USDA has reopened sign-up for CFAP 2 for at least 60 days beginning on April 5, 2021.
Learn more HERE!
Rural Vermont is part of a coalition supporting H.430, the Doctor Dinosaur Expansion bill, which would expand coverage to income-eligible children and pregnant people regardless of immigration status. The bill recently passed the House and Senate and is now its way to the Governor to be signed into law! Read more about the bill and the coalition that supports it in this overview from Vermont Legal Aid.
Throughout the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a crushing bottleneck in VT slaughterhouses as more and more people have begun to seek out and produce local meat. With many slaughterhouses fully booked for at least the next year, Rural Vermont is seeking out strategies to alleviate pressure on meat processors and to allow farmers to continue providing fresh, local meat to their communities. In Rural Vermont’s recent on-farm slaughter survey, participants were asked what they thought the best strategies were to achieve this goal.
Read the results HERE!
In collaboration with the VT Releaf Collective, NOFA-VT, and the VT Healthy Soil Coalition, we’re working to amplify farmer and BIPOC voices by offering stipends to BIPOC engaged in soil health policy.
Learn more HERE.
Join Rural Vermont, NOFA-VT and Action Circles between February and April for our Small Farm Action Day event series of two subsequent events per month. (NOTE: events are organized as a monthly “set” of one virtual advocacy training event and one meet and greet with legislators. Attendees are strongly encouraged to come to both events within the same month, but it’s not required.) A limited number of farmer stipends are available.
A “Virtual Advocacy Training 4 Farmers” where farmers, farm workers, foodies and activists learn about virtual advocacy, RV and NOFA-VT issues and get to prepare a presentation of their own issues to legislators.
Dates: Thursday 4/8, 11.30am - 1.30pm
A subsequent “Farmer Meet and Greet with Legislators” - a lunchtime zoom meeting where participants of the advocacy training get to present their issue to legislators followed by questions, brief discussions and most importantly the ability to advance a cause through relationship building. Anyone is welcome to RSVP for this event to listen in, regardless of a participation at the advocacy training - legislators are highly encouraged to do so!
Dates: Wednesday 4/14, 10.30am - noon
Learn more and register here!
USDA will provide additional assistance through CFAP, expanding eligibility and updating payments. Producers currently eligible and those needing to modify applications may contact USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) Jan. 19 - Feb. 26. Changes were made to align with the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and in response to ongoing evaluations of CFAP. Read more here.
Are you a raw milk producer? We want to hear from you! Join us for a virtual meeting of raw milk producers to discuss what areas of the current law are priorities for improvement, either through grassroots organizing or potential legislative changes. Your input is needed. Please RSVP here.
**Please note this meeting is only open to raw milk producers and those intending to produce raw milk in the near future.**
Rural Vermont is launching its year-end appeal! As we close in on the end of 2020, we want to share with you some bright spots from our corner of the world. You can read our 2020 Snapshot here. We also invite you to read our appeal for your support here and make your year-end gift here. Thank you!
Thank you to the supporters of our Coalition and an equitable and just cannabis marketplace for standing by us in our advocacy! Though we were not successful in stopping S.54, our concerns have been acknowledged by many policymakers, as well as the Governor in his signing statement. We are ready to continue organizing and advocating over the coming months to achieve greater equity and justice in the tax and regulate structure and process being implemented in VT. We know we have your support, and hope that the support promised by our State leaders and policymakers for our concerns and proposals greet us at the Statehouse come January.
Learn more about Act 164, next steps and updates from the coalition, and ways to get involved in shaping the future of VT’s tax and regulate system HERE.
If we are to achieve justice, equity, healing, and transformation our mandate is to prioritize the needs of, and direct agency to, those most marginalized and disproportionately discriminated against as we collectively dismantle white supremacy and pursue equity for all. It is also to recognize that the struggle for black lives is a struggle of mutual liberation - that we are all bound by these systems of oppression.
Read Rural Vermont’s Affirmation of Solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives HERE.
“…Rural Vermont stands with Migrant Justice and the Vermont farmworker community in denouncing the arrest, detention, and deportation of Durvi and others and in holding ICE responsible for their death. We affirm the right to migration, the rights of all migrants, and that no human being is “illegal”. We recognize that in a place which promises to be the “land of the free and the home of the brave”, that we truly live in what Langston Hughes called “the land that never has been yet - And yet must be - the land where every man is free”…”
Read our Statement of Solidarity with Migrant Farm Workers HERE.
