Lifting the Yoke

VERMONT NEWS: Update #2

2010-03-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

VERMONT NEWS
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FOUR MAJOR FARM AND FOOD INITIATIVES:

1. COMMUNITY SUPPORTED INITIATIVES IN THE GREEN MOUNTAINS
* This was taken from a commentary by Ron Krupp in January- 2120 on Vermont Public Radio

Last summer, I heard Woody Tasch speak at the annual meeting of The Vermont Fresh Network at Shelburne Farms. Tasch talked about investment strategies appropriate to the 21st century. He asked the following questions. Could there be an alternative stock exchange dedicated to small, local initiatives? And what if people invested 50 percent of their assets within 50 miles of their homes?

Sitting at the local authors table after the talk, I met James Macon of Criterion Ventures. His goal is to create innovative models that attract capital to local farm and food systems in Vermont. These models would act as catalysts to farm and food infrastructure projects. I found myself wondering why Macon would focus on Vermont businesses? After all, we're just small potatoes -1/500th of the U.S. population.

Macon explained that part of the reason for his enthusiasm is that per capita, the Green Mountains is the center of the local farm and food movement in the U.S. Vermont has more Community Supported Agriculture initiatives and farmers' markets than any state in the country as well as artisan cheese-makers, beer and artisan bread makers.

In the last three years people have begun to invest in local restaurants and general stores - like the Bees Knees restaurant in Morrisville and Claire's Restaurant in Hardwick.

This trend of cooperation and collaboration in a community setting is taking off in other directions as well. Regional food-hubs are meeting around the state to address issues like community food security, the development of slaughterhouses, canneries, cold storage facilities, and the creation of year-round winter markets.

When next I met with James Macon, it was over bagels and coffee, he told me he was working with Sugarsnap on an expansion plan. Sugarsnap is a small 1,000 sq.ft. catering, retail/take-out business that grows 3 acres of vegetables in the Intervale in Burlington. The plan is for Sugarsnap to expand their location on Riverside Avenue.

Their hope for the future is to be an anchor for a much larger centralized production kitchen in the Intervale as part of the new Food Enterprise Center. The waste heat from the McNeil Wood Burning Plant in the Intervale would provide energy for the Food Enterprise Center as well as warming a number of greenhouses.

One things for sure. There is a cultural shift taking place across the Vermont landscape. People are thirsting for community involvement in food and farming. The values of this new movement are preservation and restoration instead of extraction and consumption. It will be interesting to see what the future brings.

2. COMMUNITY FOOD SECURITY

*This was taken from a Vermont Public Radio commentary by Ron Krupp in August of 2009.

In the fall issue of Local Banquet, a Vermont farm and food publication, published in Saxton's River, there's a provocative article called Getting Everyone To The Table: Brattleboro's Community Food Security Project, by Angela and Richard Berkfield of Williamsville.

In it they write that while some people in Vermont are committed to eating fresh, locally produced food as often as possible, a large number of Vermonters are still struggling just to put food on the table. Many families aren't earning enough to buy staple foods, not to mention fruit and vegetables. For them, buying local and organic is out of the question.

The reality is that food reflects the class differences in our society where the bulk of economic and educational privileges are reserved for those in the middle and upper classes. Here are some recent statistics that back up this claim. In 2009, it was reported that 12 percent of Vermonters don't have enough food to eat. In other words, they are food insecure. The Vermont Food Bank reported a 44 percent increase food requests in 2009. Vermont is the 6th hungriest state in the nation. In 2008, one in ten Vermonters was on Food Stamps.

Back to the Berkfields and Brattleboro's Community Food Security Project. The Berkfields write that in order to address the problem of hunger in Brattleboro, the Food Security Project did an assessment of the needs of the community. The goal was to learn about the barriers to food security and come up with solutions. The assessment was conducted by people of low income, farmers, policy makers and nonprofit staff. All to often, the low-income community are left out of the decision-making process.

One idea that came out of the assessment was to create a local market at Westgate Housing - a 98-unit low to middle-income community in West Brattleboro. There were a number of meetings with residents along with Amy Frost, a local farmer and Jesse Kayan Westgate's community services coordinator. What evolved was a weekly "market basket." At first, a small group participated and then 15 families joined. Frost offered the residents a reduced rate of $15 for a weekly market basket. She also has a CSA and sells at the Brattleboro Farmers' Market. A key component of the pilot project is that families can utilize the food stamp program.

The Westgate initiative is one way to bridge the gap and make food affordable. The lesson is that projects such as Westgate need to be supported as they create community through democratic initiatives. They also break down barriers between classes of people and open up dialogues so people can learn from one another.

3. VERMONT'S REGIONAL FOOD CENTERS

* taken from a commentary by Ron Krupp on Vermont Public Radio Fall 2009

If Vermont is going to cut its dependency on imported food, it will need to come up with some bold and new initiatives. In the past year, nine food and farm groups called regional food centers have been meeting and collaborating on how best to expand local food access, shorten the food supply chain, promote fair prices to farmers, support the success of food-related businesses and provide healthy food to under-served Vermonters.

Each regional food center is unique. They fill the gaps by identifying community infrastructure needs like slaughterhouses and storage facilities, and developing market opportunities like bringing a local food store in a town which doesn't have one like Bellows Falls.

The Greater Falls Regional Food Center Project includes Windham and Windsor Counties in Vermont and Sullivan and Cheshire Counties in New Hampshire. One of the main goals of this food hub is to make locally-produced food increasingly available and affordable to all people in the region while providing a fair return to area farmers.

The Rutland Area Farm & Food Link or RAFFL, is the regional food center in Rutland County. Tara Kelley, the director, told me that their greatest need is a central dry and cold storage, food processing facility for area farmers. RAFFL put out a locally grown guide earlier this year - jampacked with links to farmers, farmers' markets, value-added food processors, retail outlets, and restaurants. There were articles on health and wellness, kids and gardening and growing grains.

The Hardwick Regional Food Center has been working for a number of years on solving the food needs of the region. Two examples are the enrichment of the soil through composting at the Highfields Institute and seed production at High Mowing Seeds. Processing and storage of artisan cheese is provided at the Jasper Hill cheese cave in Greensboro. The distribution to low-income families of local food takes place through Salvation Farms and the Vermont Foodbank. The coordination of these activities comes from the Center for an Agricultural Economy located in Hardwick that sits between the Buffalo Mountain Food Co-op and Clair's Restaurant.

Some of the regional food centers have received funding from the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund or NEGEF whose offices are located in Montpelier. NEGEF also funds Localvore chapters, community garden start-ups and other food and energy initiatives driven by community groups. From farmers to funders, from volunteers to venture capitalists, there's a place for everyone at the table.

4. THE VERMONT FARM-TO-PLATE INITIATIVE
Vermont farmers often run into all kinds of challenges. Some of these are processing, storage facilities and distribution. If you're going to grow wheat for flour, you need the right varieties for your particular soil conditions, a combine, a mill, drying equipment and storage and a marketing plan. Slaughterhouses are in short supply. In many cases, farmers must make arrangements for slaughter 6 months in advance.

In June of 2008, the Vermont State legislature approved the Farm-to -Plate Initiative. The Initiative asks the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) to develop a ten year strategic plan for Vermont's farm and food sector. The plan is ambitious: it will lay out various options for increasing local food production. The goal is to have Vermonters eating between 10 to 25 percent local food by 2020. Currently, Vermonters are dependent on outside food sources - from 95 to 98 percent.

* In my book - Lifting the Yoke - I wrote about what I called the 25 percent change from 95 percent food dependency to 70-75 percent food dependency on outside food sources.

The first step is to inventory Vermont's current food system, identify gaps in infrastructure and distribution systems, figure out strategy's to address these gaps. The goal is to increase access to healthy food for all Vermonters - fostering economic development and growth jobs.

As part of the information gathering process, VSJF hosted a series of Local Food Summits in November and December of 2009. Some of the topics discussed were Farmland Access for New Farmers, Local Food Aggregation, Storage Distribution.
Visit www.vsif.org and or contact Ellen Kahler at 828-1260 or 828-5320.

OTHER VERMONT NEWS

Ron and Arnie Koss, the founders of Earth's Best Baby Foods will be coming out with a book soon on the history of the baby food company started in Vermont many years ago. It's called The Earth's Best Story: A Bittersweet Tale of Twin Brothers Who Sparked the Organic Revolution.

THE VERMONT DAIRY FARMER/ AN ENDANGERED SPECIES?
There's a lot of news these days about the growing number of young Vermont farmers who are supplying their neighbors with vegetables, bread, eggs, meat, and cheese. Between 2002 and 2007, direct sales to consumers from Vermont farms more than doubled, from $9.6 million to $22.9 million.

It's critical to point out that these sales pale in comparison to total milk sales which in 2007 totaled $518 million. Dairy farming has been the backbone of agriculture Vermont for decades. A veterinarian from Addison County told me that some dairy farmers were upset with all the news about "local this and local that" while they're going out of business in record numbers due to low milk prices.

The plight of the Vermont dairy farmer and why they're becoming an endangered species is simple. For the past 25 years, milk prices have remained low resulting in the decline in dairy farms. There are now only about 1,000 dairy farms left in the state.

The Federal Milk Marketing Order sets a minimum price on milk for dairy farmers. You can't stay in business for long if your receiving $14 for a hundred pounds of milk and it costs you $18 dollars to produce that milk. Consolidation at the retail and wholesale level have created a system where farmers have little control over what they receive.

Family dairy farms in Vermont parallel other dairy states across the U.S. The exceptions are the large western mega-dairies in California and the West where the average herd size is 1,000 milkers. Some dairy operations milk upwards to 5,000 cows three times a day. The Western mega-farms produce an over-abundance of milk and are one of the main reasons the smaller New England family farms are going out of business. Their large size makes it possible for them to flood the market with "cheap milk."

There is talk of radical change in the Federal Milk Marketing Order by using a supply-side management pricing system where farmers produce only the amount of milk needed. This would discourage the over-production of milk and result in higher milk prices for the family farm.

As we lose our dairy farms, there is the loss of a rural way of life along with the supporting infrastructure, such as the local farm machinery dealer and the seed and grain company. With the loss these farms, Vermont loses another piece of its community and history. Hopefully, the future will bring local farm and food initiatives along with fair and stable milk prices for the family dairy farm in the Green Mountains.

As stated earlier, the plight of the Vermont dairy farmer and why they're becoming an endangered species is not hard figure out. For the past 25 years, milk prices have remained low resulting in the decline in dairy farms. There are now only about 1,000 dairy farms left in the state. In 1980, there were 5,000 dairy farms in Vermont.

Just recently, anti-trust legislation was filed by the Justice Department against the nation's largest dairy processing company, alleging that Dean foods Co. purchased a smaller dairy company in Wisconsin to quash competition and drive up milk prices. In the last year, dairy farmers have been hit by sinking prices while milk processors and distributors have increased profits.

EMERGENCY DAIRY PAYMENTS APPROVED
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced in December 2009 plans to distribute $290 million to dairy farms. The program is called the Dairy Economic Loss Assistance Program. The Farm Service Agency of USDA will administer the funds. The $290 million is a large part of the $350 appropriation sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. $60 million will purchase cheese for food banks and nutrition programs. This will provide about $8,000 to the typical Vermont dairy farmer with 125 cows producing 20,000 pounds per cow.

The average price paid farmers received for their milk fell in 2009, to a low of $11,30 per hundred, down from $19.30 in July 2008. Prices have recently (December, 2009) rebounded to $15 per hundredweight. It costs farmer at least $18 per hundredweight to produce milk. As prices plunged, family farms in Vermont and around the country went out of business.

Farmers that participated in the fiscal year 2009 USDA dairy program - Milk Income Loss Contact (MILC)- will not have to sign up for benefits since the USDA already has their milk production records on file. The USDA estimates that 95 percent of eligible producers will not need to apply.

NATIONAL NEWS
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ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION (CSA) NEWS DECEMBER, 2009

The Department of Justice is investigating how global biotech and food corporations, including Monsanto are monopolizing and controlling the seed industry and food and farming.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of Monsanto's key non-profit partners, forcing hazardous GM organisms on farmers and consumers worldwide including farmers in poor African countries. The foundation claims the GMOs can feed the world and reduce poverty with high-priced GM varieties, which supposedly increase yields, resist drought and improve nutrition. This claims are questionable. GMO crops don't produce more, contain dangerous pesticide residues, and are not drought resistant. Organic crops our-produce chemical and GMO crops by 70 percent under drought conditions.

CropLife, which represents pesticide and GE companies, including Monsanto, used its PR apparatus to chid the First Lady for planting a pesticide free organic garden. Some of the seeds came from High Mowing seeds in Vermont, an organic/biodynamic seed company.

National Public Radio uses commercials from Monsanto's - Produce More- Conserve More campaign. Monsanto won the Angry Mermaid Award for being one of the world's most hated corporations at the Copenhagen Global Warming conference.

Three major GMO's corn varieties were recently approved for use by farmers. These corn crops may pose health risks to the public. See more on Monsanto and GM crops in the Organic Consumers Association on-line newsletter.

MORE ON GMO'S
GMO's are now being used by the big GMO corporations in the Hawaiian Islands as a test site for new GMO's which have not yet been tested.

Monsanto's patented Roundup resistant or Bt seeds and pesticides are now spliced into millions of acres of corn, cotton, soy, sugar beets and alfalfa. Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the U.S. and a key source of dairy forage and hay. It is open-pollinated by bees, which can cross-pollinate at distances of several miles - spreading to organic crops. Alfalfa is the first perennial crop to be genetically engineered.

A 2009 study showed that, over the last 13 years, Roundup Ready crops have increased herbicide use by 383 million pounds. In addition, once GM alfalfa and other Monsanto crops are planted in the open environment, they contaminate non-GMO and organic varieties.

COMMUNITY FOOD SECURITY COALITION POLICY (CFSC) NEWSLETTER 12-2009

* Please see more CFSC email newsletters on ending childhood hunger, new childhood nutrition legislation, taking time to eat well, bringing groceries to under-served neighborhoods, how more fruits and vegetables are coming to the WIC program, how the health community is speaking out against hormones and antibiotics in our food supply. (See article below on antibiotics.)

* This is one of my top ten websites.

