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"It was peak lunch in the University of Vermont's Central Campus Dining hall on a recent Friday around noon. Students lined up for grilled cheese sandwiches, while a few chose Vermont Bean Crafters bean burgers to go with their fries. Nearby, a rustic-style wooden cart held crates of apples. A sign with the logo "Vermont First" indicated their source: Champlain Orchards in Shoreham."
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Through the “Build Back Better” initiative authorized by the American Rescue Plan, the state of Vermont has announced the first five projects that will be receiving funding, including $50,000 to CAE's Produce to Pantries program.
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Vermont’s eighth Open Farm Week August 7 to 14 will celebrate local foods and the people who grow them. It will offer chances for the public to connect with farmers, see the animals, learn about farming traditions, and taste the foods. In the Northeast Kingdom, the regional Kingdom Farm and Food Days was running for five years before that, offering the same opportunities within the region until the two parallel efforts merged into one.
The Northeast Kingdom possesses an abundance of agricultural history, pride, knowledge and skill that can still be found on our local farms today. One person who has been deeply involved in promoting and celebrating this culture is the Center for an Agricultural Economy’s (CAE) Community Programs Manager, Bethany M. Dunbar.
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The Center for an Agricultural Economy is excited to be one of the recipients of the State of Vermont's Working Land Enterprise Board Market Level Infrastructure Investment grants. CAE will use the funds to support our Farm Connex distribution service, the launch of the Vermont Way Foods collaboration, and the development of the Yellow Barn Warehouse to expand storage capacity for CAE programs.
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We are so excited to share the news of this funding that will support CAE’s food hub activities.
At the Center for an Agricultural Economy in Hardwick, VT we will use the $71,823 award to support the outfit of our 3,000 square foot space at the Hardwick Yellow Barn Business Accelerator project, doubling our local product storage capacity. This will support expanded cold and frozen warehouse capacity for our Farm Connex and Just Cut programs. It will serve farms and food business, institutional markets, and better position Farm Connex to distribute local food throughout Vermont and beyond to Boston, New York City, and other regional markets in partnership with Vermont Way Foods.
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A creative collaboration turns CAE's mission into wearable art.
Day to day, our program staff is out in the world doing the work - delivering food, chopping vegetables, working with farmers on efficiencies, helping food start-ups scale up, taking students to meet a cow for the first time - all while collecting stories of those experiences. Meaningful and inspirational, these stories describe not only the work that CAE does, but the importance of that work. The challenge is then how to best share those stories with the community. There are many different ways to tell a story, through the written word video, statistics, infographics and more.
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The Vermont Farm Fund (VFF), a non-profit revolving loan fund for local farmers and food producers, has launched a new loan program for start-up farmers and food businesses. The VFF’s New Producer Loan will provide access to no-hassle, friendly-term loans up to $20,000 at a low 3% interest rate. A true revolving loan fund, as the community of recipients pays back their loans, funds are replenished for the next cycle of borrowers. The Vermont Farm Fund is a program of CAE.
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Sterling College recently announced their international collaboration with 5 communities to examine the ecological and social challenges resulting from extractive growth.
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Over the past ten years, the Vermont Farm Fund, a non-profit revolving loan fund, has made over 2 million dollars in loans to Vermont farmers and food producers to help build the local agricultural economy.
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On Thursday, April 29, Vermont Everyone Eats celebrated one million meals served to Vermonters! CAE has been honored to manage six different sites who coordinate and distribute meals. With the help of community partners, supporters, and meal recipients, CAE has distributed 27,600 of those one million meals!
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Center for an Agricultural Economy is requesting proposals for the design and execution of a strategic visioning and comprehensive planning process. We are seeking a strong facilitator with deep experience guiding the successful development of consensus-based strategic plans. Applicants must demonstrate knowledge of non-profit organizational development, impact evaluation and accountability metrics, and approaches that center equity and anti-racist principles.
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The Local Food Production Manager role is a critical position for the aggregation, processing, and distribution of ready-to-use local and regional produce products for institutional and bulk buyers. Operating within a shared-use kitchen poses logistical and food safety challenges that require consistent attention to detail. The primary goals of the program are to provide farmers with new markets, and consistently provide institutions with high quality local processed products. An emphasis is placed on buyers that feed food insecure individuals (schools, hospitals and colleges).
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Center for an Agricultural Economy(CAE) announces COVID-19 Response Micro-Grants for Farmers. Grants of $500 maximum per farm business are available for projects that demonstrate sales and marketing innovation in response to challenges presented by COVID-19 disruptions.
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Friends,
We wanted to reach out and let you know that the Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE) is taking steps to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, and how we intend to respond to this ongoing health crisis. Please read the full letter below.
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The Antioch Center for School Renewal is hosting a two-part webinar on using the three Es as a design and decision-making tool in personal, professional, and cultural settings. CAE is thrilled to co-sponsor this event as part of the ongoing work we do to champion and support place-based education in Vermont.
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Pies for People is the event each year that truly gets to the heart of the community. It's that simple act of coming together to ensure that everyone in our community has access to local, homemade food.
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We would like to extend a warm welcome to our new JustCut Production Manager, Thomas Neel! Thomas has years of experience in local food system work, most recently spending the past decade as a brewer in craft breweries. We sat down with Thomas to learn more about his background, his favorite foods to cook and what excites him about his work with CAE.
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* This event is STILL ON! Please drive carefully! *
How do I find capital? What is the role of a lender, are they all the same? What is the Center for an Agricultural Economy? If you have a small business and ask yourself these questions, come learn more at our CAE open house and financing panel during NEK Entrepreneurship Week. Join us on Tuesday, November 19th from 5:00-7:00PM.
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We are excited to share the news that the CAE has hired Jon Ramsay as the new executive director.
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The Center for an Agricultural Economy’s (CAE) Atkins Field pavilion project is fully funded. A contract was signed this week with Makaio Maher of Green Timber Works, a construction company based in Glover. Demolition will start in the first week of May, with construction to follow.
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In 2019, our beloved Executive Director will step down to pursue state-wide work. We will miss her!
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After 7 years of providing business incubation services in Hardwick, the Vt Food Venture Center celebrates with partners and neighbors!
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What is your favorite thing about Atkins Field? The granite, the garden, the horse, dog biscuits, sunflowers, the pump track, the farmers market, Ramsey burgers, sense of community: these are some of the actual answers penned as part of a scavenger hunt during Kingdom Farm and Food Days August 18.
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Seven Days author and contributor Sally Pollack wrote up a brief overview of the new project in Hardwick where the Town of Hardwick and CAE will be partners.
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On August 10th, Governor Phil Scott and Senator Patrick Leahy visited Hardwick to announce the award winning grantees for the Northern Borders Regional Commission. These included a signature project that the Town of Hardwick and the CAE will be partners on.