The Agency of Ag has relaunched a revised online VCAAP application and extended the deadline to November 15. (View the revised Ag/Working Lands and Dairy applications). Learn more about these changes in their 10.19.20 press release.
For additional assistance and information, check out these two-minute application tips videos, including one on the top-five changes to VCAAP.
View older changes to the VCAAP programs HERE.
This week, Governor Phil Scott allowed S. 54 to pass into law without his signature, despite acknowledging that there is still work to do to make this policy equitable. Thank you to all who supported us in engaging with this taboo and politically divisive issue and for supporting economic equity, agricultural access, repairing past harms done, and ending the criminalization of a plant explicitly founded in racism.
We look forward to continuing our advocacy for justice and equality in the emerging cannabis market and to doing so in conjunction with the over 100 farms, organizations, and businesses who have recently expressed their desire to do the same by signing on in support of our work and all other advocates who care to join. We hope that we can count on the Governor's Office and Legislature to support all of us in this work.
Join us for our first in-person, socially distanced workshop offering!
When: Sunday, October 25, 2020
Slaughter Workshop - 9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Processing Workshop - 1 - 3 pm
Where: Wild Roots Farm - 195 Harvey Rd Bristol, VT 05443
What: On-Farm Slaughter is part of peoples’ food sovereignty, which currently proves to be essential for our food system’s resilience. This humane way of slaughter on farms is a decentralized opportunity for farmers to increase direct-to-consumer relationships and sales in response to the increased bottlenecks at slaughterhouses.
This is an educational workshop on the slaughter of two goats and the processing of a pig guided by Mary Lake. Mary Lake is a professional itinerant slaughterer, butcher and sheep shearer who lives in Tunbridge. Mary learned the craft of slaughter through several years of full-time work with the Royal Butcher in Randolph, which is a USDA inspected slaughter facility. Her expertise and engagement through testimony was essential for the 2019 improvements to the On-Farm Slaughter law.
Rural Vermont has teamed up with a coalition of racial justice and grower organizations to oppose S.54, the Vermont Cannabis Tax and Regulate Bill. We call on Vermont’s legislature to reject S.54 and commit to working with our organizations, communities of color, and small farms and businesses across Vermont to develop legislation creating a tax and regulate system in our state which sets a new standard for equity, reparations, inclusivity and representation.
Rural Vermont’s Policy Director, Graham Unangst-Rufenacht, says:
“It is critical that we not allow this global medical and economic crisis to serve as justification for supporting a fundamentally inadequate and inequitable bill which will further amplify existing racial, economic, and social inequities in Vermont. We have the opportunity now to reject S.54 and to commit to engaging with a diversity of stakeholders to create a legal cannabis market in Vermont which is founded in racial justice, and agricultural and economic equity and opportunity. We are being asked to support S.54 based on the potential revenue this new market could bring to Vermont. We must in turn ask: ‘who will have access to, and agency and privileges within, this market? Who will share in and benefit from the revenues? Who were the stakeholders in determining this?’"
Read the full story and press release here, and take action today!
Update - Read the Coalition’s 9/16/20 press release here and view the press conference here.
Vermont reached an agreement with the USDA to allow for state-inspected meat to be sold out of state. This means that state-inspected slaughter facilities will be able to process animals from USDA inspected facilities. Rural Vermont believes that slaughterhouses alone will not be able to mitigate the pressing demand for slaughter opportunities in the state and proposes to expand the allowances for the right to slaughter livestock on farms. Please express your support for this:
This time of ongoing pandemic is laying bare the inequities in our society, rendering Rural Vermont's work to cultivate equity, access, and opportunity within the farm and food sectors that much more critical and urgent. If you can, please make a donation to our summer appeal today. Thanks to a generous donor, all donations are now being matched dollar for dollar!
Read our appeal letter to learn more!
Updated 7/2/2020. For questions or to share a resource, please contact mollie@ruralvermont.org.
To support businesses in their response and recovery, the Vermont Farm & Forest Viability Program is providing quick-response coaching to farm, food, and forest products businesses through its network of expert business advisors – free of cost.
In partnership with Farm First and the Vermont Agricultural Mediation Program, this initiative will also expand stress management, mental health, and mediation services to working lands businesses statewide.
The Peace and Justice Center has compiled a number of resources and community contacts across the state who are organizing local mutual aid efforts. Find an opportunity near you, or start one up!