ANTIBIOTICS AND THEIR USE IN MEAT AND HOW THEY AFFECT HUMANS
Researchers are stating again that the over-use of antibiotics in humans and animals has led to a plague of drug-resistant infections that killed more than 65,000 people in the U.S. in 2008 - more than prostrate and breast cancer combined. (The U.S. used about 35 billion pounds of antibiotics in 2998 - 70 percent of the drugs or 28 million pounds on chickens, pigs and cows. Worldwide, it's 50 percent. The FDA approved use of antibiotics in animals in 1951, before concerns about drug resistance were recognized.)

The rise in the use of antibiotics is part of the growing problem of drug-resistance. Killer diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and staph are resurging in new and more deadly forms.

America's farmers are giving pigs, cows and chickens more antibiotics each year - about eight percent more in 2008 - to heal lung, skin or blood infections. However, 13 percent used on farms were fed to healthy animals to make them grow faster. Antibiotics save 30 percent in feed costs among young swine, even though the savings fade as the pigs get older. These animals can develop germs resistant to antibiotics.

What the public needs to understand is that antibiotic resistant microorganisms don't stay on the farm - according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. They stay in the meat and are passed onto humans. An example is Cipro, the antibiotic which has stopped working 80 percent of the times on some deadly human infections. The resistant bacteria also goes into wastewater and aquaculture ponds. There is no system in place to test meat for dangerous antibiotic resistant bacteria.

New legislation would prohibit the use of antibiotics on animals unless they are sick. Farmers and drugmakers are fighting back with millions of dollars - close to $200 million.

Source: The Associated Press, December 29, 2009, Mason and Mendoza

WHERE DOES YOUR ORGANIC FOOD COMES FROM?
In Vermont, many food co-ops and natural food stores like to talk about how much local, organic food they purchase. In fact, most of the organic products sold at these stores are not local. During the growing season, only about 30 percent of food comes from local farmers and vendors. In the winter less local food is available. City Market/ Onion River Co-op purchased 29 percent of its food from local vendors in October of 2009.

Managers of local food stores say they are dependent on large distributors for organic food products and some of that organic foods (fresh & frozen) comes from overseas. Frontier Natural Products Co-op and United Natural Foods (UNFI) are two of the dominant distributors of organic foods in the U.S. They ship organic food products from China, India and South America to Vermont co-ops and natural food stores. The National Co-operative Growers Association says UNFI distributes 70 to 90 percent of organic foods sold at coops in the United States. There are 12 warehouses including one in Chesterfield, NH. UNFI is the second largest distributor of organic foods in the U.S. behind Wal-Mart.

Many of the products now grown in China for the U.S. organic market, like garlic, used to be grown in the U.S. Bulk-bin items listed by UNFI include pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, black beans and soy beans - all sourced from China. China sells more than half of the fresh garlic consumed in the U.S. Hunger Mountain Co-op can't supply its members with enough garlic year round. there is not a national movement to ensure success for local organic foods.

Certain foods - organic nuts, produce, frozen vegetables, meat and seafood - must be labeled under the new country-of-origin labeling law known as COOK, but origination information for other organic foods is optional.

Woodstock Farms, a house brand owned by UNFI, distributes imported Chinese vegetables like broccoli, spinach, peas and frozen foods which include cauliflower, broccoli and carrots from China.

Most bulk-bin items don't provide country of origin labels and where do all the ingredients come from in soup mixes and snack foods

Source: Seven Days 12-22-09 Originally taken from vtdigger.org.
Anne Galloway is the editor. VT.digger.org is great new website from Vermont.

UPDATE 1

2009-07-28T07:48:00.001-07:00

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This is the first update of the WWW.LIFTINGTHEYOKE.COM website. As you will note, I don't go into any great detail. If you want more information you need to delve into the various websites where there is in-depth material on the subject matter.
Ron Krupp - July, 2009

VERMONT NEWS
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* The Further Demise of the Vermont Dairy Farmer
The state's dairy industry is one the brink of collapse. Prices to dairy farmers have fallen to record lows even as production costs continue to rise. In the past five years, Vermont has lost over 250 dairy farms, leaving the state with 1,046 farms. Thirty two farms have gone under so far in 2009. The dairy industry represents 70 percent of Vermont's agricultural economy.

Here the situation in a nutshell: Middlebury farmers received $11.28 per hundredweight in June of 2009 compared to $18.91 per hundredweight in June of 2008. This adds up to a loss of $7 a hundredweight. The state average of a gallon of milk to consumers fell from $4.28 in January of 2009 to $3.45 in June of 2009. During the same period, the price being paid to for milk delivered to Middlebury fell from $1.16 a gallon to 97 cents a gallon. It costs on average $1.50 a gallon to produce a gallon of milk.

David Montagne, a Franklin County dairy farmer, is considering selling 200 acres of land in Swanton to a big-box store to make up for falling milk prices. He told the Vermont Milk Commission that he is loosing $100 a cow every month.

Senator Bernie Sanders appealed to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to provide higher milk prices to farmers under the Federal Milk Marketing Order. The loss of dairy farms would have a huge economic impact on the state. Dairy farms are one of the main reasons for the tourist industry in Vermont.

The milk prices paid to farmers have gone down in part because there is a glut of milk in the system. At the same time farmer production costs have risen because of the high price of feed, the shortage of canola feed grain and the high cost of gasoline.

Add to this the depressed economy and monopoly conditions in the dairy marketplace. According to Senator Sanders, while the price paid to farmers continues to decline - the processors and distributors are making lots of money. In other words, the drop in prices paid to farmers has not coincided with in drop in prices to consumers and the high profit margins of dairy processors, distributors and supermarkets.

Sanders points out the near-monopoly conditions of Dean Foods Inc. of Texas which controls 70 percent of the New England's milk products and 40 percent of the national market.

Dean sells processed milk to Wal-Mart Supercenters, Sam's Club, Giant and Stop & Shop. They also own Horizon Dairies, the largest organic dairy in the country. Sanders asked to meet with Dean Foods to discuss how much they pay Vermont's dairy farmers but they declined stating the federal government sets milk prices. Sanders said the government sets minimum prices and that Dean Foods makes massive profits as the expense of farmers.

Sanders asked the Justice Department to investigate whether milk processors, such as Dean foods, are enriching themselves at the expense of farmers. Dean Foods profits climbed from $30 million in the first quarter of 2008 to $76.2 million for the first quarter of 2009.

Sanders said, "We're supposed to be living in a country that embraces competition in the marketplace and free enterprise but that's clearly not happening when one company controls 70 percent of the market."

Solutions and Initiatives:
. The most immediate assistance would be to increase the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) safety net payments to help ward off a full disaster. When prices drop below c$14, the MILC subsidy kicks in. With farmers spending between $18 and $19 for a hundred pounds of milk and receiving $12 for a hundred pounds of milk, MILC subsidies of $2 and $3 dollars would help even though are not sufficient.

. A minimum six-month interest free extension or debt forgiveness to dairy farmers on USDA loans would provide some relief.

. Another initiative would be to start an emergency program that pay farmers for hamburger meat from cows brought to slaughter. The meat could be distributed to domestic and international nutrition programs. Another initiative would be to make more powdered milk from surplus milk and store this commodity.

. Finally, there is a nationwide program to lower the supply of milk by culling cows from dairy herds. This would cut the surplus of milk and farmers would receive a higher price. This is a longer term solution. There is talk of going more to a demand-supply system similar to the one in Canada where only enough milk is produced to meet the consumer demand.

Roger Allbee, the Vermont Secretary of Agriculture and chairperson of the Vermont Milk Commission (VMC) said, "The dairy farms must be insulated from the unpredictable price fluctuations and market manipulations that have plagued our farmers." Allbee recently met with Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Vilsack has created an advisory group that would recommend changes to the federal milk pricing system.

Allbee said dairy farmers on the Northeast realized a price collapse was coming but couldn't get an allocation on the $787 billion federal stimulus program.

Bob Wellington, an economist with Agri-Mark Inc. regional milk cooperative, said that the global recession played a large role in the collapse of milk prices. Dairy farmers in the U.S. used to sell 10 percent of their products internationally and that now has been cut in half. He also said that Americans have cut back on eating out. McDonald's has reduced the number of slices of cheese from two to one in a double cheeseburger. Wellington said that volatile prices mostly benefit large-scale grocery stores. They raise prices when milk prices are on the upswing and decrease prices, slowly, when milk prices fall.

The VMC had proposed to set up a fee to be paid by milk producers to the state's dairy farmers. The VMC plans to meet with milk processors such as Ben & Jerry's, Booth Brothers, Cabot, Dean Foods, Cabot and Hood. The goal is to redistribute some of the profits from the bottlers and retailers to dairy farmers. This plan has not worked in the past due to interstate commerce rules.

. This information was taken from articles in the Burlington Free Press. I have written extensively on the Vermont Dairy Farmer: An Endangered Species. If you want more information on the subject, please email me at: woodchuck37@hotmail.com.

* The Vermont Milk Company (VMC) shut its doors on July 18 due to poor sales and a high debt load. It was founded three years. The dairy was formed by farmers and investors who were seeking stable milk prices and added value to its products. VMC made yogurt, cheese curds and ice cream. From what I heard, one of their main contracts to supply cheese curds to a Vermont company was canceled. About 40 dairy farms have been lost this year in Vermont.
There is a move by local citizens to resurrect VMC. Stay tuned.
Go to Vermont Milk Company on the web for more information.

* The Fat Hen Natural Food store in Vergennes shut its doors a few months ago. From what I heard, even though business was good, the owners could not afford the rent.

* An Inventory and Assessment of Recent Local Food Initiatives
Prepared for - The Vermont Sustainable Agriculture Council 2008
by Virginia Nickerson 802-223-6979
vnic@umich.edu Go online for the complete report

* Water Buffalo - Yogurt
Bufala di Vermont is moving back to its homeland in Quebec from Woodstock, Vermont. Frank Abballe is taking his 500 shaggy water buffalo bovines to a farm 20 minutes north of the Vermont border. Abballe said the cost of feed was too high in Vermont. He plans to build a slaughterhouse on the current site and turn it into a conventional feedlot for baby sheep. We'll see.

* Wine Country Notes
Vermont looks to become a new place for growing grapes into wine. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture wants Vermont to become known as a wine-producing region. Wine currently produces $5 million in revenues. There are 17 licensed wineries and more than 6 more will be licensed in the next year. Vermont wineries won 16 medals in the Eastern States Exposition in June of 2009. Wine is beginning to show up in area restaurants.

We already know about artisan cheese, bread and beer. Climate may be a limiting factor. Grapes that tend to like a cooler climate may have a hard time in Vermont. Northeastern Vine Company in Poultney, Vermont sells root stock. Most of the stock originated in Minnesota where crosses of French and American grapes were made.

Perhaps one day, folks will follow the cheese, beer, bread and wine trails through the Green Mountains.

* Whole Foods announced plans to build a store in South Burlington on an undeveloped piece of land. Whole Foods, whose main offices are located in Austin, Texas - has the largest number of organic food stores in the U.S. Coming to an area already over-loaded with natural food stores seems predatory to some. You already have City Market, Healthy Living and Natural Provisions. Healthy Living, the largest natural food store in Vermont at 30,000 square feet, is only a mile from the proposed 45,000 square food site of Whole Foods. Whole Foods currently has 273 stores. For the story on Whole Foods and the communities response, go to Seven Days, July 22-29 - Big Fish.

NATIONAL NEWS
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Two-thirds of Americans are overweight. One-third are obese.

Columnist, Ellen Goodman - Article -
Beginning of the End of Big Food - The Boston Globe
Goodman describes "Overweight America" as a business plan.
She writes about David Kessler's best seller - The End of Overeating - An investigation into an industry that wants us to eat more.

Kessler writes about how the food industry has learned to produce "hyperpalatable combinations of sugar, fat and salt" that not only appeals to us but has the capacity for addiction. Kessler uses words like "cravibility" and "conditioned overeating." The industry makes us in food addicts by spiking our food. As one food industry executive admitted to Kessler, "Everything that has made us successful as a company is the problem."

Kessler likens the obesity epidemic with the tobacco epidemic.
We as a society need to change our attitudes towards Big Food just like we've done with cigarettes.

DOCUMENTARY
FOOD,INC.
This is a new popular documentary that does for food what SICKO did for health care. The producer is Robert Kenner. Co-produced by Eric Schlosser - Fast Food Nation - Food Inc. covers the basics when it comes to the politics of food and farming. Its purpose is to first, to shock and awe watchers with the dangers of our industrial food supply. Food Inc. documents the costs to the land, workers and customers of a food industry that makes it cheaper to buy fast food than fresh food.

Second, it focuses on the advantages of buying local. The 93-minute documentary has segments such as Unintended Consequences, The Dollar Menu and In the Grass. Michael Pollen, the author of the Omnivore's Dilemma, helps to narrate the film. Food Inc. covers many of the same areas as Lifting the Yoke.

The Community Food Security website recently provided information on: Money for Farm to School Programs
Child Nutrition Bills
The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009
USDA Releases Food Desert Study
Community Gardens of 2009
FY 2010 Ag Appropriations
Cornucopia Institute News 7/2009
* Release: Washington Post Investigation of USDA's Organic Mismanagement.

* Dean Foods in creating "natural" dairy products using conventional milk. Dean Foods controls over 70 percent of the milk processing in the country and they also control the processing of organic milk through companies like Horizon. The new "natural milk" will come under the Horizon label. This is a new product category.

* USDA Report: Corporate Imports from China
6-16-2009 American organic farmers are being sold out.

Organic Consumers Association (OCA) News

* A new study revealed major health problems linked to genetically engineered foods and pesticides. Journal of Biological Science.
GMOs are now found in 80 percent of (non-organic) sold in the U.S., as well as the majority of animal feed in the EU. Check this out on the web.

* There have been violations of national organic standards in the organic dairy industry (including Horizon and Aurora). They continue to unfairly undercut ethical brands by using cheaper, inhumane confinement feedlots where cows have limited or no access to required pasture.

* Many consumers believe that natural is "greener" than organic. Natural is basically unregulated - organic must meet government standards. See July 9, 2009 news from OCA on Natural Foods, Factory Farms and Organic Integrity.

* Whose Killing Organic Foods? Horizon, Sik, Whole Foods Market
July 1,2009.

PART I. Specific 2008 Farm Bill Projects

2009-06-29T19:13:00.000-07:00

PART I. Section 1: THE GLOBALIZATION OF FOOD AND FARMING

1. SPECIFIC 2008 FARM BILL PROJECTS

. permanent disaster assistance to farmers

. an increase in farmland preservation through the purchasing of development rights

. a provision for more fruits and vegetables to school children

. help for farmers to convert to organics from conventional farming, boosting organic farming initiatives for small and medium sized producers and helping organic growers get higher insurance payments should their harvest fail. A total of $78 million in funding for organic research: A 600 percent increase.

