[caption id="attachment_7312" align="alignleft" width="287"] Smokey House Center encompasses 4,000-acres of forestland and 1,000-acres of working farmland that are part of a "living laboratory" exploring farming and forestry in the context of climate change. Photo by Emily Bradbury.[/caption] Can local wood help solve affordable housing? How will...
The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) is proud to announce the selection of eight innovative companies to participate in the 2025 Forest Business Accelerator. Hosted by VSJF in partnership with Vermont State University and supported by funding from the Northern Border Regional Commission, the program...
An early adopter among Vermont builders, the company is advocating for mass timber. By Christine McGowan, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund Evan Taubes, owner of Scratch Builders in Williston, Vt., is among a few builders working to advance the mass timber industry in Vermont. “If no one is...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 15, 2025 Contact: forestaccelerator@vsjf.org MONTPELIER, VT – The Forest Business Accelerator is seeking innovative start-up and seed stage ventures that are focused on commercializing new and improved products, services, and technology in the forest and wood products industry. During the 2025 program, entrepreneurs will connect...
Jasper Hill brings Vermont’s forested and pastoral landscapes together in its award-winning cheeses [caption id="attachment_7205" align="alignleft" width="253"] Dave DuCharme always wanted to work in the woods, following his parents, grandparents, and brothers into careers in the forest economy. Photo by Hannah Natalya.[/caption] For a few months out...
Vermont’s forest products industry generates $2.1B in annual economic output in forestry, logging, processing, construction, woodworking, and wood energy. Source: Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation NOTE: This story originally appeared in the VSJF Impact Report 2024. Click here to read the entire report. The forest...
Building houses, community, and solutions to extreme weather events one straw bale at a time. When Ace McArleton started New Frameworks in 2006, his idea was to offer natural alternatives to traditional building materials that were healthier for humans and the planet. Using materials such as...
Rockledge Farm plans for sustainable growth that is integrated with nature. When Scott Duffy purchased his grandparent’s hilltop farm in Wethersfield, Vermont in 1987, his wife looked around the empty farmhouse and suggested that he “get busy building a dining room table” so the young family...
Pushing the creative boundaries of the Windsor chair, George Sawyer is bringing traditional techniques to modern chairmaking. Growing up, George Sawyer would often join his father, Dave, in the small woodshop at the family’s farmhouse in Woodbury, Vermont. Most days, his dad was alone in the...
Northern New England has an opportunity to develop a new bioeconomy that will transform forest management, and commercialize products made with sustainably harvested wood that will contribute to the rapid reduction of single-use plastics in demand by consumers worldwide. The 2024 Vermont Forest Industry Summit offered...
Jared Reynolds at the Vermont Forestry Accelerator thinks so, and he has a plan. By Christine McGowan, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund One of our country’s great legacy industries, the forest products industry hasn’t changed much in the past century. But that’s something Jared Reynolds, manager of the...
An alternative to importing fuel for heat, Richford VT sawmill produces clean burning, locally sourced wood pellets. Christine McGowan, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund Efficiency is the lens through which Phil Gervais sees business. After 15 years working with multinational corporations around the world to find greater efficiency...
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