About Us

The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) serves as the administrator and backbone organization to the Farm to Plate network, managing the analysis, goal tracking, and implementation of the Vermont Agriculture and Food System Strategic Plan 2021 – 2030.

The Farm to Plate team at VSJF provides the vision, coordination, and strategic support that helps drive Vermont’s food system forward. We work collaboratively across sectors to build and support a robust, resilient, and equitable food system that supports farmers, food workers and producers, communities, and the environment.  

Our role as the Network’s dedicated backbone includes the essential behind-the-scenes supporting services and systems work that makes collaboration possible: building relationships, aligning goals, coordinating projects, conducting research and stakeholder engagement, securing funding, and sharing progress. These services provide the structure and capacity needed for Network members to achieve collective impact and transformational change.

What We Do

As the backbone team of Farm to Plate, we: 

  • guide vision and provide strategic guidance and coordination for network groups
  • implement shared measurement practices to track collective progress
  • mobilize funding to support network projects that support the Strategic Plan
  • manage communications and outreach about Vermont’s food system
  • provide networking and professional development opportunities
  • build public will to support local agriculture and the food system as key drivers of sustainable economic development in Vermont 

 

Read our Guiding Principles

Meet the Farm to Plate Team

Jake Claro, Farm to Plate Director

Jakes leads the Farm to Plate program, providing strategic direction for the program and F2P Network, supporting high-leverage Network projects, providing facilitation and coordination support to Network groups, serving on state grant and policy committees, and conducting analysis, evaluation, and reporting on Vermont’s progress in reaching its food system goals of the Vermont Agriculture and Food System Strategic Plan 2021 - 2030.

Jake works directly with the following Network Groups:  

 

Contact Jake for inquiries related to overall Farm to Plate program history, Network methods and approaches, Strategic Plan development and content, major initiatives particularly those related to supply chain and market development, opportunities for cross-sector and supply chain collaboration, food system policy, and Vermont food system data and analysis. 

Hannah Baxter, Farm to Plate Network Manager

Hannah supports connection and collaboration within and across Network groups, ensures that efforts align with the Vermont Agriculture and Food System Strategic Plan 2021 - 2030 , and keeps the Network moving forward on implementing priority strategies. Whether you’re new to the Network, or have been with us and deep in this work for awhile, she can help connect you with the right Network groups, partners, and resources.

Hannah works directly with the following Network Groups:  

 

Contact Hannah with general questions about the Farm to Plate Network, help connecting with Network Groups, partners, or projects, or guidance on collaboration and alignment in VT’s food system.

Jessica Poulin, Farm to Plate Network Assistant

Jessica works behind the scenes to ensure the Farm to Plate Network is accessible, responsive, and well-supported. With a focus on member engagement, Jessica helps members navigate the website, share their stories, stay informed through the newsletter, and connect with the tools needed for effective collaboration.

Jessica works directly with the following network groups:

 

Contact Jessica for help with membership or website access, to share news or events for the Farm to Plate newsletter, to collaborate on storytelling efforts that highlight Network work, or for support managing special projects and Network Group coordination. 

Additional VSJF Staff Supporting Farm to Plate

These team members also support the work of the Farm to Plate Program through leadership, communications, operations, and fundraising.

Kelly Nottermann, VSJF Communications Manager: For Media Inquiries

Esther Erbe, VSJF Office Manager and Events Coordinator: For Gathering and Event Coordination

Sydney Lucia, VSJF Grants & Fund Development Manager: For Sponsorships and Grants

Farm to Plate Network: Guiding Principles

Farm to Plate is Vermont’s food system plan being implemented statewide by the 350+ member organizations of the Farm to Plate Network. The Network creates the space for strategic conversations and action across multiple audiences and perspectives to collectively implement the three legislative outcomes and 15 Strategic Goals of Vermont’s Agriculture and Food System Strategic Plan 2021-2030.
 

  • We believe in the power of collaborative interdependence - We acknowledge that collective impact comes from collaborative and interdependent action that has greater impact than any one organization can achieve alone. We acknowledge our limitations and knowledge gaps within the Network, and look to collaborate and consult others for support and expertise.

     

  • We are brave, bold, and compassionate  – we encourage others and ourselves to act with courage, and not limit what we think is possible together because we are afraid to fail. Failure is the “first attempt in learning.”

     

  • We embrace continuous learning, and encourage creativity, innovation, and openness to different forms of knowledge and experiences – We actively seek out new ideas and ways of working together. We are willing to embrace, and be receptive to, new ways of thinking, and encourage this by providing members the opportunity to practice with and learn from people  with a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds within the food system. We acknowledge we do not always agree, tension exists, and that is a part of healthy shared growth.

     

  • We cultivate equity through transparency, inclusiveness, power and resource sharing, and mutual accountability – Transparency is essential to building trust, creating access to resources and opportunities, and being accountable to others. We work to understand unique cultural nuances, and center our work in the reality experienced by eaters, farmers/producers, and workers in the food system. We actively work to decolonize Network spaces by not holding members of communities of color as sole representatives of those communities, distributing power and resources, and actively seeking guidance.

     

  • We think systemically, embrace complexity, and value intentional and reflective analysis  - We examine the root causes of issues affecting the food system.  We recognize that systems are dynamic, complex, and require us to be nimble but mindful of the unintended impacts of our decisions. We recognize that analysis and system level understanding comes through quantitative and qualitative data and the lived experiences of people involved in the system.

     

  • We are committed to providing welcoming spaces and ensuring that all Network members can fully participate -  To ensure all Network members are able to fully participate, discrimination, bullying or harassment of any kind and/or based on race, color, religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation, national origin, age, or disability is prohibited within the Network. Instances of the above should be shared as soon as possible with Farm to Plate staff.