3.3: Food Production
Early morning harvest at Wellspring CSA, Marshfield. Photo: Ali Zipparo
The market value of food grown in the United States was about $394 billion in 2012. About 54% ($212 billion) of this value was for crop production, while livestock production was 46% ($182 billion). In 2012, the six New England states generated 0.72% ($2.8 billion) of the value of national production. Within New England, crop sales accounted for 55.5% ($1.57 billion) of the market value of agricultural products, while animals and their products accounted for 44.5% ($1.26 billion).
Vermont ($776 million) was neck-and-neck with Maine ($763 million) for the highest market value of food production in New England. Sales from milk, nurseries/greenhouses/floriculture, and vegetables accounted for 61.47% ($1.7 billion) of the market value of New England agricultural products-- which points to the extraordinary impact of milk production in Vermont, flowers/bedding/garden plants in Connecticut, and potatoes in Maine.
Milk, dairy products, and animal feed account for the vast majority of the market value generated and the amount of food produced in Vermont. Many Vermonters are interested in expanding the array of food produced in Vermont-- to satisfy demand for local food and expand access to local food for all Vermonters; to build resilience against climate change, peak oil, and other threats; to generate new revenue, and so on.
This section looks at issues impacting growing and raising food products in Vermont, including expanding food production for local and regional markets. Major categories covered include dairy production, livestock grown for meat, eggs, maple syrup, fruits and vegetables, grains, honey, hops and beer, hard cider, spirits, and wine, and fish.
The Farm to Plate team at the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund stands in solidarity with the Black and African American community in condemning the murders of and demanding justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others. Floyd’s murder, and the protests unfolding across the country, are a…
COVID-19 RESOURCE COLLECTION The Farm to Plate team here at the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund hopes all of you are in good health – mentally and physically, staying safe by following social distancing guidelines, and finding ways to remain optimistic about the future in what are unprecedented times. During these times,…
Taylor & Jake Mendell, owners of Footprint Farm in Starksboro
Photo: UVM
Young Farmers in Vermont Met with Challenges and Opportunities By Shane Rogers, Farm to Plate Communications Manager at the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund The landscape of farming is changing throughout the country, and Vermont agriculture is by no means an exception. To see this borne out, one only has to look to…
Joey Klein and Betsy Ziegler of Littlewood Farm in Plainfield have recently slowed down operations and placed their land in the hands of Vermont Land Trust’s Affordable Farmland Program. In this way, young farmers may access it in the future.
Photo: Littlewood Farm
Silenced Voices in Vermont's Farm Communities by Lisa Masé, Harmonized Cookery Many who live in Vermont have unique perspectives on food. These voices are the catalyst that can bring a new narrative of prevention, empowerment and solidarity to the food justice movement. In my work to educate people about the crucial link…
2019 Vermont Farm to Plate Annual Report
A Letter from Farm to Plate Director Jake Claro to the Vermont General Assembly and Governor Phil Scott: This year’s Vermont Farm to Plate Annual Report features highlights of key projects from 2019, including grass-fed beef industry development, local planning for food access, wholesale markets, and small-scale on-farm composting. You will also see…
Salvation Farms provides technical assistance to RAFFL's gleaning program at Thomas Dairy with gleaning coordinator Jen preparing the program's weekly distribution with their volunteer delivery driver, farmer and then RAFFL board member, John.