NOFA-VT is offering payment to experienced milkers to help step in when farmers get sick. This relief is available to ALL dairy farmers and farm workers. Email bill@nofavt.org to learn more.
Support NOFA’s COVID-19 relief work by donating to the Farmer Emergency Fund.
Considerations for Fruit and Vegetable Producers Relating to COVID-19 from UVM Extension
Resources for Community Health Workers on COVID-19. A compilation of a number of valuable local resources from clinical herbalist Larken Bunce.
Farm Commons has developed a podcast series about COVID-19’s impacts on farm businesses, primarily discussing legal considerations for farmers through this pandemic.
VOF has reviewed the List N: Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2 and has highlighted products allowed for use in organic production
The Agency of Agriculture is updating the most recent information and guidance from the Vermont Department of Health. This can be found on the COVID-19 Information for Agriculture and Food Businesses page.
Growing Farmers has compiled a resource sheet, You, COVID19, and Your Farm Business to assist with online sales and communications for farmers.
The Intervale Food Hub is an excellent example of how growers can join forces to implement an online ordering platform, offering a home delivery option on orders of $25 or more.
The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets is available to answer questions or receive suggestions regarding the COVID-19 response. You can contact the Secretary of Ag, Food and Markets Anson Tebbetts at agr.covidresponse@vermont.gov.
The Coronavirus Prevention and Management Dairy Farmer Handbook provides specific guidelines for dairy farmers to employ in their management practices.
Oregon State University’s Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems aims to provide credible information regarding COVID-19. The document is a guide for how farmers can adjust operations in uncertain times, and which online platforms are being used to manage online sales.
AmericanHort in partnership with KCoe Isom is offering an updated webinar and support program to AmericanHort members and green industry participants to assist in navigating the application requirements of the SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
UVM Extension’s EFNEP has launched a Facebook page to bring information, education, and resources to communities across Vermont.
The USDA has been updating their website with rural development COVID-19 response details.
The NFFC has laid out the COVID-19 Stimulus Package for the Food System here.
On page 15 of the Bethel FAQ Sheet there is a list of resources available for farms and small businesses.
UVM Extension has business coaching available for farmers and forest or maple businesses that may be under pressure and is available to offer approximately 10 hours aiding you.
Growing Farmers has compiled an ebook all about the CARES Act for farmers.
NOFA-VT has created an updated resource list for farmers which includes resources on online platforms and ordering, distribution methods and best practices, responsive farm planning, managing labor, dairy, funding opportunities, and mental health.
NOFA-VT has a useful FAQ Sheet on paid sick leave for Vermont farmers and farm workers related to COVID-19.
The Vermont Specialty Food Association (VSFA) has created a Coronavirus Resource Guide.
Here is a list of various mental health resources to help through the crisis at hand:
Anxiety is normal: one-pager from UVM Medical Center
Farm Aid hotline: 1-800-FARM-AID (1-800-327-6243)
Available Monday-Friday 9-5 EST
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-237-TALK (8255)
Crisis Text Line: Text “CONNECT” TO 741741
Farm Aid has published an extensive, frequently updated list of links for state and national farmer resources, a guide for navigating COVID-19 assistance and a guide for navigating disaster assistance.
The Farmer Legal Action Group (FLAG) has released the Farmers’ Guide to COVID-19 Relief resource.
Fenn Farmstand & Gardens created a blog site to inspire and support home gardeners.
Vermont Legal Aid and Legal Services Vermont makes new resources available on their website.
Community members can also get information about the COVID-19 economic impact payments / stimulus checks in eight languages:
And here is their information about Unemployment Benefits in seven languages:
COVID Support VT is a FEMA grant funded program created to provide emotional and wellness support, free of charge, to any Vermonter who may need it during the pandemic.
Printed materials available, some in multiple languages, that can be downloaded here and printed to distribute, or anyone can use this order form to have us send the materials directly.
Funding
USDA has reopened sign-up for CFAP 2 for at least 60 days beginning on April 5, 2021. Learn more HERE.
The 2020 Eric Rozendaal Memorial Award - is accepting farmer applications until June 30, and will focus on farmers who exemplify Eric’s values of giving back and entrepreneurism, specifically related to response and recovery around the pandemic, as well as issues of racial injustice in Vermont.
New England Grassroots Environment Fund is offering rapid turnaround grants of up to $1K for COVID-19 community relief work.
The Agency of Agriculture has compiled a list of Grants, Loans, and Relief Payments.
More links can be found on Farm Via Blog.
