Statehouse Lawn Transforms to Provide State Employees Access to Locally Grown Food
More than forty purveyors of local food convened on the Statehouse lawn today as part of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets’ (VAAFM) first ever summer Buy Local Market. The event, which coincides with National Farmers’ Market Week and Vermont Open Farm Week, was organized by VAAFM as part of the State’s Local Food Wellness and Consumer Awareness Initiative, in partnership with the Capital City Farmers’ Market and The Northeast Organic Farming Association of VT (NOFA-VT).
Read More State Veterinarians encourage poultry producers and enthusiasts to prepare for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), expected to impact the East Coast fall of 2015 or spring of 2016.
Vermont State Veterinarian, Dr. Kristin Haas, is encouraging poultry owners, producers and enthusiasts to prepare for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), which is expected to impact the East Coast in the fall of this year or spring of 2016. Since December 2014, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has confirmed the presence of HPAI on more than 200 properties, impacting almost 50 million commercial and backyard birds. While the HPAI outbreak has not yet been identified in Vermont, poultry producers should be familiar with the disease, how it is spread, and preparedness efforts that they can engage in now.
Read More New Marketing Campaign Connects Consumers with Upper Valley Farms and Food
Finding and enjoying local foods from Upper Valley farms just got easier with Valley Farm Fresh, a new marketing campaign launched by Vital Communities.
Read More Vermont Farmers will go for the gold at the first annual NOFA Vermont “Farmer Olympics”
On August 12th, farmers will show off their finely-honed skills in events ranging from physical to cerebral to plain ridiculous, competing in events like: “Chicken Tractor Pull,” “Rock Hump,” “Plumbing Puzzle,” “Chuckin' Eggs,” and the “Deer Fence Limbo.”
Read More High Meadows Fund Announces $249,000 in Grants to Build Resilience in Vermont Watersheds
The High Meadows Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation has announced $249,000 in grants to support projects in six Vermont watersheds that will engage and mobilize their residents to find creative solutions to protect communities, land, and water throughout the state. “All the research and patterns we’ve seen demonstrate that these events are no longer an ‘if’ but a ‘when,’” says Gaye Symington, High Meadows Fund president. "Through this initiative, we seek to encourage communities to work together to change land use in ways that protect people, property, and water quality, not just in their own town, but also upstream and downstream.”
Read More Vermont Open Farm Week, August 3-9, Celebrates Local Food Origins
Vermont farms open their doors to a public interested in learning more about where food comes from and supporting the local agricultural economy
Read More Vermont Specialty Food Producers Take Top Honors at NYC Summer Fancy Food Show
Vermont specialty food producers took home gold at this week’s Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City. The sofi Awards, which stands for “specialty outstanding food innovation,” are the most prestigious awards in the specialty food industry and represent the best of the best. Vermont’s winners were Big Picture Farm, Fat Toad Farm, and Vermont Creamery, along with Wozz! Creative Kitchens, a New Hampshire producer who makes their product at the Vermont Food Venture Center in Hardwick.
Read More Sodexo's Vermont First Announces Creation of Advisory Board
Sodexo is pleased to announce the creation of the Vermont First Advisory Board. This Board is tasked with supporting Sodexo’s Vermont First Initiative in realizing Sodexo’s goal of strategically increasing the purchase of Vermont products at Sodexo’s Vermont accounts. The Advisory Board is a tremendous ally in providing guidance to move Vermont First objectives forward.
Read More Conservation Helps Bean Family Purchase Farmland
Patricia Bidinger conserved 75 acres of fertile farmland with the Vermont Land Trust, enabling the Bean family to purchase the land for their dairy business
Read More Hunger Mountain Coop Celebrates International Co-op Day
On Saturday, July 4th, co-ops in Vermont and around the world celebrated International Co-op Day. This year’s theme, “Choose Co-operative, Choose Equality,” highlights the contribution of co-operative businesses to more fair, equitable, and participatory communities.
Read More The Lunchbox offers free children's meals, educational programming throughout summer
“It’s a different kind of good,” Saulius Bachand, age six, remarked after finishing his free meal provided by the Lunchbox, a summer meal program and mobile learning kitchen.
Read More VHCB Awards $5.2 Million to Create and Rehabilitate Affordable Housing and Conserve Farmland, Recreational Access and Forestland
June 29, 2015 MONTPELIER - The Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) announced grants today totaling $5,215,623 to develop and rehabilitate 216 affordable homes, to protect 377 acres of agricultural land on three farms, to conserve 340 acres of forest land in the towns of Pownal, Shrewsbury and Mendon, and to provide permanent public access to a swimming hole in Johnson.
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