Photo: Salvation Farms
In a state known for its robust agricultural economy, many Vermonters still face serious challenges and barriers to getting food, particularly, fresh, healthy food that is affordable. The new toolkit Local Planning for Food Access aims to help Vermont towns, cities, and regions increase access to food. Released in November…
Story and photography by Erica Houskeeper. Original version appears at Happy Vermont's website. All it takes is flour, butter, salt, and water to make a pie crust. But it takes a community to make a difference. Pies for People, now in its eleventh year, is a community-building initiative that brings together volunteers, gleaned local…
It’s a safe bet that no matter where one finds themselves in Vermont, they’re not too far away from a Vermont food co-op. Boasting the highest number of stores per capita, Vermont’s 15 food co-ops have established themselves as pillars of their communities along with being drivers of the state’s…
Sally and Walt Goodrich
Photo: Goodrich Family
One of the first things you notice at Molly Brook farm is that Rhonda and Myles Goodrich call every single one of their 77 cows by name. “Move along Clover,” or “this way Charlotte” is heard in the milking parlor during the daily milking sessions. The Goodrichs, like so many…
Snug Valley Farmers Market Tent
Photo: Snug Valley Farm
East Hardwick, Vt. – Vermont continues to lose dairy farms at a devastating rate – as of July the state had lost 66 this year alone. As dairy farmers struggle with whether or not they can survive in their current industry many look to what could be next. The Notterman…
By Dominique Giroux, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, & Markets Prevention versus reaction. For the produce industry, these words have become the backbone of a federal regulation that shifts the focus of our national food safety system from responding to foodborne illness to preventing it. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)…
Kelsey and Phelan O'Connor
Written by Kate Stephenson After spending the past seven years providing low interest loans to farmers across the state to grow their businesses, 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. The Farmland…
Vermont Smoke and Cure employees
Photo: Vermont Smoke and Cure
Written by Ellen Kahler Vermont’s struggle to grow its workforce weakens our economy, inhibits the ability for Vermont businesses to expand their operations, and threatens the ability for Vermonters and future generations to grow and thrive here in the Green Mountains. An aging workforce, stagnant wages in jobs without career ladders,…
Christa Alexander in a year round greenhouse at Jericho Settlers Farm
Photo: Efficiency Vermont
Written by JJ Vandette Fifteen years ago, Christa Alexander and Mark Fasching started selling the extra produce from their prolific vegetable garden. They invested in some chickens, then some livestock, some more land, and before they knew it they were farming full-time. Fast forward to today. Jericho Settlers Farm is a…
Johnson State College Staff at Peaslee’s Potatoes in Guildhall, VT
Photo: NOFA-VT
Strategies and Opportunities for Greater Local Food Procurement in Vermont Higher Education Food Service Written by Jennie Porter Institutions represent a unique opportunity in Vermont to increase access to local foods because they serve many meals a day to a wide range of people, and they can help to increase consumer awareness…
Meat processing in Vermont
Photo: Over the Hill Farm
Gathering the Herd: A Vermont Meat Processing Case Study captures lessons learned over a three year period from the Farm to Plate Meat Processing Task Force through interviews conducted by Carrie Abels with members of the task force and industry leaders. The Meat Processing Task Force within the Farm to Plate…
Kale harvest at Good Heart Farmstead in Worcester, Vermont
Photo: Good Heart Farnstead
Written by Kate Spring In 2013, writer Kate Spring and her husband started Good Heart Farmstead with the mission to make local food more accessible. Not only did they aspire to make it easier for people to find local food, but they wanted to make it easier for them to afford…
Take 5 is a series of 12 local food sourcing and merchandising training videos for Vermont retail stores to help increase local food sales. The Farm to Plate Independent Grocers Task Force launched the Take 5 series of five-seven minute training videos for convenience, general, grocery and other retail stores…
What is Rooted in Vermont? Rooted in Vermont is a grassroots movement to increase consumer demand for local food. Rooted in Vermont is shifting the local food narrative on social media and in Vermont communities to be inclusive of the many ways Vermonters enjoy and acquire local food. Traditions like gardening,…
Greenhouses at new Mighty Food Farm location in Shaftsbury
Photo: Mighty Food Farm
Written by Nadine Berrini In 2006, Lisa MacDougall and a business partner started Mighty Food Farm on five leased acres in Pownal with a 1953 Ford Golden Jubilee and an old Troy-Bilt rototiller. She now has 200+ members in her year-round CSA and 10 employees. Lisa spent six years searching for…
Wellspring Farm
Photo: Corey Hendrickson
Written by Shane Rogers Green Mountain Farm Direct, a food hub run by Green Mountain Farm-to-School, is working to connect local farmers with schools, restaurants, and institutions across northern Vermont to increase the farm’s sales and boost consumption of local food in institutions and the overall region. Those partnerships have created…
Energy efficient maple production at Scrag Mountain Sugar House
Photo: Efficiency Vermont
Written by Liz Gamache Each spring, many Vermont sugar makers are already looking ahead to producing the next year’s crop and they may be considering what equipment upgrades they’ll need to save time, energy, and money next season. With over 1500 maple sugar makers in the state, Vermont is the largest producer…
Berry picking is a low cost way to bulk up on local food.