. develop next-generation cellulosic ethanol by providing research and development funds, provide tax credits and loan guarantees, shifts funding from corn-based ethanol to other renewable sources of energy, and provides money to encourage farmers to grow biomass crops in areas around biomass facilities

. local procurement of unprocessed farm products to the schools, such as eggs, vegetables, poultry, beef and dairy products

. grants to support the development of enterprises which distribute and market healthy, locally produced food to under-served urban, rural, and tribal communities

. loans to finance local food enterprises in rural areas

. funding community food projects in low-income communities

. funding senior market programs providing vouchers to low-income seniors for fruits and vegetables farmers' markets, roadside stands and community supported agriculture (CSA) initiatives

. support for the promotion for farmers' markets

. support for programs to reduce the rising rates of obesity

. support for studying urban and rural areas with limited food markets called "food deserts"

. increases in access to food stamp programs; the term "Food Stamps" would be changed to "Food and Nutrition"

. other initiatives include support for Food Stamp Nutrition Education and for the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)

Part 1. Section 2: How Does the 2008 Farm Bill Impact Vermont?

Part 1. Section 2: HOW DOES THE 2008 FARM BILL IMPACT VERMONT?

2009-06-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

PART I. THE GLOBALIZATION OF FOOD AND FARMING

2. HOW DOES THE 2008 FARM BILL IMPACT VERMONT?

The Farm Bill OF 2008 will boost aid to dairy, organic and specialty crop farmers, help pay for the clean up of Lake Champlain, provide more funds for farmland preservation and support renewable energy projects.

The bill will help 60,000 low-income Vermonters who need to turn to the Vermont Foodbank and their network partners of food pantries and food shelves. This translates into greater food security at a time when rising food prices and fuel prices, stagnant wages and a faltering economy are hitting these families the hardest.

In March 2008, more than 53,000 Vermonters enrolled in food stamps -- a 15-year high. Overall, more than $15 million in new food stamp investments will be made Vermont over the next 5 years. The farm bill also provides $2 million in new and increased support for food banks, food shelves and pantries -- after a five year decline in food donations. More than 770,000 additional meals will be provided to low-income Vermonters through the increase. The bill also encourages the purchase of locally-grown produce from small farmers to food shelves and increases the access to farmers' markets for low-income Vermonters.

Specific monies will be spent on:

. providing $22 million to help farmers pay for the cost of becoming certified organic under the National Organic Program;

. offering $446 million in block grants to maple syrup producers, Christmas tree growers and other specialty crop farmers to help pay for production, marketing and development costs;

. boosting Lake Champlain clean-up efforts by increasing funds to help farmers prevent phosphorous pollution from running off their land into the lake and its tributaries;

. helping to fight sprawl by increasing the Farmland Protection Program by more than $700 million. The program provides federal matching funds to states and local governments to buy development rights to help current farmers stay on the land and provide opportunities for new farmers to purchase farms;

. providing matching funds for the Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program, which helps towns purchase forested space. Technical assistance in forest management will be available. The Community Wood Energy Program would provide matching funds for communities to shift heating and power for municipal buildings from fossil fuels to woodchip and biomass systems.

Part 1. Section 2: How Does the 2008 Farm Bill Impact Vermont?

Part 1. Section 3: FARM ENERGY ALTERNATIVES IN THE GREEN MOUNTAINS

2009-06-26T19:19:00.000-07:00

BIODIESEL, BIOMASS, WIND, AND SOLAR

On-farm energy is a hot topic these days in Vermont due to the high cost of fuel, the growing concern about climate change, and the desire for new markets to enhance farm profitability. On-farm energy production provides an opportunity for Vermont farmers to wean themselves off of fossil fuel imports. We'll always need to import some of our food just as we'll need to import energy and fuel, but our dependency on them must be cut. And besides, you can't outsource manure, wood, wind, water or the sun. But you can grow corn, canola, sunflowers, flax, hemp, mustard and soybeans on Vermont farms for energy use.

Vern Grubinger and Heather Darby of the University of Vermont Extension Service have calculated that the average Vermont farm spends between $10,000 and $16,000 per year on energy. Many farmers are experimenting with renewable energy sources to help lessen these fuel costs. Farming like other industries may be forced by necessity to go local rather than global. Those strawberries, which travel across the country in huge refrigerated trucks, may not be as plentiful one day due to high energy costs.

Practical field studies on the energy potential of corn, willow, woodchips, soybeans, switchgrass, canola, and sunflowers as well as wind, solar and hydro are happening on many farms in Vermont, the greater Northeast, and throughout the country.

The Vermont Biofuels Association is working with a number of farmers throughout the state. Cedar Creek Farm in East Thetford, Vermont is now heating its greenhouse with used vegetable oil. Ekolatt Farm has 3 acres of sunflowers and five acres of soybeans to use as feedstock for biodiesel.

One farmer in Massachusetts is growing a special variety of corn for heating his greenhouses. Another is experimenting with sunflower oil production. Each state and each region have advantages for growing certain crops. We are just on the cutting edge of energy production "down on the farm."

GLOBAL WARMING AND MAPLE SYRUP

You can't get more local in Vermont than maple syrup but global warming and the high cost of fuel may change all that. When you think about the Green Mountain state, you have images of a sugarhouse in Spring boiling sap from wood-fired boilers and steam rising from the chimney along with the sweet, subtle aroma of sugarsap in the air. This may all end sooner than we think as the planet continues to warm up.

Most people, whether they're farmers or not, know that global warming is affecting the planet. No one understands this better than the Vermont maple sugar producer. Each spring, Burr Morse of East Montpelier taps 3,000 maple trees in his sugarbush. Morse said that for the past five years, he has been forced to tap his maple trees in the middle of February to avoid missing the best sap flow. Many sugarmakers are tapping earlier and for less time because of warmer and shorter winters. It used to be that sugaring began in early March.

(Maple sap runs best when there are freezing nights and warm days. New technologies in the past few years have made it possible to lessen the decline in maple production. Using tubing instead of buckets and setting higher vacuum levels puts more pressure in the tubing, producing more sap and allowing the sugarmaker to tap longer.)

Vermont went from producing an average of 1 million gallons a year in the early part of the century to 500,000 gallons a year from 1970 to 1999. Many years ago, almost every farm had a small maple operation. For the past 4 years, the state has produced between 400,000 and 500,000 gallons. Vermont remains the #1 maple producer in the U.S.

The increase in temperature due to global warming is the main factor in determining production levels. Output per tap is going down, along with dieback in the maple forests with longer regeneration periods. Warmer levels could one day signal the end of sugarmaking. According to the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, from 1970 to 2000, the average winter temperature in the Northeast increased by 4.4 degrees. The economic loss of $164 million in maple sales from the state's 4,600 maple producers would be a blow to the agricultural economy.

Where Maple Sap Meets Soybeans: Vermont sugarmakers are experimenting with new fuels for their evaporators. Glenn and Ruth Goodrich of Cabot collect maple sap from 20,000 trees and use fuel derived from petroleum oil and soybeans to boil their sap into maple syrup. Most sugarmakers use wood to heat the sap to remove water and produce the sweet, sticky syrup. About a third of Vermont sugarmakers are using oil-evaporators to save time and labor. The Goodriches' evaporator is fueled by 20 percent biofuel and 80 percent petroleum. The plant-based fuel costs about a dollar more than a gallon than oil. Funding from the Calkins Fuel Company and a small grant from the Vermont Biodiesel Project, which receives funding from U.S. Department of Energy, covered the difference in price.

On the Web

Goodrich Maple Farms: www.goodrichmaplefarm.com

The University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center

www.uvm.edu/7/8pmrc.

BIODIESEL

In the U.S., most biodiesel comes from soybeans, which are processed into high protein feed, leaving behind their oil, which is turned into commercial fuel in multi-million gallon biodiesel plants. This process is just becoming a reality on a large scale in Vermont and the Northeast.

* See information below on BioCartel in Swanton, Vermont.

There are many small-scale alternatives being tried on Vermont farms. What's needed are community-scale biodiesel systems that minimize infrastructure costs and transportation requirements that use raw products and that can be grown by local farmers and provide a fair return. Some of these initiatives, like processing oil-seed production and on-farm production from local waste oil and others, are described below.

(Oil seed crops include canola, flax, mustard, soybeans, and sunflowers. These can be grown in the Northeast, although yields are variable. One challenge is to obtain affordable equipment like combines, seed cleaners, presses, and processors.)

* Go to the University of Vermont Center for Sustainable Agriculture at www.uvm.edu/sustainableagriculture for updates on biodiesel research in Vermont.

The Fiske Farm and the Energy Crisis of 2008

Wayne and Nancy Fiske hope that the 15 acres of canola seeds they planted in the spring of 2008 will provide biodiesel fuel on their farm where they milk 125 Holsteins. Biodiesel costs have more than doubled in the last year. After pressing the seeds for oil, the leftovers could be used as high protein feed for their cows and the stubble in the field as animal bedding. Fiske obtained a UVM Extension research grant of $2,900 for a Chinese-made oil seed press.

Canola, or rapeseed, is a variety of the brassica family, which also includes broccoli, cabbage, and the mustards. Canola is 40 percent oil that has become a common source of food-grade salad oil. Earlier trials on another Vermont farm produced one and a half tons per acre or 80-120 gallons of canola oil.

For canola to come into wide use, Vermont would need to build the infrastructure to press and refine the oil and a system to connect farmers with processors. Many farmers who might be interested in growing the crop would not want the added work of processing the seeds. Also, once the seeds are pressed into oil, further processing is necessary to remove glycerin before it can be used for vehicle use. A Vermont biodiesel company in Winooski, Green Technologies, can perform this task.

Cate Farm: Some farmers are already using biodiesel as a fuel for greenhouse heat, tractors and on-farm vehicles. Richard Wiswell is a vegetable farmer who runs Cate Farm in Plainfield. He has one of many operations using biodiesel extensively, running his diesel tractors and cars, and heating the greenhouse on biodiesel fuel.

He collects vegetable oils (grease) in large plastic containers from local restaurants and makes biofuels in his farm shop. The oil comes from deep fryers. (The best type of oils are non-hydrogenated oils, such as canola. The worst oil is animal tallow or oil that is not changed regularly.) Wiswell estimates his biodiesel costs him about $0.50 per gallon, not including the cost of labor. That's not bad when you consider the current price of gas averaged around $4.00 in the summer of 2008.

Biodiesel is a cleaner and renewable source of energy and there are other benefits. If you've ever run a diesel tractor out in the fields, you know how polluting and noxious the diesel smell is to the farmer and to the environment. Wiswell told me that as a farmer out on a tractor for hours, it's great to know you aren't harming the air or breathing in those smelly fumes.

* Biodiesel is the end product of a reaction between waste vegetable oil (grease), methanol, and lye. Biodiesel is made through "transesterification," a chemical process in which glycerin is separated from fat or vegetable oil, creating two products: alkyl esters, the generic chemical name for biodiesel, and glycerin, a byproduct usually sold to be used in soaps and other products. Biodiesel can be made from soybean, sunflower or canola oil and vegetable oils, which Richard Wiswell does at Cate Farm.

This low-emission fuel can be used to power diesel engines and oil-fired furnaces. Biodiesel blends can be run with any diesel engine without modification, with less biodiesel used during the winter months to prevent the fuel from congealing. Compared with petroleum-based diesel, B20 has 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent conventional diesel and has 12 to 20 percent fewer emissions. The fuel however, creates 1 to 2 percent more nitrogen oxide, a pollutant. B5 is a 5 percent biodiesel fuel with 95 percent conventional diesel.

Other Vermont Biodiesel Projects: A collaborative effort is taking place between the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Funds, the Vermont Biofuels Association (VBA), and the Vermont Department of Public Service. The goal is to increase in-state biodiesel production capacity to 450,000 gallons in the next few years. VBA anticipates that the state could produce 5 percent of its current diesel needs by 2020 using crops grown in Vermont.

Seed Power

John Williamson is a farmer from Shaftsbury who is planting seeds for biodiesel production. With the help of grants and the support of the staff at the University of Vermont Extension Service and the Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Williamson is pioneering a small-scale system for brewing biodiesel from sunflower seeds grown on his farm. Williamson of State Line Farm started making his first batch of fuel in February 2008 from sunflower oil from sunflower seeds grown on his farm in 2007. He's also experimenting with biodiesel from canola seeds where he uses a special commercial seed press from Sweden.

As he put it, "It squeezes the bejeezus right out of the seeds." With 7,000 pounds of canola he grew on about five acres, he's producing his own oil for biodiesel. He says, "It gives you quite a sense of security to be growing your own fuels. You don't care when you go down to the gas station or how much a gallon costs. And your money stays right here. It's not going to Saudi Arabia ... "

On a Grand Scale: Biocartel Vermont Inc.

Biocardel Vermont was formed by Biocardel Inc. and Guilmax Inc., two Montreal firms. The Canadian companies are building several operations in Canada and the Eastern U.S. to produce biodiesel fuel.

Biocartel is producing biodiesel from Canadian soybean oil. A Canadian firm is putting a $1.6 million investment into the Swanton, Vermont plant -- a 3,600 square foot facility. This is the first phase of the project. Swanton is located in northwestern Vermont, close to the Canadian border. There is a rail line connected to the plant. The goal is to produce 8 million gallons of 100 percent biodiesel annually. This will be one of largest plants in New England.

For more information, go to: www.vtbiodieselproject.org

On the Road Again: Willie Nelson and three business partners recently formed Willie Nelson's Biodiesel, which is marketing biodiesel to truck stops. The product called Bio-Willie is made from vegetable oils, mainly from soybeans, and can be burned without modification to diesel engines. Nelson says, "There is really no need going around starting wars over oil. We have the fuels right here at home where the farmers can grow it." The fuel's average price in 2005 was $1.79 per gallon. Most biodiesel stations are in the Midwest with a few in other parts of the country. Biodiesel has to be stored in heated tanks to prevent gelling problems. Check out: www.biodiesel.org

* The word diesel comes from Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel, a German inventor and engineer who demonstrated at the Paris Exposition of 1900 how his patented compression ignition engine could run on peanut oil. Diesel was born in Paris in 1858 and died in 1913.

