A New Beginning for a Fayston Farm
A historic hill farm in Fayston is being revived as a working farm. Today, valley-based farmers and food entrepreneurs Sebastian von Trapp, Georgia von Trapp, and Joey Nagy purchased the former Tenney Farm from the Vermont Land Trust. The 280-acre farm had been generously donated to the land trust in 2014 by Skip Tenney, who had owned the property for more than 50 years. Through its Farmland Access Program, the Vermont Land Trust conducted a farmer search and selected the von Trapp and Nagy partnership to purchase the Tenney farm. The Tenney Farm, was sold to the two-family partnership, Marble Hill Farm LLC, for its appraised agricultural value.
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Couple Purchases Locust Grove Farm from Vermont Land Trust
Susan Monahan and Hisa Kominami are gearing up for a busy season on a 35-acre farm they bought from the Vermont Land Trust. The farm is near the village of East St. Johnsbury on U.S. Route 2. Its red barn, with the words “Locust Grove Farm” on the siding, is an iconic landmark that is well known to travelers and locals. Susan and Hisa’s new farm business will be called Roots Too Farm.
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Vermont Farmers in the Rock River Watershed Can Receive Assistance to Protect and Improve Water Quality
Through the National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI), NRCS will help agricultural producers in 187 priority watersheds apply conservation measures that contribute to cleaner water downstream, including the Rock River Watershed in Vermont. Applications Due March 18.
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Vermont's Orleans County Natural Resources Conservation District Receives $674,000 to Protect and Improve Water Quality
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist Vicky Drew said that Vermont received $674,000 in funding for one state-level project targeting water quality in Lake Memphremagog. “The Orleans County Natural Resources Conservation District will lead this effort which aims to install conservation practices to address degraded water quality from agricultural runoff,” explained Drew.
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Vermont NRCS announces April 15th deadline for Vermont farmers to apply for assistance through EQIP
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced that April 15, 2016, is the next cut-off date to apply for fiscal year 2016 funds through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).EQIP can also help Vermont farmers meet Federal, State, and local environmental regulations and is an important Farm Bill conservation program that helps established farmers as well as beginning, historically underserved, and limited resource producers.
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3rd Annual Made in Vermont Marketplace Call for Exhibitors
Booths are selling fast! Join us as an exhibitor at the 2016 Made in Vermont Marketplace Trade Show, coming April 16-17, 2016 to the Champlain Valley Exposition!
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Aqua ViTea Kombucha Expands Operations Locally
The Vermont Kombucha brewing company Aqua ViTea has expanded its production to Middlebury. Since 2012, the company has based its operations out of an 8,000-square-foot brewing facility located at the Bristol Works complex in Bristol, VT. Consecutive years of increased production and significant growth have escalated the company’s infrastructure needs and necessitated new equipment investments. Middlebury’s burgeoning Exchange Street corridor offered a local solution.
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Tech Salad: A farm-food-tech meetup to discover new business opportunities
We invite you to join us for TECH SALAD — a workshop bringing together Windham County (VT) farm/food sector entrepreneurs and technology entrepreneurs, in order to explore opportunities for ways in which these sectors can work together and solve problems, including new methods, new markets, new products, and potentially whole new businesses.
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Dairy Farmers Talk Sustainability & Innovation at Annual Conference
Topics Included Tactics for a Sustainable Future, Training the Next Generation and New Technology.
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Agency of Ag Releases Second Draft of Required Agricultural Practices for Public Review
The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) has released a second draft of the Required Agricultural Practices (RAPs) for public review. This draft, to be presented to the legislature and the public over the coming weeks, has been substantially revised to incorporate public input. The second draft is available today on the Agency website: agriculture.vermont.gov/water-quality/regulations/rap
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Registration now open for Northeast Kingdom Food System Summit!
The Northeast Kingdom Food System Plan Summit is scheduled for Saturday, March 26 at Sterling College in Craftsbury Common. The daylong Summit will review the changes in our local food system in the past 5 years and engage attendees around specific goals to help set priorities for the future. The Summit will include topics on distribution and aggregation of local products, farmland access, economic and community development, as well as food access and justice. The Summit will feed into an update of the Northeast Kingdom Food System Plan, originally written in 2011.
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Working Lands Enterprise Board Releases Annual Report Demonstrating Cumulative Impacts
Since its inception in 2012, the Working Lands Enterprise Board (WLEB) has invested over $3.1 million dollars in 112 projects impacting every county of the state, leveraging just under $5 million in additional funds. Impacts to date include 106 new jobs created by working lands grantees and $12 million+ increase in gross income across all working lands grantees
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