Photo: Rooted in Vermont
Vermonters enjoy local food and beverages in a variety of ways—growing or foraging their own, purchasing directly from a farmer or at the store, hunting or fishing, eating at schools and institutions serving local food, finding food from a community food shelf or the Vermont Foodbank, or just by trading…
Melanie and Jeff Carpenter of Zack Woods Herb Farm
Photo: Vermont Farm Fund
Written by Kate Stephenson Zack Woods Herb Farm grows a wide variety of medicinal herbs sold as dried herbs, live plants and fresh herbs. Based in Hyde Park, their products are all certified organically grown or ethically wild-harvested on the farm. After 16 years in business, Jeff and Melanie Carpenter recently authored…
Vermonters find purchasing season products direct from farm stands to be a good value.
Photo: Rooted in Vermont
Written by Rachel Carter When choosing to purchase food, cost is often a deciding factor for consumers. Why buy a 12-ounce package of local bacon for $7.99 when you can get it for $4.98? Purchasing local food means you know where your food comes from, you’re buying food that is generally healthier,…
Healthy and local dining options at UVM Medical Center
Photo: UVM Medical Center
Written by Alison Nihart New research from the University of Vermont has quantified the economic impact of local food purchasing by the University of Vermont Medical Center. This study, the first of its kind in the state, shows how Vermont’s largest hospital is contributing toward Vermont reaching its institutional consumption…
CRAFT greenhouse learning session in Addison County
Photo: NOFA VT
Written by Maria Buteux Reade A group of farmers gather in a pasture and stare intently at a young man struggling to push a long probe deep into the ground. He shakes his head sheepishly and hands off the penetrometer to the next volunteer. No luck for her either. The…
Written by Katie Spring Published in Vermont's Local Banquet In 2012, new farmers Jesse McDougall and his wife, Cally, decided not to spray the kinds of chemical pesticides and fertilizers that had long been applied to their hayfields in Shaftsbury. Their 50-acre farm, which had been in Cally’s family since 1936, was…
Cobb Hill Frozen Yogurt owner partner Jeannine Kilbride
Photo: Cobb Hill Frozen Yogurt
Written by Rachel Carter Published in Small Farm Quarterly Creamy farmstead frozen yogurt in vanilla, chocolate, maple, and coffee flavors is pumped into 300 Cobb HillFrozen Yogurt pints a week—a number that has more than doubled from this time last year. “A year ago, it took us three production days to do what we…
Workers at Black River Meats (Springfield)
Photo: Black River Meats
Written by Mark Cannella Published in Vermont's Local Banquet Small farms in Vermont contribute tremendous value to our evolving food system by being nimble enough to respond to shifting consumer demand quickly. Small farms have pioneered niche products, such as multi-variety mesclun mixes and hybrid CSA memberships. They are engaged in cutting-edge production…
Full Sun Company sells sunflower and canola oil.
Photo: Full Sun Company
Written by Cheryl Herrick Published in Vermont's Local Banquet Netaka White remembers going to some of the first local food challenges in Vermont—potluck meals to which attendees would bring food that was entirely grown or raised within Vermont, or a 50-mile radius. “There would be all this great stuff,” he recalls, “but there…
Maggie Atherton, an 8th generation future dairy farmer
Photo: Aires Hill Family Farm
Written by Laura Hardie, New England Dairy Promotion Board Karie Thompson Atherton, 35, is the seventh generation to grow up on her family’s dairy farm in Berkshire, Vermont and always knew she wanted to continue the tradition of dairy farming. “There's definitely easier ways to make a living, but none as fulfilling,"…
Happy consumer at Nea-Tocht Farm during last year's Breakfast on the Farm
Photo: UVM Extension
Written by Julie Smith, UVM Extension, Animal and Veterinary Sciences and Ted Ferris, MSU Extension, Animal Science The first Vermont Breakfast on the Farm event gave consumers and farm neighbors a first-hand look at modern food production. Hosted by Nea-Tocht Farm in Ferrisburgh in August 2015, the event was organized and…
Grinding Masa! All Souls Tortilleria packaged tortillas are now available at City Market in Burlington VT
Photo: All Souls Tortilleria
Written by Sarah Bhimani, City Market, Onion River Co-op City Market, a community-owned food co-op in Burlington, VT, has a list of Global Ends that guides their business and all that they do. One of their Global Ends is “strengthening the local food system,” which is met through a myriad of…
David invites guests to visit with the cows and help with daily chores in the barn.
Photo: Rachel Carter
Wrtitten by Rachel Carter Published in Small Farm Quarterly Tucked delightfully in the foothills of the Green Mountains along scenic Rte. 100 in Rochester, Vermont, sitsLiberty Hill Farm—a working dairy farm defined by the 1890’s red barn with cupola—one of the most photographed in all of Vermont. Beth and Bob Kennett milk…
A loan is helping kickstart Rob Rock’s agriculture machinery and fabrication business, a bonus for Vermont farmers in need of his custom farm equipment and metal-working services.
