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Giving and receiving in our local community has supported and carried us throughout this pandemic. The upcoming holiday season invites us to further this circle of resiliency. While your traditions may look different this year, the community spirit will be present this holiday season!

The Vermont Community Loan Fund has announced the launch of the Northern Vermont Recovery Loan Fund (NVRLF), a new loan program serving Northern Vermont agricultural and other businesses and organizations negatively impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Registration is now open for the Vermont Compost Operator Certification Training.

Food Connects is excited to welcome Deborah Sadler to their team as their new Food Hub Operations Coordinator. Deborah is the first in a series of new hires to support Food Connects’ continued operational growth. Deborah splits her time coordinating Food Hub pickups and deliveries and driving delivery routes.

A new grant program was created by VT Breakfast on the Farm to give Vermont farmers and industry organizations an opportunity to engage with the public about dairy farming.

The Vermont Community Loan Fund is now accepting loan applications through its SPROUT program, a low-interest loan program for emerging Vermont working lands entrepreneurs including farms, food producers & processors, foresters, forest products businesses and others in the start-up and early stages of their operations.

Weigh in on ag and food educational program transformation planning at VT Tech.

Food Connects will host the first Taste of Food Connects from November 1 to 21. This event brings together over 90 local businesses throughout the Windham County and Monadnock Regions to celebrate our vibrant local economy. This unique event is part Local Passport, benefitting local businesses, and part Silent Auction, supporting Food Connects’ annual fund.

In the third quarter of 2020, the Vermont Community Loan Fund loaned $384,807 to Vermont's small family farms, food and forest industry entrepreneurs and others, saving and creating Vermont jobs and boosting the state's economy.

11.3% of farmwork in Vermont is accomplished by seasonal H-2A Temporary Visa farmworkers, a majority of whom are Jamaican—an estimated 400 individuals. Established in 1986 as part of the Immigration Reform and Control Act, the H-2A Visa Program allows agricultural businesses in the U.S. to hire temporary foreign workers for seasonal positions that they would have otherwise been unable to fill with domestic workers.