4.2: Food System Education
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Potting soil lessons at Pete's Greens. Photo: Pete's Greens
The success and resilience of Vermont’s food system depends, in part, on its educational institutions for scientific knowledge, resources, best practices, skilled leadership, networking opportunities, and student training. Vermont’s Farm to School offerings are considered a model by the national farm to school movement. Many out-of-school activities are grounded in farming: Thousands of Vermont residents have participated in 4-H activities related to agriculture, and thousands more have participated in the Future Farmers of America (FFA) Vermont state chapter. Several of Vermont’s colleges and the University of Vermont (UVM) offer an expanding array of food system course offerings.
Higher education is already a significant portion of Vermont’s economy in terms of revenues and jobs. This section asserts that growing interest in food systems education, confirmed by growing enrollments in these programs, could further stimulate this already important sector—adding jobs, businesses, and revenue to the state. Combining Vermont educational opportunities with technical assistance can result in a highly supportive, continuous learning and mentoring environment for Vermonters young and old alike, in which they can explore food system careers.
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…
Vermont farmers graduate from livestock profitability school Vermont Farm to Plate Network aims to create a cohort of leaders who can serve as models of success in Vermont’s emergent grass-fed beef industry MONTPELIER, VT – This month, 14 Vermont farmers graduated from the leading national livestock profitability school, Ranching for Profit School…
Attendees from a day-long workshop in October designed for livestock farms of all scales and stages of development.
Photo: Troy Bishopp
Are you looking to increase your farm's profitability? Are you ready to look at your business with a fresh perspective, challenge some things you currently do and have the time to explore need ideas? If so, we are bringing that opportunity to your doorstep. Dave Pratt and his Ranching for Profit School (RFP) are bringing the leading livestock profitability…
Vermont Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship Program Education Coordinator Mary Ellen Franklin (left) with Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Anson Tebbetts
Photo: UVM Extension
In Vermont and around the country, the economic crisis facing the dairy industry is a top concern, and along with it come significant implications for families, communities and farmland. The problem is complex, the stakes are high, and farmers and those who support them want solutions.As with many complex, persistent problems, the…
Vermonters Feeding Vermonters purchases fresh, local produce like this to share with people facing hunger.
Photo: Vermont Foodbank
Vermont Foodbank launches Vermonters Feeding Vermonters, a new program to purchase local produce for Vermonters facing hunger This year, the Vermont Foodbank is launching Vermonters Feeding Vermonters (VFV), a brand new program that will purchase high quality fruits and vegetables directly from Vermont growers to distribute to Vermonters facing hunger. Every Vermonter…
The Toolkit equips markets with the knowledge to confidently continue being valuable community spaces while improving management tactics where needed.
Photo: Illustration by Mike Custode
The rapid growth of farmers markets across the country has been good for local food. Communities have better access to fresh produce and other local goods, farmers have another outlet to reach customers and market their products, and people of varying income brackets can better access fresh, local food. However,…
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)…
Coupons and marketing materials for the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Coupon Program
Photo: Green Mountain Farm to School
The Newport-based non-profit, Green Mountain Farm-to-School (GMFTS), in partnership with the national non-profit, Wholesome Wave, is making fresh fruits and vegetables more accessible to low-income residents of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom through the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Coupon Program. This innovative approach to food access offers all Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program…
Sodexo’s Vermont chefs and managers tour Vermont Packinghouse in Springfield, VT, where all animals are slaughtered and processed for Black River Meats.
Photo: Vermont First
As she tallied up the final numbers, Sodexo’s Vermont First Coordinator Annie Rowell already anticipated the decrease in Sodexo’s local purchases for 2017. Launched in 2014, Vermont First is Sodexo’s commitment to increase local food purchasing at all of Sodexo’s Vermont accounts, which helps achieve Vermont Farm to Plate’s goals…
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…
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…
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,…
In 1994, the then Vermont Department of Agriculture, Food and Markets issued the land use planning guide "Sustaining Agriculture: A Handbook for Local Action". Prepared by Deb Brighton and Jim Northup of Ad Hoc Associates, the guide was a valuable resource for citizen and professional planners interested in maintaining the…
Meat processing class at Vermont Tech
Photo: Mad River Food Hub
Written by Molly Willard Vermont Tech is one of several educational institutions in Vermont helping to strengthen the food system. In collaboration with other educational institutions, degrees and certificate programs are offered to help meet Vermont’s Farm to Plate food system plan goal to offer a wide range of curricula,…
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…
Volunteers at the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf prepare fresh food donations
Photo: Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf
Written by Helen Labun The University of Vermont may not be a traditional restaurant, but it moves a lot of food. Their dining units serve an average of 12,812 meals each day—enough to feed dinner to every resident of Montpelier with plenty left over for everyone to grab dessert and a…
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…
Fall pumpkin harvest
Photo: Land For Good
Written by Kathy Ruhf Farmland access and affordability are top obstacles for new and beginning farmers in New England and nationally. Many new farmers cannot afford to purchase land to start or expand their operations. At the same time nearly 30% of New England farmers will exit farming in the next decade.…
Food preparation skills are developed through cooking for Meals on Wheels in the Cornucopia program in the NEK.