BIOMASS:

Biomass is organic material that has stored sunlight in the form of chemical energy. It includes: wood, wood waste, willow, straw, switch grass, manure, sugar cane, and many byproducts from a variety of agricultural processes. When burned, the chemical energy is released as heat. If you have a woodstove or fireplace, the wood you burn is a biomass fuel.

Cow Power: Manure Digesters on Dairy Farms

You may have heard of late about "cow power." That's the idea behind dairy farmers producing electricity from manure. The manure is held in a sealed concrete container at 101 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of a cow's stomach. Bacteria digest the volatile compounds of the manure, creating biogas, which is part methane. Energy is produced by an anaerobic process in which bacteria breaks down the cow manure in a digester, which releases carbon dioxide and methane gas. The methane gas fuels a generator, and energy is sent onto the power grid.

This type of manure treatment system produces energy as well as bio-solids that can be applied to the land as fertilizer. In addition, the digesters kill common pathogens, and eliminate odors and weed seeds. Air quality is improved through the reduction of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Less liquid manure will remain after "digestion" takes place, which will reduce run-off from farm fields into the nearby streams and lakes. Another benefit is that the solids that remain from the digestion can be used for bedding for the animals, reducing the need for sawdust, which is not cheap.

The Foster Brothers Farm in Middlebury has one of the oldest anaerobic digester systems in the country. They have been converting their manure waste to electricity and providing power to their farmstead for a number of years. A more recent example is Central Vermont Public Service's Cow Power Program. It is the nation's first direct farm-to-consumer renewable energy project that processes cow manure to generate electricity. The 1000 cows and 500 young stock at Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport, Vermont are generating electricity and lots of it. The cows make nearly 9,000 gallons of milk and about 35,000 gallons of manure a year.

Blue Spruce is producing enough electricity to power roughly 300 to 400 average households per year. According to Earl Audette, who owns the farm with his brothers, "The cows are producing two streams of income, a milk check and a power check." Audette says, "This is one more way to diversify the farm, improve the bottom line, and manage our manure responsibly."

The bottom line, given recent wholesale power prices, is more than $120,000 a year from electricity sales. When the Audettes add in other energy savings from the project, they expect their $1.2 million dollar investment in project equipment to pay for itself in about seven years.

The large size of the Audette farm makes it a good candidate for electricity generation. There are only a handful of farms of sufficient size in the Green Mountains now but digesters and other necessary equipment are being developed for smaller operations.

The Audette Farm received the first Vermont public service grant to build a farm-based methane generating system. In 2005, four more farms were awarded development grants totaling $666,000. The clean renewable energy generated from these farms will be enough to power 1,395 average homes with electricity each year. Three of the farms have more than 1,000 dairy cows and the fourth has 210 cows. And in 2006, Pleasant Valley Farm in Richford with 1500 cows began producing enough energy for an additional 600 homes.

The four Vermont farms that received the 2005 "Cow Power" grants are in St. Albans, Sheldon, Fairlee and West Paulet. Cathy Montagne, whose family's St. Albans farm is part of the program, is excited about getting started with "Cow Power" as it will help the Montagne Farm both economically and environmentally. Their 1,200 cows are expected to produce 1.7 million kilowatt-hours of energy per year.

Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS) is the largest electric/power company in Vermont. CVPS charges a little more to those customers willing to pay a premium for the renewable energy that comes from the Audette Farm. The utility's goal is to have 12 farms providing "Cow Power" electricity to 10,000 customers by the end of 2010 . The power company allows customers to take 25, 50 or 100 percent of their electricity from the "Cow Power" program.

Thirty-five hundred CVPS customers are now paying a premium for electricity from alternative sources like "Cow Power." There are more "Cow Power" CVPS customers in Addison County where Blue Spruce Farm is located than in any other part of the state. When people see that electricity is being generated by the farmer down the road, they are more willing to support the farm community. About 600 utility companies around the country give customers the choice of paying a premium on their rates to support development of renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and hydroelectric dams.

* A good share of the funding for these biomass projects comes from the federal government.

"Cow Power" is also lighting the way for students at Green Mountain College in Poultney, some 35 miles from Blue Spruce Farm. The college will pay an extra $48,000 on its $250,000 electricity bill to support this alternative energy source. The Audette farm installed a second generator for the project.

Three Vermont dairy farms -- Nordic Farms in Charlotte, Foster Brothers in Middlebury and Jasper Hill in Greensboro -- have signed up with a new company, AgRefresh, to participate in another manure- to-electricity project. The firm, whose trademark is "Pure Farm Energy," is selling shares to companies interested in compensating for their own carbon footprint. By paying to help sustain manure-to-power projects on dairy farms, which account for about a third of methane emissions in the U.S., corporations can, in effect, offset the discharges from their own heating, cooling, and transportation systems.

Other farms around the country are adopting the digester model to make energy. Some are loading their digesters with other waste products. One farmer in the state of Washington is using tomato waste from a salsa factory to make energy.

In countries that have signed the Kyoto Accord to combat global warming, eco-changes are taking place at a rapid pace. There are 23,000 bio-digesters in Germany alone compared with 150 in the United States. Farmers and investors in some parts of Europe are building models that will hopefully be adopted in the U.S.

Another Local Biomass Sustainable Solution

Burlington Electric's McNeil Wood Burning Plant is located in the Intervale. The woodchips (scrap wood) come in on boxcars from forests in northern Vermont. The McNeil plant supports the logger, the railroad, the workers and the operation of the wood burning plant. The money and the energy are kept at home. The plant provides enough energy to meet the electrical needs of Burlington

-- a city of 40,000 people.

* 85 percent of electric power generation comes from fossil fuels.

Source:

The information on Biomass came from:

Cheryl Bruce, NOFA Notes, Summer 2005.

www.nofavt.org (802)-434-4122

Side Notes:

Why hasn't hemp been mentioned in the discussion? It's three times more energy efficient than corn-made ethanol and much less destructive to the soil and the environment. We need to get over the illusion that hemp is the same as that illegal substance called marijuana. During World War II, Kentucky and Wisconsin were the two leading states in hemp production.

WIND, SOLAR AND MORE:

WIND: Farms at high elevations often experience significant levels of wind. Jack Lazor of Butterworks Farm in Westfield, Vermont and Ken Smith of Merck Farm and Forest in Rupert both decided to use their windy locations to their advantage by tapping into wind power.

The idea is to have wind speeds in the 15-20 mph range, those are the speeds that generate the most power. The blades start turning at about 6-7 mph, and shut off at speeds over 45 mph. The typical wind tower is 75 feet tall, with blades measuring 21-25 feet. Jack Lazor is able to use net metering with his surplus power, because he has a connection to the grid. He can send surplus power to the grid and pull electricity off the grid later when energy generation is lower.

Ken Smith does not have a grid connection on his farm. Instead, he relies on a battery bank to get him through periods with less wind. His system cost $60,000, and Jack's cost $100,000. Ken also has a photovoltaic solar system, which balances the stormy, windy days with sunny days.

SOLAR: Laini Fondiller is a cheese producer in Westfield who uses solar power. Twenty years ago when Laini purchased her farm, she had no electricity. It would have cost $15,000 to bring power to the farm. Today, she has 20 photovoltaic panels. The energy is stored in batteries and the system can run for two-three days without sun before relying on a generator. The solar system provides power to the house, milking machine, pasteurizer, cooling room, cheese ripening cave and chicken coop. Laini uses 150 kilowatts (kw) on her farm; the average household uses about 600 kilowatts.

ENERGY RESOURCES:

More Energy Resources "Down On The Farm"

For more information, check out www.climateandfarming.org or get in touch with Vern Grubinger at the Extension Service of the University of Vermont in Brattleboro. He is knowledgeable on the topics of global warming and alternative energy sources on the farm throughout Vermont and the northeast. Grubinger has written an article entitled "Climate Change and Agriculture: Challenges and Opportunities for Outreach," in which he lists a number of important websites.

Vern Grubinger is the Small Fruits and Vegetable Specialist

at the University of Vermont Extension Service.

You can contact him at (802)-257-7967

157 Old Guilford Rd. Suite 4 Brattleboro, VT 05301

vernongrubinger@uvm.edu

The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Funds (VSJF) provides on-farm energy grants to Vermont farmers. For more information go to their website: www.vsjf.org

VSJF

61 Elm Street

Montpelier, VT 05602

(802) 828-0398

Scott Sawyer of VSJF prepared a booklet, "On-Farm Energy Production: A Vermont Primer" in 2005.

Other Important Alternative Energy Websites:

--------------------------------------------

www.vermontbiofuels.org

www.esf.edu/willow

www.nrgsystems.com

www.windland.com

www.attra.org - publications on alternative energy

Energy Resources

Books:

"The Farm Energy Handbook" contains basic information for farmers on subjects ranging from energy efficiency to solar and wind power, types of ethanol, and geothermal heating and cooling.. The 65-page booklet was produced by the Vermont Environmental Consortium and Vermont Dairy Task Force, with support from Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc. David Hecht, a principal author of the handbook, said it's meant to be less of a how-to-manual than an introductory guide that can give farmers ideas about the potential for renewable energy applications.

Other Books:

Alovert, M. Biodiesel Homebrew Guide

Tickel, J. From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank

A Quote from Al Gore: "We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of this has to change."

Part 1. Section 4. THE NATURE AND POWER OF CORPORATIONS: GOMERY AND HARTMANN

2009-06-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

In order to grasp the nature and power of the Corporate Agricultural Industrial Machine (CAIM), one needs to look at the history of corporations in the U.S. Ralph Gomory has re-thought how corporations work in our global environment.

Gomory used to be a senior vice-president for IBM and is now the president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He asks the question, if free trade is a win-win proposition, why is America losing so many jobs? Gomory wrote Global Trade and Conflicting National Interests in collaboration with William Baumol, a respected economist. Gomory has recently been joined by a group of corporate executives called the Horizon Project, who are concerned about the destructive impact of globalization on American prosperity.

Gomory believes that there is a divergence between the interests of U.S. multinational corporations and the interests of U.S. citizens. He says that American multinationals are the principal actors in the transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy class in the 21st century and have been able to function without resistance from the government. The loss of trade is not confined to workers who lose jobs and wages. In time, the accumulated loss of a country's productive base can injure the its overall economic well-being.

The standard of living in the U.S. is going down and billions of dollars of debt are owed to countries like China and Japan. Gomory offers two solutions. First, the U.S. government must cap the nation's trade deficit until there is balanced trade. Second, the government must impose a national policy on the behavior of multinational corporations, directly influencing their investment decisions. This can be done through a new corporate tax code which would penalize those corporations that keep moving high-wage jobs and value-added production offshore and reward those that are investing in redeveloping our country's economy.

Gomory proposes to alter the profit incentive of U.S. multinational corporations thus providing for greater national interest in the U.S. He wants to recreate an understanding of the corporation's obligation to society -- a social perspective that flourished for a time in the last century but is now nearly gone. The old idea was that the corporation is a trust, not only for shareholders but for the benefit of the country: the employees, and the people that use the product.

Source: The information on Ralph Gomory came from an article by William Greider, "The Establishment Rethinks Globalization," The Nation, April 30, 2007.

In Thom Hartmann's book, Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights, he describes how corporate values and power have come to dominate life in our nation and the world. Hartmann believes that too much corporate power is incompatible with democracy, the market economy, and the well-being of society.

Witness what the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the liberal trade agreements with China have done to working men and women in the United States. There is no way for U.S. workers to compete with low-wage workers in China. Millions of people in this country have lost work, while the multinational corporations such as Wal-Mart and their stockholders have been the winners.

Hartmann explains how there is a legal provision in the U.S. whereby a group of people can get together and form a corporation. This entity has the same rights and powers given to individual people. Corporations, by law are considered "persons," and benefit from tax breaks, trade advantages, media privacy, and regulation protection. Corporations are also entitled to many of the same protections guaranteed to citizens by the Constitution's Bill of Rights. As with individuals, corporations are given the right of free speech, including the right to influence legislation, to be protected from searches, and Fifth-Amendment protection against double jeopardy and self-incrimination, even when a crime has clearly been committed.

The boards of most corporations primarily value profit, leading them to make decisions individuals of conscience wouldn't make. Look at the for-profit managed health care corporations that value profit over wellness.

According to Hartmann, traditional English, Dutch, French and Spanish law didn't say companies were people. The U.S. Constitution wasn't written with that idea in mind and during America's first century, courts all the way up to the Supreme Court said that corporations did not have the same rights as humans. Corporate personhood was never voted on by the public, enacted into law or proclaimed by the court.

Hartmann explains in his book Unequal Protection how in 1886 in a case before the Supreme Court, there was a mistaken interpretation from a reporter's notes on a railroad tax case. The comments were in error and should never have been accepted. Because of this, corporations were legally considered "persons," equal to citizens and entitled to many of the same protections guaranteed by the Bill of Rights -- a clear contradiction of the intent of the founders of the United States.

Hartmann writes how America's founders and early presidents warned that the safety of the new republic depended on keeping corporations on a tight leash -- not abolishing them, but keeping them in check.

From 1780 to 1910, corporations served the public good at the pleasure of the granting authority. Legislators routinely revoked corporate charters, or allowed the charter to expire and corporations to be dissolved -- at any time when the public's representatives determined that a corporation had failed the test of "serving the public good." History is full of experiments of privately funded roads and postal services that failed to meet the criterion of "serving the public good."

Hartmann says that corporations have done much good in the world, but does not advocate doing away with them. Instead, they need to be reined in and set in their rightful place. There are other ways to exchange goods and earn wealth besides corporation as they now exist.

The problems associated with corporate power need to be fixed by democratic action and citizen involvement. In California and Pennsylvania, citizens have stood up and, through local and state governments, begun to pass laws that deny corporations the status of personhood. Reclaimdemocracy.org is a group working toward a constitutional amendment to mandate that the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments apply only to "natural" persons, not corporate ones. They state that the gradual extension of human rights to corporations is one of the most important factors in the corporate takeover of our resources, our political system, and our cultural life.

For more information on corporate personhood, go to Thom Hartmann at: http://thomhartmann.com

Side Notes:

It's about time that the folks who support the "Small is Beautiful" saying add on another one: "Small Makes Sense." Take, for example, a methane generating plant that produces electricity from garbage. Many people today would rather invest in this smaller type of plant than put money into a refinery. There's nothing wrong with making money but we need to be socially responsible in how we invest capital.

