We provide value chain facilitation services in order to help businesses take advantage of new market opportunities for products and services.
Value Chain Facilitation
The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund builds teams of private sector stakeholders, along with service and capital providers, to address bottlenecks in existing supply chains and/or to take advantage of emerging market opportunities for specific products and/or services.
Our work facilitates multi-enterprise collaboration and shared market intelligence along product and service supply chains in agriculture and food systems, forest products, waste management, renewable energy, and environmental technology sectors in order to build new market opportunities and infrastructure for Vermont businesses. This approach creates value at every step of a local or regional supply chain—representing a competitive advantage for all of the businesses involved in the production and distribution of these goods and/or services.
Our approach to value chain facilitation is to assess pinch points in a particular supply chain through an initial phase of research, followed by the development of technical assistance services and tools, improved relationships amongst value chain partners and targeted, actionable product or market development initiatives.
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We are currently providing value chain facilitation services in the following economic sectors:
Vermont Forest Products Sector
The Vermont Forest Products Program is currently facilitating three Value Chain Action Teams in order to advance the development of specific products including: mass timber, wood heat, and locally sourced wood products.
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Each team is comprised of members with knowledge or expertise from throughout the forest products supply chain. These teams analyze the activities, products and services connected to their area of focus, conduct market research as needed, identify and help solve supply chain problems, and support efforts to build or grow markets. These teams are also part of a larger Vermont Forest Industry Network whose purpose is to build connectivity and alignment towards actions that will strengthen the entire forest products industry in Vermont.
Agriculture and Food System Sector
From 2011 to 2013, the Farm to Plate Network successfully facilitated information sharing and collaboration between livestock producer and meat processing facility owners which resulted in more coordinated technical assistance and public investment in Vermont’s meat industry.
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These value chain facilitation efforts successfully relieved processing bottlenecks, created new market opportunities for local producers, and further developed Vermont’s meat industry.
The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund is currently integrating its value chain facilitation expertise with two Farm to Plate Network projects: improving the market for grass-fed beef in the Northeast region; and delivering trainings to independent retail grocers in order to increase local food availability in these markets.
Work with us
The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund’s value chain facilitation approach can be applied to any of the sectors we serve. We encourage rural economic development inquiries to learn more about how we can support business revenue growth and help create more livable wage jobs through our value chain facilitation approach.
We appreciate the generous support we have received from the Canaday Family Charitable Trust, the Northern Border Regional Commission, the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the Working Lands Enterprise Fund, the High Meadows Fund, and the Windham Foundation for supporting our value chain facilitation efforts.
Become a Funder
Are you interested in funding one of our programs or services? We are seeking funders to achieve our sustainable economic goals as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
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Become a Client
Are you interested in becoming a client to grow your business, industry sector, or replicate one of our approaches? We offer a suite of services for businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies.
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Become a Partner
Are you interested in partnering with us to build a thriving economic, social, and ecological future for Vermont? We invite collaboration from diverse stakeholders in all areas of our work.
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