Photo: Farm Fund
Written by Caitlin Gildrien Published in Vermont's Local Banquet Early on a January morning in 2011, Pete Johnson of Pete’s Greens in Craftsbury heard a funny noise. When he looked out his window, he saw his barn engulfed in flames. The building and all of the equipment and product inside was in…
Bread & Butter Farm
Photo: Erica Housekeeper / Happy Vermont
Prepared by Carrie Abels for the Financing Cross-Cutting Team Bread & Butter Farm, which straddles the South Burlington/Shelburne border, sells an array of farm products and experiences—everything from grass-fed beef to fresh-baked German bread to winter vegetables to farm-fresh burgers served on Friday evening “Burger Nights.” But the diversity of Bread &…
Montpelier's farmers' market.
Photo: Rachel Carter
Written by Caroline Abels Published in Vermont's Local Banquet Over the past 10 years farmers’ markets in Vermont have burst forth like a backyard garden in July. Currently there are 63 markets in the Vermont Farmers’ Market Association, and a dozen or so that aren’t members. But every now and then you…
In 2014 Farm to Plate’s Consumer Education and Marketing Working Group conducted a target audience analysis to identify and map customers and potential customers of Vermont’s food products. Spearheaded by co-chairs Beth Cullen of Root Consulting and Chris Howell of Vermont Farm Tours, the “Understanding Vermont’s Food Consumer” project is…
Hoop house at Little Village Farm.
Photo: VFF
You know things are moving in the right direction when you see a farmer whose fields were completely underwater a few years ago going on to invest for growth in their business. A 2-acre family vegetable farm dedicated to bringing the benefits of a CSA to their tight-knit Proctorsville community, Little…
Many small producers use VAT pasteurizers, but the LiLi processes more quickly, at 2 gallons per minute, and uses heat more efficiently, resulting in a less energy-intensive process and milk that retains more of its nutritional value and flavor.
Photo: Caroline Abels
Written by Caroline AbelsVermont's Local Banquet To understand what the LiLi pasteurizer—conceived and developed in Vermont—could mean to the dairy community of Orange County, New York, I drove to the Hudson Valley in early July and chatted with some longtime dairy farmers.They told me—a few minutes before the ribbon-cutting ceremony that…
Guascor engines are commonly used with methane digesters in Vermont.
Photo: Vermont Agency of Agriculture
Prepared by Alex DePillis, Senior Agricultural Development Coordinator, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets Highlights: 225 kilowatts of installed capacity ● 1.75 million kWh of electricity generated per year ● 7-year payback ● Cow Power farm generates electricity and uses waste heat for greenhouse Download the pdf. Lois and Maurice Maxwell started…
Vote with your dollars.
Photo: Anna Svagzdys
Written by Mari Omland Read more in Vermont's Local Banquet Spring 2014 issue. At a wedding last summer, I sat next to a neighbor who buys her Thanksgiving turkey from our farm. She described her daily drive-by dose of the farm, and her ritual of slowing down to see where the goats, pigs,…
Dan and Marda’s daughter, Abby, with beehives.
Photo: Vermont's Local Banquet.
Written by Dan Childs and Marda Donner Read more in Vermont's Local Banquet Spring 2014 issue. As I look out my window in early January at my beehives, I’m in awe of how bees do what they do. The temperature is well below zero, the wind is blowing, and snow is falling. Yet…
Roger Rainville with BioPro 190 automated biodiesel processor at Borderview Farm.
Photo: VSJF
Prepared by Sarah Galbraith, Vermont Bioenergy Initiative Program Manager, VSJF Highlights: Cost of biodiesel production = $2.29 per gallon ● Seed meal used as a co-product for livestock feed or crop fertilizer ● Central processing facility and shared equipment use maximizes efficiency for neighboring farms Download the pdf. Roger Rainville’s dairy-turned-energy farm in Grand…
McKnight Farm solar array in East Montpelier.
Photo: Catamount Solar
Prepared by Alex DePillis, Senior Agricultural Development Coordinator, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets Highlights: 95 kW (AC) of installed capacity ● ≈120,000 kWh generated annually ● Payback period = 6 years ● Fixed rack solar PV systems and trackers are common throughout Vermont Download the pdf. McKnight Farm, an organic dairy…
Alex explaining how the variable frequency drive holds the vacuum level on his milk pump.