The Emergency Economic Injury Grant (EIDL) does not need to be repaid, even if the grantee is subsequently denied an EIDL, and may be used to provide paid sick leave to employees, maintaining payroll, meet increased production costs due to supply chain disruptions, or pay business obligations, including debts, rent and mortgage payments.
Food Access and Distribution
The Vermont Foodbank is coordinating efforts to ensure all are fed during the COVID-19 pandemic. If your distribution channels are impacted as a fruit and vegetable grower (e.g. due to restaurants closing), consider the Vermonters Feeding Vermonters program.
Farm to Institution New England created a spreadsheet to match up gaps and surplus in the New England institutional food system.
Regional food hub and local distribution mechanisms may be able to connect you with market opportunities. Reference the following organizations to find one in your area!
Center for an Agricultural Economy, Farm Connex & Emergency Farm Fund. Contact: Jon Ramsay, 802-472-5362, jon@hardwickagriculture.org
Food Connects – Windham County & beyond. Contact: Alex McCullough, 802-451-0555, alex@foodconnects.org
Green Mountain Farm Direct – Northern region. Contact: Amrita Parry, aparry@gmfts.org
Intervale Center Food Hub, Chittenden Co. region. Contact: Keith Drinkwine, 802-660-0440 x115, keith@intervale.org
Vermont Farmer Food Center, Rutland Region. Contact: 802-342-4219, admin@vermontfarmersfoodcenter.org
The Vermont Cheese Council has developed an Online Sales Directory to help provide a way for VT cheesemakers to sell their cheese.
NOFA-VT has launched a Distribution Matchmaking Tool that allows farmers seeking distribution points, farmstand outlets, or marketing collaborations to connect with farmers that are looking for additional products or partnerships or who have the infrastructure resources to help other farms in need.
Farm to Institution New England has also organized a spreadsheet to help farmers connect with other farmers and potential markets.
Here is updated information for outdoor farmers markets.
Here is additional information from the Agency of Agriculture.
Young Farmers created a guide for direct sales software platforms.
NOFA-VT created a list of free/subsidized EBT equipment options available to direct market farms in Vermont.
To donate food, contact an organization close to your operation:
Community Harvest of Central Vermont, serving the capitol region broadly. Contact: Allison Levin, 802-229-4281, CommunityHarvestVT@gmail.com
Healthy Roots Collaborative, Serving Vermont’s NW region. Contact: Peter Jenkins, 802-524-2194, healthyrootsgleans@gmail.com
HOPE, serving Addison County region. Contact: Lily Bradburn, 802-388-3608, lbradburn@hope-vt.org
Intervale Center, serving greater Burlington. Contact: Hannah Baxter, 603-545-8171, hannah@intervale.org
Salvation Farms, serving the Lamoille Valley and SW NEK region. Contact: Emma Korowotny, 203-725-8991, emma@salvationfarms.org
Willing Hands, serving the Upper Valley region. Contact: Jim McCracken, 802-698-0265, jim@willinghands.org
The following are distributors and a few additional resources that can support you, your business, and in moving your food to open markets
Farmers to You – online farmers market. Contact: 802-225-6383, info@farmerstoyou.com
Black River Produce – wholesale distributor. Contact: 800-228-5481
Upper Valley Produce – wholesale distributor. Contact: 802-295-7400
Farm First - free and confidential support for all farmers and their families. Contact: 877-493-6216, allenm@investeap.org
Rural Vermont is plaintiff in a federal lawsuit that the Center For Food Safety filed today, July 28, against the Trump Administration’s Department of Agriculture (USDA) GMO labeling rules that implement a federal law that preempted the Vermont GMO labeling law in 2016. Read the press release here. (Read the filed complaint here.) Spearheaded by George Kimbrell (CFS counsel in the case), Rural Vermont is tremendously proud to take our two decades long advocacy to the end game and together we’ll do everything we can to have the persistence of the food movement uphold what is the peoples demand: the consumer's right-to-know if their food was produced with Genetically engineered (GE) organisms. Transparent and clear GE labeling is a right enjoyed by many across the globe, and it's time we have that too. We give a shout out to the significant shepherding on this issue of the two former Rural Vermont Executive Directors: Amy Shollenberger (founder of Action Circles) and Andrea Stander (Rural Vermont Policy Consultant) – your passion got us here, let’s celebrate that today.
For more information please contact Rural Vermont’s Legislative Director, Caroline Gordon @ caroline@ruralvermont.org.