Part 1. Section 5. THE HISTORY OF PLUNDER: AT HOME AND ABROAD

2009-06-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

The American Revolution, the Constitution and Shays Rebellion: Historically, there has always been tension between agrarian and mercantile interests in the U.S. Over time, the business, banking, and corporate machines prevailed over the agrarians. For example, the Tyson Corporation which controls poultry and pork production in the US has replaced independent farmers in producing and marketing poultry and pork. Many farmers are little more than tenants under Tyson contracts.

In order to understand our history, it's useful to review the time of the American Revolution and the conflict between the cash-based mercantile economy and the barter-based, inland, agrarian economy. Some historians see this as a clash between the values of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.

Shays Rebellion: Due to mismanagement, the mercantile (business) class had rung up huge post-revolutionary war debt owned the British. They were holding an excess of imported goods they couldn't sell. What occurred is that they called in the debt owed them by the smaller rural merchants, who were then forced to require cash payments from farmers rather than taking bartered goods or services. Many small farmers in western Massachusetts were forced to sell their land, often at less than one-third of fair market value. Loss of their property reduced many farmers to poverty. It also meant they might lose their right to vote since suffrage was often tied to property ownership.

Calling themselves "Regulators," men from all over western and central Massachusetts began to agitate for change to a more democratic system. Initial disturbances were mostly peaceful and centered primarily on freeing jailed farmers from debtors' prisons. Daniel Shays met other farmers at Conkey's Tavern in Pelham, Massachusetts, where he vented his anger calling on the farmers to rebel. Eventually, the farmers revolted as they were losing their farms and way of life. Shays, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War, led the charge in what was the last great stand of the agrarian class in the country.

In response, the mercantile class crushed the rebellion with their own armies. Shays and his followers were defeated on February 3, 1787. He and many of the leaders of the rebellion escaped across the border to Vermont where they were sheltered by prominent Vermonters such as Ethan Allen. Samuel Adams, once a great advocate of the American Revolution, called for death for the farmers.

The rebellion was closely watched by the nation's leaders. George Washington came out of retirement, seeing a need for a stronger central government. The lack of a central government response to the uprising energized calls to re-evaluate the Articles of Confederation, giving strong support for the Constitutional Congress, begun in May 1787. Shays Rebellion is considered to be a turning point in American history, as it sparked the drive for a constitution. This document places the army, commerce, the money supply, and the judicial system in the hands of the federal government. This marked the beginning of the end for the barter-based, agrarian economy.

Source: wikipedia.org.

Trade as Plunder

The tension between farmers and mercantile interests began long before Shays Rebellion in 1787. At the time leading up to the American Revolution, England plundered her colonies. The king's corporation did not permit the profitable enterprise of farming or other enterprises of farming in the colonies.

In 1700, the English Parliament decreed that no wool, yarn, cloth or manufactured goods should come from America. In America farmers were free to sell their products, unlike Europe's peasants who were exploited. Soon the same phenomena of exploitation happened in the American south with the slave trade and cotton production.

During this period, great wealth passed into the hands of British merchants and manufacturers. America's domestic industries, such as shoemaking and rope making were suspended. The colonial market was flooded with British goods. Prices fell. Without domestic trade, laborers went idle, and without earnings, their property declined in value.

Source:

The information on Trade as Plunder came from the writing of Charles Walters. Unforgiven - The American System Sold for Debt and War. Acres U.S.A.

The Rights of Conquest: In 1600, the exploitation of people and natural resources began with England's conquest of the world. Queen Elizabeth gave a royal charter to the East India Company that was given a monopoly over all British trade, including trade in the American colonies. The company was based in part on the philosophy of John Locke, "the rights of conquest." The East India Company founded Haileybury College for the purpose of running the empire. It trained soldiers, businessmen, and missionaries. The East India Company rose to dominate world trade by the mid-18th century.

Robert Malthus, philosopher and minister of Christian doctrine was an influential teacher who theorized that the planet would soon be overpopulated, that some life is superfluous and that farming could not feed everyone if the population continued to increase. In 1805, Malthus became Britain's first professor in political history at Haileyburg College.

Malthus was followed by Charles Darwin in the mid 19th century who argued for the "survival of the fittest." This philosophy helped to set the Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese and English on a course of conquest for every inch of land on earth. In the U.S., we called it our "Manifest Destiny" as we conquered the West.

Side Notes:

Conquest Revisited: The 2008 economic crisis in the U.S. reminds me in some ways of how the British empire subjected the colonials to economic exploitation. In this case the corporate world has taken the place of Great Britain and are exploiting its citizens as well as other peoples around the world. Most corporations pay no or very few taxes and have all kinds of tax write-offs. At the same time, the middle class continues to carry the tax burden, over-consume material goods, save little and build up credit card debt.

We have become a nation of consumers rather than producers while millions of factory workers are being laid off and corporations such as Wal-Mart are exploiting cheap foreign labor to produce their products. Add to this our continued dependence on foreign oil from the Middle East and the billions of dollars in loans from China that support our mounting annual deficits.

One author, Andrew J. Bacevich, speaks to these issues in a real way. He has written a number of books including The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War and his recent book, The Limits of Power; The End of American Exceptionalism, with an epitaph taken from the bible; "Put thine house in order." Bacevich says we must confront our consumerism, give up our messianic dream of controlling the world and cease our efforts to coerce history in a particular direction.

Bacevich takes some of his message from the theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, when he says that not only must we understand the limits of what a government -- and its military -- can accomplish, but we must resist the temptation to guide history towards some perceived purpose or end.

Part 1. Section 6. THE LOSS OF VEGETABLE AND FRUIT VARIETIE

2009-06-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

VEGETABLES

According to the Rural Advancement Foundation International, 75 types of vegetables or about 97 percent of varieties available in 1900, have become extinct. Only 3 percent of varieties have survived in the last 80 years.

. Peas - There were 2,500 varieties of peas. Now, 2 types of peas occupy 96 percent of commercial production.

. Tomatoes - 80.6 percent of varieties were lost from 1903 to 1983. Tomatoes could not be grown commercially without the disease resistance varieties developed from wild species.

. Lettuce - 92.8 percent of lettuce varieties were lost between 1903 to 1983. Most lettuce grown today is of the head Iceberg variety, those heavy-duty indestructible cannonballs.

. Potatoes - There were once 5,000 varieties worldwide. Today, there are 4 major commercial varieties.

. Corn - 90.8 percent of field corn varieties have been lost from 1903 to 1983. 96.1 percent of sweet corn varieties have been lost. Field Corn is grown on about 80 million acres, more than 1/5 of U.S. farmland. About 60 percent of field corn comes from genetically modified seed, which means we are eating lots of genetically engineered foods.

Much of the corn grown today has DNA of Bt, a natural insecticide, inserted into its genes. The recently recalled StarLink corn was a Bt variety. StarLink was approved only for animal consumption because it is a possible allergen. Despite this ban, it was found on supermarket shelves in Taco Bell taco shells and other corn products about 4 years ago. Most of the sweetener in everything from Coke to pastries comes from corn syrup.

Two percent of corn used in the U.S. goes directly to feeding people, 19 percent goes into processed foods like corn syrup and chips and 75 percent is used to feed livestock. More than two-thirds of all the cereal grains are consumed by animals.

David Pimental of Cornell has determined that the U.S. could adequately feed 800 million people with grain used in livestock production, ironically, the same number of people that go hungry every day.

FRUITS

. Apples - There were 7,000 named varieties in the last century. By the dawn of the 21st century, 85 percent had been lost. Just a couple apple varieties account for 90 percent of the apple crop sold in the United States. And these apples aren't the best- tasting varieties; they are easy to ship and look good on the supermarket shelves, but ...

The most popular apples in the U.S. are: Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith, McIntosh, Rome, Ida Red, Jonathan, and Empire. Washington State grows 60 percent of the 250 million bushels of apples grown annually in the U.S.

. two apple varieties account for more than half of the U.S. apple crop.

. 14 percent of apple farms account for 83 percent of the apple harvest.

. 7 percent of pear farms account for 61 percent of the pear harvest

. 4 percent of peach farms grow 60 percent of the peach harvest.

Source:

This information was taken from Fatal Harvest, The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture, Island Press, 2000, edited by Andrew Kimbrel.

Part 1. Section 7. ORGANIC STATISTICS PLUS

2009-06-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

Organic Retail Sales Growth 1997-2004:

. About 10 percent of organic food shoppers are regulars. One third of the population purchases organic foods.

. Organic food makes up the fastest-growing segment of the market.

The total grocery industry sales in the U.S. comes to $540 billion and grows about 2 percent a year.

. The five largest organic market categories are:

Produce - 20 percent

Soy beverages - 12 percent

Milk - 19 percent

Frozen meals - 21 percent

Yogurt - 22 percent

The five largest growing organic market categories are:

chicken, nut bars, tea, aseptic juice, canned fruit and vegetables.

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. 70 percent of frequent buyers are female.

. 37 percent have children at home.

. 33 percent of occasional buyers are between the ages of 40-59.

. The mean income for frequent organic buyers is $43,280

and occasional buyers is $50,240.

. 31 percent of frequent buyers make under $15,000 yearly.

. The average cost of organic foods is 25 to 40 percent higher than the cost for food produced on conventional, chemical farms.

Source: Organic Trade Association

PART II. Section 1. VERMONT SCHOOL FOOD PRODUCTS, PROGRAMS, STATS AND QUESTIONS

2009-06-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

The sale of Vermont-grown and processed foods represents a small amount of the overall sales of food to Vermont schools. This is beginning to change as more schools are purchasing local foods. The state of Vermont is supporting this effort and the Farm Bill of 2008 is providing more funds for local farm-to-school programs. Here is a breakdown on some local agricultural products sold in schools.

(The Farm Bill of 2008 is a separate authorizing bill. It will address the food commodity allotment program but not the lunch and breakfast reimbursement. Every five years the federal government must re-authorize the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. They were re-authorized in 2004 and included the requirement that school districts adopt a school wellness policy. The programs will be re-authorized in 2009.)

Vermont Stats:

. 101,000 students attend school up to the 12th grade.

. $30 million is spent on food in Vermont schools.

. $22 million comes from local school districts and meal payments

. $8 million comes from the federal government

. The average cost to prepare a school lunch was $2.26 in 2003.

. 44 percent of that went for the food itself.

. Students were charged an average of $1.56 per lunch.

. Of the 51 percent of students who participated in the lunch program, 60 percent paid full price, 10 percent paid reduced

price and 29 percent got free lunches.

. The cost of school meals is subsidized significantly by the free

food provided to schools through the USDA's Commodity Food Program.

. The overall sale of Vermont products to all schools includes $3 million in milk sales, $105,000 in fresh fruits and vegetables and $120,000-$144,000 in cheese and yogurt.

Dairy: Fluid milk dominates Vermont food sales in the schools. Most of this milk originates on Vermont farms. Cheese and yogurt sales are a different story as no more than 10-12 percent of school cheese sales originate with Vermont producers. Over half of the roughly $1.2 million worth of cheese comes through the USDA Commodity Program. Only about $50,000 of the $628,000 in commodity cheese came from Vermont. Virtually all non-commodity cheese and yogurt sales come through food wholesalers by way of the Cabot Dairy Co-op.

Fruits: Apples and apple cider account for roughly 40 percent or $160,000 of all fresh fruit purchases by Vermont schools. At most, a quarter of these purchases come from Vermont farms. Virtually all of the $40,000 spent on Vermont fresh fruit goes for apples. Roughly half of these Vermont apples come through wholesale distributors, with the other half coming from direct sales. In 2004-2005, the DoD Fresh Program distributed $37,862 worth of apples to Vermont. Very few Vermont apples came from the Green Mountains.

Vegetables: Local fresh vegetables purchased by schools include relatively small amounts of lettuce, tomatoes, cukes, and other vegetables. About $32,000 of these products are provided to the schools through wholesalers. Direct purchases of local vegetables range from $17,500 to $32,000 per year.

The Burlington School System alone purchased $5,200 in fresh vegetables in 2004-05 and received 300 pounds of donated vegetables. The DoD Fresh Program distributed $11,523 in vegetables to Vermont schools in 2004-05. None of them came from Vermont.

Vermont Nutrition Standards

According to Jo Busha of the Vermont Department of Education's Child Nutrition Program, changes are taking place in school nutrition programs throughout the state. Food staff are being trained in how to prepare local foods and how to deal with cost issues of using local foods. Once the food staff begins to use local foods, they develop a sort of brand loyalty. In other words, local foods become institutionalized into the school culture. Some schools are beginning to use CSA's as a way to purchase produce.

The Child Nutrition Program oversees school food programs in Vermont following the federal nutrition guidelines and making suggestions to the schools on how to follow the guidelines. It's up to the schools to implement those suggestions.

2005 National Dietary Guidelines and Wellness Policies

In 2005, the dietary guidelines for all Americans were revised into a "New Food Pyramid." Currently, the USDA nutrition service is looking into whether schools need to adapt to the 2005 guidelines by using more fruits, vegetables and whole grains in place of processed carbs and bad fats.

Under these guidelines, schools are expected to adopt wellness policies that address nutrition education and physical activity and establish nutrition guidelines for their food services and school stores. School districts in each state are supposed to be implementing the federal guidelines.

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans is more flexible than earlier ones. Rather than a hard and fast 30 percent of calories from fat, a range of 25 to 35 percent is used, with the idea of using fewer trans and saturated fats. The question of whether the USDA will ban trans fat is still undecided.

If you have any questions about nutrition requirements, check with Jo Busha, Vermont Department of Education Child Nutrition Program 120 State Street

Montpelier, VT 05620

(802) 828-5154

You can also receive information from:

The Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger

www.vtnohunger.org (802) 865-0255

Questions:

How many students are served breakfast and lunch and what are the costs?

In the 2005-06 school year, 96,000 students were enrolled in Vermont schools and 29 percent received free or reduced-price meals. Every day, schools in Vermont serve lunch to more than 50,000 students at a yearly cost of over $31 million; 52,084 lunches are served daily.

From 1994 to 2004, 52 percent of students participated in the school lunch program. Of these, 60 percent paid full price, 10 percent paid reduced price and 29 percent of Vermont's children qualified for free lunches. Of the students who don't eat the school lunch, some bring their own, some leave school to eat, and others use the a' la carte program or school store or simply skip lunch.

Schools charge for meals depending on ability to pay. Poor children are eligible for free meals and after school snacks. In 2002-03, a household of four with an annual income of $23,530

or less was eligible for free school lunches for the children.

In the 2005-06 school year, 19,223 Vermont students ate breakfast.

In 2001 and 2002, about 17 percent of Vermont students ate breakfast prepared by the school. The average breakfast costs $1.58.

