Farmer Olympics has become an annual tradition for NOFA-VT, and we’re excited to host our 11th year of the games at Root 5 Farm in Fairlee.

Farmers, start putting together a team today! This fun-filled event brings together farm crews from around the state for a silly mid-summer break from work. Join us for friendly competition, delicious pizza, and camaraderie.

This interactive workshop, held on an active organic apple orchard at Flagg Hill Farm, will introduce producers to practical strategies for improving biodiversity within working farm systems, with a focus on integrating conservation and production goals. 

Participants will engage with a newly developed best practices tool and field guide to assess and enhance habitat and protect natural resources. 

Conventional subdivisions present a unique set of challenges for ecological landscaping— compacted (often clay) soils, neighborly optics, and monocultures of lawn and Home Depot shrubbery. 

Join Brett Towle, ecological designer and owner of Dicot Landscape Studio, for a field-based exploration of how to assess and implement ecology-forward plantings in everyday neighborhoods, with real budgets and real constraints. It's not about eliminating your lawn, but finding the right amount of it. 

This interactive workshop at Choiniere Family Farm will introduce practical strategies for improving biodiversity on working farms using a newly developed field guide for organic producers. 

With expertise from farmers and in partnership with Audubon VT, participants will be introduced to a best practices tool and accompanying field guide to assess and enhance habitat on their farms for birds and other wildlife. 

Join us for an on-farm workshop at Homecoming Seeds! This immersive workshop will cover the skills needed to start or expand your seed-growing and seed-saving practices. 

Farmers and growers (including home gardeners) are welcome, and we will be covering concepts that cover introductory to advanced seed growing and seed saving skills.

Learn how thoughtful design and smart planning can make a farm stand more inviting and profitable. This on-farm workshop covers effective merchandising, product mix, and ways to create a smooth, customer-friendly experience. 

We’ll explore partnering with other farms to broaden your offerings, as well as options for payment systems like SNAP and Farm Stand Match. Attendees will visit two nearby farm stands to compare different setups, including staffed and self-serve models. Walk away with practical ideas to strengthen your stand and better connect with customers.

Diversity can be a powerful approach to increasing farm resilience. Adding agroforestry systems to your farm can diversify enterprises, provide alternative fodder, improve soil health, and increase water quality and resilience. 

Join Breadtree Farms, who manages 800 acres in the Upper Hudson Valley and Southwest Vermont, to learn how they are stewarding 20,000+ food-producing trees and shrubs—including chestnut, hickory, oak, seaberry, apple, pear, mulberry, and persimmon—in orchards grazed by sheep and cattle. 

Join us at Rebop Farm for this day-long workshop, where participants will learn the basics of tractor maintenance. In the morning, we’ll learn how to conduct daily fluid checks, explore the components and systems in the engine, and cover how the entire tractor functions, including the hydraulic system, transmission, clutch, and power take-off (PTO). 

Too much water in some places and not enough in others? Managing this common situation for Vermont farmers is becoming more important as the climate changes. Join farmer Makail Tipton and UVM’s Joshua Faulkner, Director of UVM Extension’s Center for Sustainable Agriculture, for an afternoon at Firefly Farm at Burke Hollow to understand how soils and landscape influence drainage issues and water supply constraints. 

Farmers and homesteaders of all scales, join for a workshop to learn about and see silvopasture in action at Wild Roots Farm. Farmer Jon Turner will explain how they've integrated livestock and crops, building up their soil organic matter through rotational grazing and biomass.