As you know, this growing season was a truly difficult one for farms and communities across the state. A late hard frost, record flooding, and persistently erratic and wet conditions made clear that extreme weather is having an enormous impact on our state’s farm, food, and community resilience.
And yet, we also saw an incredible outpouring of support for those most impacted. Through generous donations to the NOFA-VT Farmer Emergency Fund, we were able to raise over $1.5 million dollars, making it possible for farmers to respond and recover from this year’s challenging weather. We’ve already awarded over 165 farms throughout Vermont, with more on the way as applications continue to come in.
In the spirit of community, transparency, and gratitude for all that we accomplished this year, and all that remains to be done, we relished the opportunity to come together for a community meeting. This gathering provided an opportunity to share information about how the Farmer Emergency Fund is being allocated, what we're seeing from our work on the ground with small, organic farmers, and our plans for this fund in the coming months.
For those who were unable to attend the meeting, we invite you to view this recording of the online community meeting, which originally took place on Wednesday, November 15th.
Please note that NOFA-VT Executive Director Grace Oedel wishes to submit the following edit:
"We did have 1 application out of 190 that came in early that did not receive funding because it did not meet eligibility. Forgive me for forgetting about this one when I said all were funded. Just wanted to be transparent!"
The video embedded on this page can be slow to load, leaving a large blank space. If you don't see the embedded video, you can also watch the recorded meeting on our YouTube page.