How many schools participate in the federal food programs?

As of the 2005-06 school year, 16 out of 321 Vermont schools did not offer the federal National School Lunch Program and 30 did not take part in the School Breakfast Program.

What About Non-Cafeteria Food?

Eighty-eight percent of Vermont students purchase snack foods, soft drinks, or "fruit drinks" (not 100 percent juice) from vending machines or school stores. Non-cafeteria food sold through vending machines and school food stores often compete with school meal programs. Funds from those sources may help support the school meal program or athletic programs, PTO's, school clubs and or special events.

How much money is spent on food in Vermont and how does this break down?

The cost of the food that goes into Vermont schools averages about $1.00 a meal served. This includes all direct and wholesale purchases as well as commodity foods.

Costs break down as follows:

. 15 cents goes for fruits and vegetables,

. 24 cents buys fresh milk,

. 36 cents goes into all other protein sources except milk, and

. 25 cents goes into all carbohydrate-based foods.

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Total Food Budget

. Roughly $14 million of the total food budget is spent on food.

. $ 31 is million spent overall.

-----------------------------------

. 43 percent -- food costs

. 48 percent -- labor

. 3 percent -- supplies

. 5 percent -- other expenses.

Who pays?

Of the $31 million school lunch and breakfast program costs in Vermont, about $22 million comes from local school district funds and meal payments. $8 million comes from federal reimbursements. The state of Vermont is required to provide 5 percent matching funds for each meal that is federally reimbursed, for a total of $600,000.

The federal government requires about 5 cents a meal for lunches with matching funds. The Vermont legislature gives money each year voluntarily to subsidize school breakfasts, -- $200,000, which provides about 3 cents per breakfast.

The National School Lunch and Breakfast Program provides 38 percent of the cost of Vermont school meal programs through reimbursements for free and reduced-cost meals and snacks to low-income students.

In 2002-03, reimbursement rates to Vermont schools were: $0.22, $0.87, and $1.17 for paid, reduced, and free breakfasts, respectively, and $0.20, $1.74, and $2.14 for paid, reduced and free lunches, and $0.05, $0.29, and $0.58 for paid, reduced and free snacks. Schools identified as having a "severe need" get an additional $0.23 reimbursement for free and reduced breakfasts.

How do schools qualify?

In order to quality for federal school food programs, schools must participate in the School Nutrition Program administered by the Vermont Department of Education's Child Nutrition Program. This means they have to follow food service guidelines and fulfill record keeping and reporting requirements. They're then eligible for Federal and State reimbursement of lunch and breakfast program costs.

* There is a ton of information available on nutrition guidelines. Check out the American School Food Service Association at: www.asfsa.org

Where does the federal food come from?

Fourteen percent comes from USDA seasonable and perishable food commodities. The USDA donated $1.7 million in commodity foods to VT schools as part of the National School Lunch Program in 2004. Commodities include products like flour, pastas, rice, meat, and fruits and vegetables, which are limited. In 2004, The Department of Defense (DoD) Fresh Program provided a little over $92,000 in fresh produce to Vermont School Food Authorities.

Most of the food provided to schools comes from food distributors, food jobbers and wholesale grocers. Now and then, fruits and vegetables come from local farmers. This is beginning to increase.

In Vermont, 86 percent of food is distributed through the Burlington Food Service, U.S. Food Service and Sysco. Produce comes from the Burlington Food Service, Black River Produce, and Squash Valley. Schools make fewer than 5 percent of purchases directly from local farms, food-makers, and retailers.

How do the school food service programs work?

School food programs in Vermont are as diverse as the towns and cities in which they are located. Some schools buy and prepare food independently, under the direction of a school cook or food service director. Others contract with food service management companies that have their own contracts with food distributors.

Who prepares the school food?

About half of Vermont's students eat in schools with independent meal sites staffed by school district employees. One-third of students receive meals from companies contracted to manage school food programs, such as Sodexho-Marriott of Maryland (31 percent), Abbey Group of Vermont (31 percent), and Cafe Services of New Hampshire (27 percent).

Some small schools contract with nearby schools who have larger kitchens. Food service companies like Sodexho-Marriott are hired by local school boards to manage the food program right in the school. They hire the staff, prepare the food, and serve the children.

Foods Being Served: Two Models

Actual

• hamburger patty on purchased white bun

• second serving of fruit and vegetables

• instant mashed potatoes purchased through distributor

• chocolate cake

Possible

• hamburger patty on purchased USDA commodities whole wheat roll with Vermont grown lettuce and tomatoes

• second serving of fruit and vegetables

• roasted red potatoes grown locally and acquired through Dept. of Defense Fresh Program

• zucchini bread with local farm purchased Vermont syrup and USDA commodity eggs and flour

How many Vermont students are overweight and obese?

More than a quarter of Vermont's high school students are overweight or at risk of being overweight. This parallels a survey of the Vermont Department of Health, which estimated that 26 percent of Vermont children are overweight or at the risk of being overweight.

The Past and the Present

About 15 years ago, a typical school lunch in Vermont consisted of one option: a tray with two ounces of meat or meal substitute such as peanut butter, one serving of bread or grains, two servings of fruits and vegetables totaling three-quarters of a cup, and a half-pint of milk. Those requirements were mandated by the federal government. Today, more fruits, vegetables, and grains are required, and children can choose an alternative plan that meets new nutrient standards.

About 10 years ago, Vermont schools began making changes to reduce fat, sodium and sugar in meals provided by the schools, while increasing the amount of fruits, vegetables and grains. Some schools have made radical changes, and others have done just enough to meet state and federal standards.

In 2005, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and the Departments of Education and Health drafted Nutrition and Fitness Policy Guidelines that set the nutritional bar much higher than had the federal government. These guidelines were based on a policy model that is available to schools. Nothing is mandated by the state.

Some of the recommendations for a la carte or vending machine sales include the following: juice must contain at least 50 percent fruit juice, and the juice serving size must be no greater than 12 ounces; low- fat or non-fat milk must contain not more than 340 calories, and portion size should be no larger than 16 ounces; cheese portions should be no larger than 2 ounces.

Changes today include salad and deli bars, as well as taste testing new recipes and food service providers are getting creative and incorporating healthier foods. Local zucchini can go into pasta sauce without being detected. Processed chicken patties might be served on a whole-wheat bun.

Nicolle Fournier is the Abbey Group's district manager at the Winooski High School cafeteria. (The Abbey Group is one of five food-service companies in Vermont.) Today, the pizza at the high school is made with whole wheat crust and the milk is low-fat. French fries don't go on sale until the last ten minutes of lunch, with the hope that students fill up on more healthful items first. And the fruit slush is made with 100 percent juice. Fournier sees many changes ahead. She admits it's not easy winning over the taste buds of teenagers, but younger children are becoming accustomed to a healthier variety of foods.

Side Notes:

In My Own Backyard: Let's look at a school that didn't use the federal breakfast program. Students could choose either chocolate-filled Pop Tarts, doughnuts, and a non-dairy chocolate drink, or a healthy breakfast of 8 ounces of milk, 1-2 ounces of toast or cereal and a half cup of fruit. Such a school was in my own town of South Burlington where 23 percent of the kids come from poor families even though South Burlington is an affluent, up-scale suburban community. This is not an anomaly. Poor kids are often marginalized in middle and upper class communities.

In the winter of 2004, the South Burlington school board changed its stance and allowed the breakfast program to go into effect. It took a strong effort by community leaders and advocates. Before this, when students couldn't afford the 50 cents for a breakfast bagel and cream cheese, teachers or other staff often covered the cost themselves. One school principal said, "We never let a child go hungry." She wanted her school to participate in the federal breakfast program.

In 2005, it cost the city of South Burlington $20,000 for the breakfast program. Many well-run breakfast programs in school systems the size of South Burlington break even or actually make money. Many school boards in Vermont contract with large food service companies like Marriott and Abbey. The companies bill the schools, which bill the Federal Food Child Nutrition Program. For the most part, school breakfast and lunch programs pay for themselves but not in all cases as stated above. Each state provides money for the food school programs.

Part II. Section 2. VERMONT FEED - FOOD EDUCATION EVERY DAY

2009-06-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

The FEED project began in 1999 when three non-profit educational organizations -- the Northeast Organic Farming Association, of Vermont, Shelburne Farms and Food Works -- began to address what is now being called "America's Quiet Crisis." Its team of nutrition educators, teachers, gardeners, and farmers created a hands-on food, farm, and nutrition initiative called, Food Education Every Day.

. FEED approaches school cafeterias through the Three C's: connecting Curriculum with surrounding Communities and school Cafeterias. The three C's are critical to shifting school food to local, healthy, high-quality meals.

. FEED works closely with the Vermont Department of Education and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture to facilitate discussions about the inclusion of local products in the federal commodities offered to Vermont schools. FEED was instrumental in helping to pass legislation for farm-to-school programs.

. FEED sets up ongoing workshops to work with educators and food-service staff on ways of using Vermont-grown produce and Vermont food products in school lunches, while educating students and their families about nutrition. The idea is to create connections between food, what's taught in the classroom, and what goes on in the community.

. One of the necessary ingredients in the FEED program is the collaboration that takes place between parent volunteers, teachers, cafeteria workers, school nurses, nutritionists, and state health/ agriculture/education officials.

. Grant money pays for training of food service managers to learn about nutrition and how to prepare local foods. Many cooks are used to opening cans of vegetables or soup when making lunch. It's quite a switch to learn how to use fresh, local tomatoes, garlic, onions, peppers, and basil to make soup.

The grants also provide money for school-to-farm visits, books, community presentations and garden supplies, as well as support for programs on local farm life and history, and school gardens.

Now in its sixth year and tenth school, Vermont FEED is busy working in many rural communities.

What Has Been Learned Through FEED - Keys to Success:

. Food Service workers and teachers can give students taste tests for different kinds of foods. Students can pass out food samples at snack time or lunch. It works best when students are involved in preparing the food and staffing the tasting table. Students can be the strongest advocates of the program.

. Fresh fruits and vegetables are offered to schools through the USDA Food Commodity system. These foods could also be tested as they appear school lunches.

. Schools could mix the more expensive whole foods and fresh foods with commodity foods. For example, a brown rice pilaf with seasonal produce like zucchini and carrots could be combined with commodity rice and raisins.

. Schools could purchase produce "seconds," which means produce that has a blemish, from local vegetable farmers at reduced prices. And they could purchase lots of zucchini in season, grate it and freeze it for a winter of muffins and cakes.

. Schools could purchase a regular weekly or monthly share of vegetables from a local CSA (community supported agriculture) farm. Because schools would sign up for that service in advance, the farmer could afford to sell the produce at a lower price in some cases. Also, in some cases, local food co-ops give discounts to schools when food is bought in large quantities.

. If local produce is purchased in season, when the prices are more competitive, it would not usually be cost prohibitive. Vermont food distributors have also made a commitment to provide local produce to schools whenever possible.

Source:

Information about FEED and farm-to-school programs came from a comprehensive 35-page booklet entitled Impact Assessment of Vermont Farm2School Program (April 2006) - Prepared for the Vermont FEED Partnership, Richmond, Vermont. The booklet was put together by John Ryan of Developmental Cycles of Amherst, Massachusetts, who used a variety of sources including interviews with state and federal officials overseeing aspects of the school food programs, school food administrators, wholesale food distributors, farmers, and food service managers.

Ryan also drew upon information provided by the Vermont Department of Education, the Vermont Department of Children and Families, the 2002 U.S. Census and a review of farm-to-school programs elsewhere in the U.S. Much of the focus is on Vermont FEED and the impact of efforts to increase the level of Vermont farm involvement in the school food system.

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Part II. of the report by Ryan focused on the key challenges to increasing Vermont food purchases and local farm-to-school partnerships, including: the distribution network, food preparation time, equipment and skill training, student preferences, product availability and price comparability.

There were a number of farm-to-school recommendations, including:

increasing state commodity efforts to highlight the availability of Vermont apples through DoD program. This would also apply to Vermont-grown carrots, potatoes, winter squash and onions, encouraging Vermont's legislative delegation to lobby for a doubling of Vermont's allocation from the DoD Fresh Program.

FEED has a working relationship with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture in getting fresh local products into the schools through the federal Food Commodity Program. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture calls on FEED to answer questions and FEED works with the agency on systemic school-food issues.

All of the FEED partners are part of Ag in the Classroom. AITC doesn't work in school cafeterias or provide services. It is basically a clearinghouse of information and resources for teachers about agricultural education. It networks and brings together the various Ag Ed resources and shares them with its members.

Agriculture In The Classroom (AITC)

AITC is a partnership of many Ag educational organizations including the three FEED partners (NOFA, Food Works and Shelburne Farms), the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and the University of Vermont.

* For a compilation of state school food program reports from across the nation, federal policies, other resources, and evaluation tools, check out www.farmtoschool.org.

H456 - The Vermont Farm-to-School Bill

The intent of the act was to provide aid and incentives to local school districts, state agencies, and farmers to:

. serve food to Vermont students and adults that is fresh and as nutritious as possible;

. maximize use of fresh locally grown, produced, and processed foods;

. educate students about healthy eating habits through nutrition education, including hands-on techniques to make connections between farming and the food the students consume;

. increase the size and stability of farmers' direct sales;

. increase school meal preparation by increasing the selection of foods available.

Those playing the major roles included Vermont FEED Program, Vermont Department of Education, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food-Service Personnel, Local School Districts and Vermont Food Venture Center.

In 2006, $240,000 was appropriated, with $125,000 going for mini-grants, such as food-processing equipment like industrial bread mixers and vegetable shredders. In addition to the mini-grants, $25,000 helped train food service staff, teachers and farmers. The workshops were open to anyone who could attend and covered subjects such as how to prepare local food in school kitchens and how to get farmers involved in farm-to-school programs.

An assessment of H 456 was completed in January 2006 and presented to the legislature in order to secure more funding in 2007. At this time. Farm-To-School funding was made permanent with an appropriation of $85,000. The amount will vary each year depending on the availability of state funds.

All of the $85,000 in 2007 went for mini-grants. A school or a school district can apply for up to $15,000 in mini-grants. They can also request a lesser amount. This is a competitive grant process. A school may request more training for their food staff; they may hire someone to develop closer ties with local farmers and how to bring more local food into the schools.

