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The Vermont maple sector is experiencing rapid growth in production and product innovation while holding a leadership role in maple distribution, research, and manufacturing for the United States. The expanding...
Resources
Vermont institutions, hunger relief organizations, restaurants, and food retailers are limited in the amount of fresh, whole Vermont produce they can purchase, due to increasing food service labor shortages and...
Hemp is a versatile annual crop and, according to UVM research, is well adapted to Vermont’s climate. In 2018, federal laws established hemp as a regulated agricultural commodity. That year...
Retail food stores, from village markets to food cooperatives (co-ops) to national chain supermarkets, are the primary sales outlet for Vermont farm and food businesses of all sizes and scales...
Stories
Olivia’s Croutons has grown from a home kitchen operation to occupying an 8,000 square foot facility that ships to stores across the US.
The Rutland Area Farm and Food Link's Farm to Workplace farm share delivery program expanded the market for local farm foods beyond the typical localvore consumer. Most participants had never been part of a CSA before and a high percentage rarely go to farmers’ markets.
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 business plan are just some of what’s required for them to be truly “sustainable”: to thrive today in order to exist tomorrow.
At Maple Wind Farm in Huntington, the beef cattle “harvest their own feed,” as farmer Bruce Hennessey likes to say.