Photo: NEK Food System Plan
Written by Taylar Foster The Northeast Kingdom Food System Plan was re-released in December of 2016, marking a substantive update to Vermont’s only regional food system plan. The Center for an Agricultural Economy, the Northeastern Vermont Development Association, and a steering committee composed of Northeast Kingdom cross industry experts and social…
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,…
Intervale Food Hub delivers fresh produce to UVM.
Photo: Intervale Center
Written by Bobby Young For over 10 years, the Intervale Food Hub has been working with Sodexo and the University of Vermont to increase their procurement of local foods. The Intervale Food Hub, a social enterprise of the Intervale Center, works with nearly 40 Vermont producers to sell local food direct…
Farm to School program gleaning at Pete's Greens
Photo: Center for an Agricultural Economy
Written by Betsy Rosenbluth Vermont has much to celebrate as a national leader in the Farm to School movement and it hasn’t happened by accident. Nearly a decade ago, in 2007, Vermont was one of the first states to pass a Farm to School bill. That legislation has supported more than…
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…
School Lunch at Edmund's Middle School
Photo: Hunger Free Vermont
Written by Alida Duncan Hunger Free Vermont’s vision is for Vermont’s school cafeterias and classrooms to be a welcoming place where all kids equally share meals together, and that school provide a learning lab for healthy eating—including exposure to local foods and creating localvores for life. This vision aligns with Vermont’s…
Woodchuck Hard Cider employees pick for their neighbors
Photo: Vermont Foodbank
Written by Judy Stermer September is National Hunger Action Month, a time when food banks across the country work to mobilize the public to take action on the issue of hunger. But hunger in Vermont is a 365 day-a-year problem. In Vermont, the Foodbank provides food assistance to 153,000 Vermonters. Nearly…
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 Erica Housekeeper The original version of this post was published on the UVM Food Feed blog. Nearly 30% of New England’s farmers are likely to exit farming over the next decade, and nine out of 10 of those farmers do not have someone else ready to take the reins, according…
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…
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,"…
Green Mountain Farm-to-School AmeriCorps members teach food preservation at Old Stone House in Brownington
Photo: GMFTS
Written by Shane Rogers, Green Mountain Farm-to-School Be on the lookout, AmeriCorps members serving with Green Mountain Farm-to-School (GMFTS) as farm-to-school coordinators are bringing place-based nutrition and agriculture education into schools across the Northeast Kingdom – 27 to be exact. Using original, grade-specific curriculum, created with the financial support from the Stony Point…
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…
Seth Gillim and Mike Ingalls are managers of the Intervale Conservation Nursery, founded in 2002 and dedicated to growing native, locally sourced trees and shrubs for riparian restoration projects throughout Vermont.
Photo: Rachel Carter
Written by Rachel Carter Published in Small Farm Quarterly Native trees and shrubs intertwine with one another, keeping 350-acres of flood plain intact along the banks of the Winooski River, best known as the Intervale. Located within the city limits of Vermont’s urban metropolis (42,000), Burlington boasts a solid urban farming culture,…
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…
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…
The work crew at Chappelle's Potatoes.
Photo: CAE.
Written by Alissa Matthews and Sarah Waring Vermont's Local Banquet There’s no vegetable more basic than a potato. This humble, tuberous root crop, Solanum tuberosum, grows in the dark, hidden from view most of the year, and emerges late when the air is frosty. It’s not as exciting as kale, not as…
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…
Karyl Kent (Richmond Elementary), David Horner (Chittenden East), and Alison Forrest (Brewster Pierce Elementary, Huntington), school nutrition directors holding the new school cookbook they contributed to.
Photo: Caroline Abels
Written by Bonnie North We all know that “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” Similarly, as any parent knows, you can put good, healthy food on kids’ lunch plates but that’s no guarantee they’ll actually eat it. But who can blame them? Consider what they’re…
Good Food Good Medicine community meal.
Photo: Food Works
Food Works at Two Rivers Center’s Good Food Good Medicine program takes a seasonal approach to good health and nutrition at two low-income housing sites in Barre. In the spring and summer months, residents at Highgate and Green Acres apartments grow their own food in community gardens or in raised…
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…
Farms Program class of 2009.
Photo: Intervale Center.
The Farms Program, a nationally recognized farm business incubator, has supported the growth of dozens of farms since 1990. Farms are accepted into the program after a rigorous application process that includes developing a business plan and presenting it to staff and existing Intervale farmers. New farmers have access to land…
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