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Vermont FEED (Food Education Every Day), played a pivotal role in implementing H 456. FEED consists of three educational groups: the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, Food Works and Shelburne Farms. Some schools contracted with Vermont FEED as a fee-for-service provider to train the food workers in how to use local produce, prepare food from scratch, and develop taste tests with students. The training fee is $250 a day. This can be prohibitive for some schools even though the rate the schools pay FEED is low as they make up the difference by writing grants. The long-term goal of FEED is to empower schools to take more control of their food systems.

* Check out the Farm2School initiative publication in Vermont. You may receive a copy by going on the web at www.VTFEED.org or calling (802)-434-4122.

Part II. Section 3. OTHER SUCCESSFUL URBAN AND RURAL FARM-TO-SCHOOL MODELS

2009-06-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

Two Brattleboro Urban Models: The Healthy Snack Initiative and

Feed Your Head

Instead of eating sugary treats and oily chips during morning snack time, students in the Brattleboro area are making their own snacks using fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains and dairy products. As the students chop, mix and cook the snacks, they learn what goes into the foods and how to identity what's healthy. They also learn good social skills in the process.

The Healthy Snack Initiative is a collaboration between the Brattleboro Food Co-op and local school administrators and teachers. Before the initiative, a typical snack consisted of two bags of Cheetos and a fruit rollup. The "sugar rush" that came from these snacks was obvious to Kate Bailey, the educator and outreach coordinator for the Brattleboro Co-op. In reference to the healthy snacks, Baily says, "The kids learn good manners, such as sharing and getting seconds, and they learn how to work together. The children enjoy serving each other and being the `snack helper'- "for the day."

The second model is called "Feed Your Head." It provides free in-class projects in grades K-8 on topics such as: healthy snacks, good carbs/bad carbs, sugar, and local farms and food. The Brattleboro Co-op also provides discounts on fresh produce to schools and to individual classroom teachers who want to provide more healthy snacks and establish a salad bar.

Rural Models

In Alburgh, Jennifer Mitchell, the school's kitchen manager set up taste tests as part of FEED. She tried different grains: (brown rice, millet, and barley); fresh vegetables (including green and purple cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower); fresh fruits; various kinds of beans. Based on student responses, she featured some of the foods in school lunches. Ever hear of millet and vegetable salad?

In Ferrisburgh, the elementary school developed a closed-loop food system. The cafeteria buys local produce from area farmers, the food scraps are composted, and then the compost is added to the school garden for growing food for the cafeteria. They grew tomatoes in the school garden, which Kathy Alexander, the food service director, processed and froze to add to pasta sauce.

In the small town of Greensboro in the Northeast Kingdom, the Lakeview Union School has a raised-bed school garden and is planning on building a root cellar. Linda Aiken, the school principal, told me that funds for the root cellar will come from Vermont Farm-to-School Program. She said the school needs a place to store root crops and other vegetables. The custodian is a key player. He built grow-lab structures for each one of the classrooms and is now involved with the root-cellar project as are teachers, parents and the food staff. The goal is to build the structure over the summer of 2008.

The Westminster Central School has a snack program in two multi-age K-4 classrooms, where children prepare healthy foods, as well as grow some of their own food in a large garden with the help of a neighboring organic vegetable farmer. Teacher Irene Canaris developed the program and has successfully integrated it into the classroom curriculum for the past 15 years. One classroom has a fully equipped kitchen. Many children expanded their diets to include healthy items they would not otherwise have tried.

Part II. Section 4. VERMONT HUNGER STATISTICS, INFORMATION AND PROGRAMS

2009-06-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

2003-2005 US Census - 3-year Average:

. 15 percent of Vermont children are overweight or obese.

. About 90 percent of public schools in Vermont offer federal breakfast and lunch programs, but many families don't participate because they don't know they're eligible for the program.

. In 2006, 29,000 children received free or reduced-cost meals in Vermont schools, according to Robert Dostis of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger. When you include their younger siblings, who are not in school, that comes to 42,000 children who are eligible for federally subsidized summer meals. Only about 5,000 of those children have access to a summer program, because few communities offer one or because their parents are unable to get them to the program.

For more information, contact the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger at dkeeney@vtnohunger.org.

Most states have similar programs.

Other Sets of Statistic on Hunger in Vermont, 2005

. Vermont's food shelf caseload grew by 23 percent between 2003 and 2005. The caseload averages 10,379 households per month, but the volume exceeds that because 76 percent of the food shelves serve some households more than once a month.

. The average number of prepared meals served monthly by community kitchens grew by 6 percent, largely due to the creation of six new meal sites.

. 54 percent of food shelves that were active in 2003 have larger caseloads today. A 28 percent increase in the number of families with minor children using food shelves contributed to the caseload growth. These families now represent 51 percent of the food shelf caseload.

. Over half of the households dependent on food shelves are families with children. An average of 11,437 children are fed from food shelves each month, a 21 percent increase over two years. Different families use the food shelves each month, so the total number of children whose families risk or experience food shortages is probably significantly greater.

. 8,400 households visited Vermont's emergency food shelves each month on average during 2002. One quarter of these people were the elderly. For all populations, this was an increase of 16 percent over 2001.

. In 1990, Vermont had 70 emergency food shelves. In 2005, that number was 134. In 1990, there were 14 community kitchens. That increased to 31 in 2005.

. Community Kitchens are serving an average of 22,716 prepared meals a month. 8 percent are going to children, and 23 percent are being served to people over the age of 65.

Most of the money that goes to the food shelves comes from donated funds from the local community. Thousands of pounds of vegetables and fruits are also donated from local farmers. Other food comes from the supermarkets. Vermonters are providing nearly $8.9 million in food services each year to food shelves and community kitchens. This is based on data from a 2003 survey, which counted only certain food services. It did not account for federal meal programs or donations from Vermont merchants.

In addition, the Vermont Foodbank of Barre sends several million pounds of food to local food shelves throughout the state each year. In 2004, the Foodbank sent about 4,250 tons of food to local agencies, an increase of 30 percent over 2003. Food shelves have the wholesale cost for this food.

Despite the increase, the demand is growing. According to Deborah Flateman, the former Vermont Foodbank director, "We're seeing more people who are actually working who are in need of assistance." Flateman said an estimated 140,000 people used the charitable food distribution system at some point during the year. Vermont has a population of around 623,000.

Source of Stats:

Report from a 2005 survey of Vermont Food Shelves and Community Kitchens: Vermont Department for Children and Families

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* It is estimated that the cost of obesity is $141 million in health problems a year in Vermont.

Vermont Food Commodity Program - Vermont's commodity food program is coordinated by the Department for Children and Families in Waterbury, where the federal food commodities are processed and distributed. The central warehouse is located at LuckyDay in Plainfield. Commercial food distributors pick-up and transport the commodity foods to the schools as well as individuals that provide this service to single and groups of schools, as well as child care centers.

Another federal commodity program provides fresh produce to the schools through the USDA and the Department of Defense (DoD). Forty-two schools participate. In some states, local produce is used but very little local produce is purchased other than apples now and then in Vermont. The cost of those items is subtracted from the school's total commodity entitlement ? . In the future, it might be more difficult to procure local fresh fruits and vegetables under DoD as there will be just one central federal food coordinator instead of the current system of regional coordinators. Bureaucracy rolls on.

In 2001-2002, Vermont spent over $79,000 of their DoD funds for apples, potatoes, peeled baby carrots, oranges, lettuce, and kiwi. In 2006, that figure was closer to $95,000. The amount of Vermont products purchased was minuscule. Schools receive about 10 to 15 percent of their food on average in federal food commodities. Local produce and food products come out of school budgets.

Source:

Some of the above information came from Vern Grubinger, Overview Of School Food In Vermont, a report for the University of Vermont Extension and the Center for Sustainable Agriculture, September 2004.

* Please note - Food Pantries and Food Kitchens are managed by community members and churches, not by the USDA.

Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger

www.vtnohunger.org (802) 865-0255 email: vtcech@vthunger.org

The Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger is a non-profit member supported organization working to eliminate hunger in Vermont. Founded on the belief that no child should ever go hungry, VTCECH is committed to protecting children from the risk and experience of hunger. The agency helps communities initiate or expand school breakfast, lunch, and summer meal programs; offers classes to teach low-income parents to plan, shop for, and prep for nutritious meals with a limited budget; trains people who are working on the front lines to feed the hungry. VTCECH'S education and advocacy work addresses hunger on local, state and national levels.

The Campaign has a number of projects that address the hunger issue, including the following:

. Assisting schools in establishing school breakfast programs

650 more students participated in breakfast programs in 2006 in previous years.

. Expanding access and participation in the Food Stamp Program - There was a 5 percent increase in the program in 2006.

. Helping community groups provide nutritious meals to low-income children in the summer when school is not in session.

. Ensuring that infants and young children receive the nutrition they need to grow and develop when they are enrolled in early child care - whether they are in child care centers or home-based child care facilities. 4,500 children participated in the Child Care Food Program.

. Improving food security for parents, young adults and youth by providing classes that teach the skills necessary to make nutritious food choices, as well as providing instruction in meal planning, budgeting, shopping and cooking. This program is called Cooking For Life. In 2006, there were 58 six-week classes with 633 low-income participants in 42 locations statewide.

Side Notes:

Some people play the blame game with poor families rather than helping them make responsible food choices like the Cooking For Life program.

Part II. Section 5. MORE ON COWS, CORN, SUGAR AND OBESITY

2009-06-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

For thousands of years, cows have roamed the range, converting grass's protein into milk and meat. Just look at the American Buffalo, that great animal we killed by the millions.

By the time modern American cows (mature female cattle) are six months old, they've had their last blades of grass. We then feed them on a ration of corn and put them in giant pens (feedlots) along with thousands of other cows. These enclosures are giant meat factories.

We're taking cows which once lived four or five years and shortening their life span to fourteen months or less. It doesn't take long for cows, on a corn ration, to grow to 600-700 pounds as corn has so much food energy that it quickly puts fat on them, creating the marbling effect. This allows the feedlot owners to speed up the cow's life span so that they can be slaughtered much earlier.

Consumers need to understand that cows are ruminants by nature; they're not designed for a ration of corn. In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan wrote that when cows are given a choice between corn and hay, they choose hay. Cows love to chew their cud, but they can't when they are only fed corn. Furthermore, corn is not a natural food for cattle, as it creates serious rumen (stomach) problems. Young cows have to be given antibiotics as soon as the corn ration begins, as they get sick with bloating, which means they stop ruminating.

Rumination: When cows eat grass, they ruminate. They chew their cud by regurgitating the food many times -- thirty two times, in fact. This keeps their four stomachs in a healthy alkaline state rather than an acid condition, which results from eating too much corn. If the acidic condition persists, it ulcerates the rumen, the large first compartment of the cow's stomach. Then bacteria escape from the rumen into the bloodstream and end up in the liver, causing abscesses. The cow then has to be given another antibiotic for liver disease. Fifteen to thirty percent of cow livers are too damaged for human consumption.

More Corn Facts Plus Costs:

. We feed cows corn because corn is compact and stores more efficiently than hay bales.

. A bushel of corn in 2006 cost about $2.25 to produce. The actual cost to grow the corn was $3.00 but federal subsidies paid about $.75. Corn made from ethanol, has been in competition with feed corn for the last couple of years. The result is that the cost of corn was driven up.

. In 2008, farmers were receiving $8.00 a bushel, the highest price they've ever received. This is why the cost of food has risen so sharply.

. It cost about $1.60 a day in 2002 to keep an animal in a feedlot. That price quadrupled in 2008.

. It takes "cheap oil" to produce "cheap corn" but that has changed because the price of petroleum has risen substantially. It takes about 100 gallons of oil to grow a single animal. So when you eat meat, you're eating oil.

. Cows are fed 32 pounds of corn a day. Cows produce large amounts of protein: three-and-a-half to four pounds a day, half of which is edible meat. The rest is fat.

. The yield of corn per acre in 1900 was 20 bushels. In the 1990s, it went up to 138 bushels per acre, due to hybrid seed varieties and high amounts of chemical fertilizers, which take a lot of energy to produce.

Source:

To see a short video on animals and factory farming, check out MEATRIX at www.factoryfarm.org.

Cow Cities: Some of the larger feedlot factories have up to 100,000 cows in the space of a couple of hundred acres with huge feedmills reaching several stories high and mountains of manure and lots of stench. The high use of antibiotics keeps the diseases in check. Four global meat companies control over 80 percent of the beef market. They slaughter 81 percent of our beef.

The process of raising the animals is horrible, but the process of slaughtering them is even worse. I'm not going to write about it except to say that a bolt the size of a pencil is shot into the brain of the cow with a pneumatic device called a stunner. You can read about it in Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Cow cities are filled with tons of manure. Industrial animal agriculture produces more than a billion tons of manure every year -- manure that besides being full of nasty microbes like E. coli 0157:H7, has high concentrations of drugs like antibiotics.

When cows go to sleep, they lie on their manure. Many steps are taken to make sure the manure doesn't infect the beef, but it happens. This is the main source of food-safety problems with the beef industry. Microbes like E.coli 0157:H7 from the manure get into the meat. This relatively new strain of E. coli comes from the manure of feedlot animals. It occurs because of the acidic condition in the rumens of cows that eat corn. It essentially doesn't exist in the gut of animals that eat grass.

The handling, transportation, and slaughtering of farm animals is federally regulated by the USDA. Numerous violations occur daily. Most inhumane are the daily living conditions in high-production feedlots. As mentioned above, animals are crammed together in dark, feces-filled holding pens. The stench is overwhelming. Cattle, sheep and pigs are routinely castrated without anaesthesia. Calves raised for veal are often held in crates so small the animals aren't able to turn around. They are fed iron-poor diets to cause anemia, which results in more highly valued pale beef.

In addition to antibiotics, the animals are injected with synthetic growth hormones to increase the amount of beef. Similarly, bovine growth hormone is used to increase the amount of fluid milk in cows. The meat industry works hard to eradicate harmful bacteria in the meat, including the use of irradiation.

Research has shown that by simply putting the animals on grass or hay for the last several days of their life, the E. coli microbe population is lowered significantly, as much as 80 percent. James Russell, a scientist at Cornell University, has proposed this method. But the meat industry doesn't want to use this method, as it would mean bringing hay into the feedlot. And besides, the cows would lose some weight. King Corn rules. The corporations that run the food industry rule, along with the lawyers and lobbyists and the "good old boys" network of the USDA and FDA.

