Press Releases
Ellen Kahler, Head of Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, to Receive 2015 Art Gibb Award
Ellen Kahler, the executive director of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, will be recognized this week for her statewide work to promote green, sustainable jobs, and by extension, the farms and forests on which Vermont’s rural economy depends. Kahler, of Starksboro, will receive the Art Gibb Award for Individual Leadership from the Vermont Natural Resources … Read More
Vermont’s Food System: Relocalize it!
The local food movement has been capturing media attention all across the country. Vermont, in many ways, is serving as the pace setter for focused, coordinated activity that is driving job and food business creation, economic output, and finding creative ways for all Vermonters to participate in this renaissance of ‘relocalized’ food. “In 2009, when … Read More
Vermont Businesses call for more ‘Livable Jobs’
A group of business leaders gathered at the Vermont Statehouse Wednesday to call for the creation of more ‘Livable Jobs’ in the state – employment that allows Vermonters working full time to pay their bills without relying on public assistance. Released every two years in January by the Vermont Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office, the Basic … Read More
New job numbers, economic growth, and food justice conversations are focus at Vermont’s Farm to Plate Annual Gathering
Every October, food system leaders and innovators who comprise the Vermont Farm to Plate Network convene to review the progress towards implementing the State of Vermont’s Farm to Plate Strategic Plan and learn about the next set of challenges facing Vermont’s evolving food system. Approximately 300 individuals representing all facets of Vermont’s farm and food … Read More
Vermont sunflowers to help provide biodiesel power
Beautiful fields of sunflowers growing in Newbury and Shaftsbury, Vermont will have an unusual future: the flowers’ seeds will be converted to biodiesel and livestock feed. The fuel will be used in Green Mountain Power’s fleet of vehicles and for building heating, saving Green Mountain Power customers money and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other … Read More
Farm to Plate Task Force to launch Slow Money Vermont
Local food entrepreneurs and investors in Vermont will have a new way to connect starting September 16, 2014. National Slow Money movement founder, Woody Tasch, Cheryl Devos of Kimball Brook Farm Organic Milk, and leaders of the Slow Money Vermont movement will trumpet the launch of the first Slow Money Network in Vermont. Slow Money … Read More
Vermont Bioenergy Initiative releases report on grass heating energy potential in Vermont and the Northeast
A new report evaluating grass biomass energy as a potential heating fuel has been released. Grass Energy in Vermont and the Northeast summarizes current research on the agronomy and usage potential of grass as a biofuel, and points to next steps for the region to fully commercialize this opportunity. The report was released last week … Read More
Local production for local use is the ‘biofuel’ model that works in Vermont
A report published this week in Nature Climate Change indicated that ethanol made from corn residue can reduce soil carbon and increase CO2 emissions, indicating the harvested leftovers from corn are “worse than gasoline for global warming,” according to the Associated Press, who released the study results. In Vermont the term “biofuel” and “bioenergy” are … Read More
Vermont’s food and farm sector adds 2,200 new food system jobs
Food entrepreneurs have added at least 2,220* new jobs and at least 199 new businesses to the Vermont economy since the 2009 launch of the Farm to Plate Investment Program. Over the same time period, total employment across all economic sectors grew by 7,654 new jobs. Food manufacturing jobs are at the heart of Vermont’s … Read More
The Vermont Food System Atlas Launches!
There’s an exciting new tool for exploring Vermont’s food system – the Vermont Food System Atlas! The Food Atlas is the digital platform for advancing the Farm to Plate Strategic Plan, a ten-year plan assembled by the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund to strengthen Vermont’s food system. Local food movements around the world are springing up … Read More
Conference: Connecting Food System Education with Employers
More than one hundred food system educators, state officials, students, and business people met on Tuesday, January 15, to discuss how to better prepare students for careers in the expanding farm and food sector of Vermont’s economy. They were reacting to a recent study by the Education and Workforce Development Working Group of the Farm … Read More
Farm Fresh Fuel Project: Growing Our Own Biodiesel
A small revolution is happening in Grand Isle County, in the northwestern corner of Vermont. On a rainy Saturday in December, a small crowd gathered in Roger Rainville’s dairy barn-turned-energy lab. They were dairy farmers, organic growers, and landowners, but this year, this group of ten growers also tried their hand at making their own … Read More