All of us at the NOFA Vermont would like to invite you to give the gift of locally grown food to a hungry neighbor this holiday season by purchasing a Farm Share Gift Card. Farm Share Gift orders include a Bonnie Acker art card, a plantable gift tag embedded with wildflower seeds, and a Vermont...
NOFA Vermont intern Maggie Callahan organized this Friday's Community Celebration at the Monitor Barn in Richmond (we hope you'll join us!), and provided critical support for planning Agricultural Literacy Week; the following is an account of how she got here. Click here to learn more about Ag Lit...
Timeline of Farm to Plate progress in 2013. Credit VT Farm to Plate. Imagine you are in Paris, in a room full of intelligent, informed people discussing the issues of the day. It is the early 1600s and you are in one of the few social spheres that allows for female leadership. You are in a...
The deadline for comments on the Food Safety Modernization Act has been extended to this Friday, 11/22, due to the issues with the FDA's web comment portal last week. If you haven't commented yet, now is your chance! Click here for our commenting guidelines and a succinct summary of the issues.
This article is part of the NOFA Vermont Dairy and Livestock Technical Assistance Program. Organic milk buyers know that milk with a low somatic cell count (SCC) will have longer shelf life, less off flavor and higher cheese yield, which is why they pay quality premiums. Those premiums are a big...
A successful farm requires solid business and management skills as well as the ability to judge when a tomato is ripe or a calf is sick. There are a number of resources in Vermont designed to help beginning (and experienced) farmers cultivate their management, accounting, planning, and organizing...
Update, 11/12: As of now, regulations.gov is running again. You can comment on the Produce Rule here and the Processing Rule here. Second update, 11/13: We've confirmed that written comments need to be postmarked by 11/15, not arrive by then, so if you'd prefer to send something in the mail (or if...
If you're still wondering how FSMA might affect you, read on. The following article originally appeared in the Fall issue of NOFA Notes; we realized it was a good synopsis of the issues most affecting Vermont's farmers, processors, and consumers, and so are reprinting it here. The deadline to...
This past Saturday, Bear Pond Books in Montpelier hosted author Gail Gibbons and NOFA’s own Education Coordinator, Abbie Nelson, for a short discussion on local foods and their role in schools. The two women discussed the incorporation of healthy practices into school systems and the importance of...
The deadline to comment on the Food Safety Modernization Act is Friday, 11/15 - less than two weeks away. Today, we held a webinar in partnership with UVM and the Vermont Agency of Ag to help farmers (and other concerned citizens) craft meaningful and powerful comments. Click here to view the...