• New initiative launches to create jobs, expand Vermont forest products industry

    The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund has launched a new initiative to assist the forest products industry in creating and retaining quality jobs and opening additional markets for locally produced wood products. A collaboration between the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, the Northern Forest Center, and the...

  • Community scale biodigester demonstrates renewable energy, waste reduction, and nutrient management in Vermont

    “Big Bertha,” the anaerobic digester at Vermont Technical College, is operating at full capacity and successfully putting electricity onto the grid. With a carefully formulated diet of cow manure and organic matter from Vermont farms and brewery waste from the Alchemist and Long Trail Brewing...

  • New Resource for Farmers: A Legal and Regulatory Overview of On-Farm Biodiesel Production in Vermont

    A new report, On-Farm Biodiesel Production in Vermont: Legal and Regulatory Overview, conducted by the Institute for Energy and the Environment (IEE) at Vermont Law School reviews all Vermont state and federal regulations related to on-farm biodiesel production. Commissioned by the Vermont Bioenergy Initiative at the...

  • Vermont at five year mark implementing Farm to Plate food system plan

    Increases in local food consumption, jobs, and overall economic activity in the farm and food sector over the past five years are highlighted in the 2015 Farm to Plate Annual Report, released today by the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund. 2016 marks the halfway point of...

  • Soil regeneration and clean water touted as foundation for healthy food at annual Vermont Farm to Plate Gathering

    “Farm in nature’s image” was the takeaway message shared by Ray Archuleta, Conservation Agronomist at the USDA Natural Resources and Conservation Service (NRCS) and keynote speaker at the fifth annual Farm to Plate Annual Gathering. Held annually at the end of October, the Gathering is...

  • Ellen Kahler Honored with Inaugural Con Hogan Award

    The Vermont Community Foundation and the organizing committee for the Con Hogan Award for Creative, Entrepreneurial, Community Leadership are pleased to announce Ellen Kahler, executive director of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF), as the winner of the inaugural award. The $15,000 award was presented to...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • What is the food system and why does it matter?

    Local food movements are trending across the country. For some, it’s the next “in” thing to do, but for many Vermonters, supporting local agriculture has been a way of life long before it was trendy. So where does the term “food system” fit in when talking...

  • 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...

  • 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...