to 'other primary industries' both of which have a component attributable to food production that which we have yet to parse out. A future analysis will further assess this segment to be able to attribute the portion associated with food related products.

We are excited about this report and this important first step in getting towards quantifying the impact and opportunity of shifting food procurement in the global health care system to contribute to our collective climate goals.

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Food Connects Hosts Trauma and Nutrition Training for WSESD

09/11/2019

In late August, Food Connects hosted a Trauma and Nutrition training for 31 Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) wellness leaders, including school nurses, counselors, behavior specialists, and food service directors. This training, funded by a grant from the Thompson Trust, educated wellness leaders on the connection between trauma and nutrition with the expectation that participants bring the information back to their school communities.

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Meetings & Events

UVM VT Master Composter Course

9/13/19 6:00pm - 11/1/19 7:00pm

100% Live Online-Topics Include: Soil and Decomposition Ecology, Biology of Composting, , Recipe Design, Disease Control, Site and Container Selection, VT Act 148, Managing the Compost Process, Troubleshooting, Educational Outreach, Worm Composting

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Exploring Practices & Policies for Improving Soil Health Series: Diversified Livestock Focus

9/17/19 3:00pm - 9/26/19 6:30pm

Join Ashlyn & Abraham McClurg of Rebop Farm, a highly diversified, grass-based livestock farm in Brattleboro, as they share techniques they have used to improve the health of their soils and the productivity of their pastures.

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Exploring Practices & Policies for Improving Soil Health Series: Dairy Focus

9/26/19 3:00pm - 6:30pm

Join Guy Choiniere of Choiniere Family Farm, a fourth generation, 100% grass-fed dairy farm in northwestern Vermont, as he shares lessons learned over the past 15 years about maximizing soil health while improving animal health and financial stability.

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Job Listings

NOFA-VT Farm Business Advisor (NOFA Vermont)

Farm Business Advisor The Farm Business Advisor provides high quality, responsive services to support farmers at all levels of development to enhance the viability of their businesses while meeting their quality of life goals. This position works one-on-one with both beginning and established farmers to address a diversity of business and…

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NOFA-VT Farm to School Program Director (NOFA Vermont)

Farm to School Program Director (40 hours/week, salaried, exempt) The Farm to School Program Director is responsible for all Farm to School work at NOFA-VT, including maintaining the VT Food Education Every Day (VTFEED) partnership with Shelburne Farms and participating in the VT FTS Network. The Farm To School Program Director will…

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Intervale Food Hub Operations Coordinator (Intervale Center)

Summary of Position: The Intervale Center seeks a dynamic, mission-driven full-time Food Hub Operations Coordinator to join our team in Burlington, Vermont. For over 30 years, the Intervale Center has led a community food revolution that sustains farms, land and people. We have pioneered farm and food innovations like Community Supported…

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