Photo: Gregory Nesbit Photography
Prepared by JJ Vandette, Planning and Development Associate, Efficiency Vermont Highlights: $7,600 in first year savings ● $94,000 in lifetime savings ● 58,300 kWh in annual electricity savings ● Close relationship with the equipment vendor and Efficiency Vermont led to major cost savings and business improvements Download the pdf. Brace Farm Inc. is…
Lila in former mobile slaughterhouse.
Photo: Local Banquet.
Whiz by it on Route 2 between Richmond and Bolton and you might think it was an abandoned rail car, a housing unit for migrant farm workers, or a storage shed. Bland and inconspicuous, the boxy structure doesn’t look like it has the potential to re-shape Vermont’s local food scene…
Trout fry.
Photo: Cheryl Herrick
On a sunny spring day earlier this year, steam was pouring out of sugarhouses, calves and lambs and kids were being born, and greenhouses were teeming with plant starts. And on Curtis Sjolander’s Mountain Foot Farm in Wheelock, in the barn just behind his house, hundreds of brown trout were…
Technical assistance providers on a tour of Misty Knoll Farm.
Photo: VHCB/Farm Viability.
Perhaps long ago, in a simpler world, farmers needed only tools, the support of helping hands, a market for their products, and advice from their neighbors to successfully grow vegetables and raise animals. But farmers today need a lot more than that. Complex equipment, well-designed facilities, marketing skills, and a…
Taylor and Nick Meyer in a field of sunflowers at North Hardwick Dairy.
Photo: Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund.
Everyone in the Hardwick area knows the North Hardwick Dairy —“it’s the one on the hill with the wind turbine.” The turbine is evidence of farmer Nick Meyer’s focus on meeting his goal of greater self-sufficiency. “I want to produce everything the farm needs on the farm.” The higher and relatively stable…
Rob Litch with turkey flock.
Photo: Caroline Abels/Vermont's Local Banquet
Yes, there is a knoll—and it’s misty. At least it was on the day this past October when I visited Misty Knoll Farms, Vermont’s largest chicken producer. Standing on the small rise at the eastern edge of the farm in New Haven, facing a swath of Addison County dairy land below…
Grazing cattle on a cloudy day.
Photo: Maple Wind Farm.
At Maple Wind Farm in Huntington, the beef cattle “harvest their own feed,” as farmer Bruce Hennessey likes to say. They’re grass-fed cattle, meaning that for six and sometimes seven months of the year they eat grass on pasture, using their own energy to walk around and fatten themselves. Bruce, who…
Monument Farms Dairy in Weybridge.
Photo: Monument Farms Dairy.
Monument Farms Dairy began in 1930 as a home delivery route run by Richard and Marjory James in the Weybridge area. Today, the company is managed by their grandson Jon Rooney and two of his cousins, Bob James and Pete James. And their responsibilities are doled out equally, just as you’d…
Just after Memorial Day in 2013, the Audet family hosted a community celebration of the installation of a 100-kilowatt wind turbine.
Photo: Vermont Agency of Agriculture
Prepared by Alex DePillis, Senior Agricultural Development Coordinator, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets Highlights: 100 kW of installed capacity ● ≈150,000 kWh generated annually ● Unique partnership with Green Mountain Power facilitates community-scale wind energy installation Download the pdf. The Audet Family has operated Blue Spruce Farm since 1958 and currently…
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The Central Boiler Maxim 250 boiler installed at River Berry Farm in Fairfax, VT. These boilers may look like outdoor wood boilers common around Vermont, but they are EPA Phase II qualified due to improved emissions controls.
Photo: Chris Callahan
Highlights: 220,000 BTU/hr biomass boiler ● $13,000-21,000 installed cost ● 12-14 year payback period ● 5,910 pounds of CO2 avoided ● Advanced pollution controls in new boilers reduce emissions Download the pdf. David and Jane Marchant of River Berry Farm—an organic vegetable and fruit producer in Fairfax—were early adopters of biomass heating…
Consumer shopping for local food
Photo: Rooted in Vermont
Written by Jake Claro When you ask people their definition of the Vermont food economy, they’ll often talk about farms, farmers’ markets or CSAs. What’s often missing from the conversation are the supply chain of local businesses such as distributors, food processors and manufacturers, and seed, feed, and equipment dealers. Vermont’s local…
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