IT'S POLITICS AS USUAL

More on Antibiotics: The concentration of animals in pens leads to great stress and exposes animals to high levels of feces and urine. Antibiotics are used to prevent disease in such a system. Also, by using antibiotics non-therapeutically, the animals gain weight faster. The cost of the antibiotics is low enough that feeding the drugs to animals for the extra weight gain produces a profit.

However, bacteria can build resistance to antibiotics when they are exposed to constant low levels of the drugs. Bacteria reproduce rapidly and are able to mutate. The mutations that survive are able to pass on their immunity to their offspring, and thus a new population of bacteria is developed. Through food, the new strains of bacteria can be passed to humans, where they may not respond to antibiotics, either.

A 2003 study by the Union of Concerned Scientists revealed that every year in the U.S., 25 million pounds of antibiotics are fed to livestock as feed supplement. This drug load represents a full 70 percent of total US antibiotic production. Most of these animals live in factory farms. Antibiotics are fed to chickens, hogs and cattle, not to cure disease, but to promote growth and compensate for stressful, crowded, unsanitary conditions.

Raising vast numbers of pigs or chickens or cattle in close and filthy confinement would not be possible without the routine feeding of antibiotics to keep animals from dying of infectious diseases. The Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and every public health expert in the country will tell you that there is a link between human health and the use of antibiotics in agriculture.

The very scary antibiotic-resistant strain of Staphylococcus bacteria (MRSA) is now killing more Americans each year than AIDS -100,000 infections leading to 19,000 deaths in 2005, according to estimates in the American Medical Journal. Recent studies in Europe and Canada found that confinement pig operations have become reservoirs of MRSA. The FDA is doing very little about the problem of MRSA in livestock and neither is the livestock industry. What is the price we are willing to pay for an epidemic caused from industrial farming?

Could it be that Big Macs are part of the reason antibiotics aren't as effective as they once were in humans? And why is it that the viruses and bacteria showing up in hospitals are not treatable by most antibiotics? It's clear that the overuse of antibiotics has led to resistance strains of the new "superbugs."

Food Poisoning: The incidence of food poisoning in humans has also increased in large part because of the large cattle feedlots. What happens when you mix 100 different cow parts in a single burger? The bigger the system, the harder to manage and greater the chance for contamination. All it takes is one infected carcass to spread disease all over the country. Look at the TV pictures of those large vats of raw hamburger being mixed together for patties for fast-food joints and compare those images with one of the local butcher making hamburger from one cow of a local farmer.

The Gulf of Mexico: It may make economic sense to feed cows corn but ecologically it's a disaster. A lot of the manure runoff coming from feedlots in the Midwest is washed down the Mississippi and ends up in the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico where there is a cesspool of chemicals, including pesticides and antibiotics.

The nation's corn crop is fertilized with millions of pounds of nitrogen-based fertilizer. And when that nitrogen runs off fields in Corn Belt states, it makes its way to the Mississippi River and eventually pours into the Gulf, where it contributes to the growing "dead zone" -- a 7,900-square-mile patch so depleted of oxygen that fish, crabs and shrimp suffocate.

Part II. Section 6. OTHER SAD FAT FACTS: ADULTS, IMMIGRANTS, RURAL/URBAN FOLKS, CHILDREN and YOUTH

2009-06-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

Stats on Adults: According to Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity is the overt manifestation of a poor diet and sedentary lifestyle, but it's preventable. All the candy, chips, fast-food and soda we've been feasting on for years has caught up with us.

In the past 40 years, Americans have gotten taller and fatter. The average adult is an inch taller than in 1960 and weighs nearly 25 pounds more. Just look at photographs of your grandparents and see how slim they were. I don't remember grandma being on any diet programs or grandpa working out at the gym.

Obesity is also taking a heavy toll on the military. Today's soldiers are 37 pounds heavier than their Civil War counterparts. Besides terrorists, germ warfare and nuclear weapons, military officials are increasingly worried about a different kind of threat: troops too heavy to fight.

Thousands of troops are struggling to lose weight, and thousands have been booted out of the service in recent years because they couldn't drop the pounds. The Veteran's Affairs health system is also struggling with vets piling on the pounds and developing weight-related diseases, such as diabetes. Ironically, the big concern used to be soldiers not weighing enough. Congress passed the school lunch program after World War II, worried that too many

high school students were malnourished and unfit to fight.

Source:

Marchione, Marilyn. Obesity Takes Heavy Toll on Military." Associated Press, 4 July. 2005.

Men and Women: In the last forty years, the average weight for American men has increased from 166.3 pounds to 191 pounds - for women it has gone from 140.2 pounds to 164.3 pounds. The biggest weight gain has been in men ages 40 to 49. Men consume 7 percent more than they did in 1971, a total of 2,618 calories per day, up from 2,450 (an increase of 168 calories, comparable to a 12-ounce Pepsi per day.)

The largest weight gain in women has been between those ages' 20-29 with an average increase of 29 pounds. The CDC reported in February of 2003 that American women were becoming fatter because they eat more than they did 30 years before. Women now eat 22 percent more calories a day -- the equivalent of a McDonald's Egg McMuffin or a large chocolate cookie. This comes to 335 more calories than they ate in 1971 for a total of 1,877 calories. Carbohydrates (carbs) are the biggest culprit. About half of all those calories are from carbs in the form of cookies, bagels, pasta, chips and soda.

Immigrants Moving to the U.S. Pack on the Pounds, Too

A new study published in December 2004 in the Journal of the American Medical Association examined obesity rates among immigrants and native-born peoples. In general, immigrants are healthier than native-born Americans when they arrive on our shores. They have lower rates of heart disease and diabetes, but, after fifteen years in the States, the prevalence of obesity among immigrants approaches that of U.S.-born adults. Mita Sanghavi Goel, a doctor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois is the lead author of the study. She said, "The longer you live here, the more likely you are to be obese."

Goel believes the weight gain occurs because of the changes in diet and ways of living. Previous research has shown that immigrants initially tend to consume less fat and sugar than Americans, probably because they eat fewer prepared and processed foods. But as they become more Americanized, they eat fewer fruits and vegetables and more processed food, meat, and sugar. The children of the newcomers are prime motivators in this behavior, as they are pressured by TV ads to be more American and "eat American."

Rural America: There is a myth that rural, farm communities with their wide expanses of land, farm chores and fresh air, make leaner, stronger bodies. The Center for Rural Pennsylvania released a study comparing urban and rural seventh graders. It found that 16 percent of urban students and 20 percent of rural students were obese. Most alarmingly, researchers found that during the years of the survey, between 1999 and 2001, the number of obese students in rural school districts rose 5 percent, more than twice the rate of their urban counterparts.

Researchers say that there are fewer farm families now, and mechanization has taken over some of the heavy work that once was part of farm culture. Therefore, there aren't as many calories being burned, and, at the same time, high-calorie meals and snacks are being consumed.

Another reason could be found in the increase in number of satellite dishes, computers, and game consoles that have popped up in almost every town, regardless of economic situation. The only place where researchers find U.S. obesity rates similar to those of rural America are in the poorest urban neighborhoods, suggesting that poverty may be the overriding issue.

Source:

Sheehan, Charles. Associated Press, 14 March, 2005.

Guess What We're Feeding Our Toddlers?

As if matters weren't bad enough, a new study of more than 3,000 youngsters found significant numbers of infants and toddlers downing French fries, pizza, candy and soda. Here are some of the findings:

. Children of ages 1 and 2 years require about 950 calories per day; The study found the average intake for that age group is 1,220 calories, an excess of nearly 30 percent.

. For those 7 to 11 months old, the daily caloric surplus was 20 percent higher than it was a few years ago.

Random telephone interviews found more disturbing statistics:

. Up to a third of children under 2 consumed no fruits and vegetables. And for those who did have a vegetable, French fries was the most common selection for children 15 months and older.

. Nine percent of children 9 to 11 months old ate French fries at least once a day. For those 19 months to 2 years old, more than 20 percent had fries daily.

. Hot dogs, sausage and bacon were daily staples for many children: 7 percent in the 9-11-month group.

. More than 60 percent of 12-month-olds had dessert or candy at least once a day and 16 percent ate a salty snack. Those numbers rose to 70 percent by age 19 months.

Shortcomings were more pronounced for families receiving financial assistance through state and federal programs. More than 40 percent of WIC (Women, Infants and Children Program) toddlers did not eat any fruit, and those children also drank more sweetened drinks.

Teens & Beyond: U.S. teenagers have high obesity rates and a greater tendency to be overweight than those in fourteen other industrialized countries, according to a study in January 2003 by the National Institute of Public Health, Copenhagen. A U.S. study of 10,000 teens found that the percentage of people who are obese doubles from the teen years to the mid-twenties.

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Side Notes:

I know you didn't want to hear any more Fat-Fast-Food-Facts. Sorry, but this information may have alerted to just how pervasive obesity has spread throughout our culture. For those who would like lose some weight, please say the words "Fat-Fast Food Facts" five times and then start the task of cutting ten pounds. The key is not to go on a diet but to change your eating lifestyle, one bite at a time. And don't try and to change too quickly.

Cut out some of those chips and sweets and begin the rhythm of taking daily walks, exercising and eating more salads, vegetables, whole foods, local chicken, eggs and beef, and preparing foods from scratch. You can also learn how to "put food by" by canning, freezing and storing and by all means, grow a garden.

PART III. SUSTAINABLE MARKETS & REGIONAL SOLUTIONS Section I. Added Notes on the Onion River Co-op

2009-06-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

1. ADDED NOTES ON THE ONION RIVER CO-OP

Early on in the process of deciding on a new supermarket for downtown Burlington, it was clear that prices at the old Onion River Co-op were competitive with those of other supermarkets when it came to conventional foods. This is because Onion River was much larger than most co-ops and thus had greater buying power. Overall some prices were higher and others were lower but they averaged out (Organic foods are on average 40 percent more expensive than conventional foods.)

A 2006 Price Comparison

* Gallon of Hood Milk

City Market $3.59 Supermarkets: $2.69, $2.99, $3.49

. Milk prices vary widely during the year. On June 5, 2006, the price went down to $3.29 at City Market

for Monument Farm/ Vermont Co-op Milk. Prices are usually lower in the early summer as the cows eat more fresh grass and production rises.

* White Flour 5 lb.

City Market $1.29 Supermarkets: $1.39, $1.59, $1.29

* Poland Springs gal.

City Market $1.39 Supermarkets: $1.29, $1.29, $1.29

* Coke 2L

City Market $1.39 Supermarkets: 4 for $5, $1.49, 2 for $3

* Local Conventional White Eggs

City Market $1.29 Supermarkets: $1.29, $1.59

* Store Brand Butter/lb

City Market $2.19 Supermarkets: 2 for $5, $2.15

* Domino 5lb. White Sugar

City Market $2.69 Supermarkets: $2.29, $2.69, $2.89

* Peanut Butter smooth

City Market $1.79 Supermarkets: $1.49, $1.49, 2 for $3

* Iceberg Lettuce

City Market $2.29 Supermarkets: $.99 cents, $1.48, $1.69

* Bananas/lb

City Market $.59 cents Supermarkets: $.59 cents, $.59 cents

* Prices for food went up 6 percent in 2007 due to higher energy costs.

A Few More City Market Comments:

. Thirty percent of the foods sold at City Market are conventional foods sold through Associated Grocers (AG), under the Surefine Label. AG is a cooperative of grocers. Seventy percent of food is organic or natural. The company has 167 employees.

. City market sells about $10,000 worth of produce every day as well as local milk, eggs, chicken, beef and beans. Liberte yogurt is a huge seller. The company is located in Quebec. It uses Vermont milk and is a huge seller.

. Membership in the co-op costs $200 but can be paid in installments of $25 a year. The co-op gives small discounts to members, as well as a voice in decision-making. The figures may be higher today.

. There were 3,000 members of City Market in the summer of 2006. Anyone can shop at the co-op without the discount.

Positive Signs at Onion River

. Supermarkets are not social service agencies. They're there for the bottom line. This is where food co-ops have an advantage, as pointed out below in a list of positive steps taken by City Market. The market has made a number of changes in order to make the store more inclusive for the entire community including the elderly, school children and the local food pantry.

. Dorothy Brooks of Burlington wasn't so sure about City Market when it opened a few years ago. She was concerned that the prices would be too high. Today, Dorothy and her neighbors take advantage of the weekly specials, receive a discount, and enjoy the catered meal that City Market brings to the public housing highrise where she lives once a month.

. City Market is involved in the Burlington City schools with taste testing and recipe development through the Burlington Food Council. The schools also have an account with City Market to buy healthy food for the children.

. Some of the homeless population use the bottle returning machines for cash. Members of the developmentally disabled community, whose main center is next door to City Market, come in for lunch, coffee, etc. on a regular basis.

. Overall sales for 2006 were $19.7 million. In 2006, food stamp sales totaled $324,000 or 1.6 percent of total sales, up 9 percent over the previous fiscal year. This means that more low-income folks are shopping at City Market.

. The local food shelf is now ordering food from City Market using wholesale rates through City Market's distributor. This arrangement saved the emergency pantry about $2,000 in the first quarter of 2006.

. City Market has an arrangement through Joint Urban Ministries whereby low income people can get their memberships subsidized; this is gaining in popularity.

. City Market recently started a monthly cooking class with a group called "neighbor keepers." The organization is dedicated to embracing welfare families and giving them the support they need to get out of poverty. One of the concerns when the class began was whether the participants would be nervous about taking a class at City Market, but all the women had shopped at City Market and were excited about the class.

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Side Notes:

Other food co-ops in Vermont also offer health and cooking classes in their communities, host free or low-cost community meals, raise money for local non-profits, and work with the schools to improve school lunch programs.

City Market has made a concerted effort to reach out to the community through the programs mentioned above. I still raise the question, will the community's perception of City Market change from a food co-op, to an upscale, organic market, to a full-service community store? This remains to be seen.

The other challenge is to offer more conventional foods to people who cannot afford the high cost of organic foods. No food co-op in Vermont has tried this. I'm not talking about processed junk foods, but more vegetables and fruits, cans of tomatoes, tuna, pasta, rice and so on.

I hope one day the sign over the door will read again as it once did years ago when it was the Onion River Co-op, "Food For People/ Not For Profit."

Part III. Section 2. AGRITOURISM

2009-06-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

Agritourism is defined as a commercial enterprise on a working farm conducted for the enjoyment, education, or active involvement of the visitor and generating supplemental income for the farm. In the last few years, Vermont farm families have opened up their operations by providing bed-and-breakfasts, conducting farm tours, offering hay and sleigh rides, selling farm products, and even providing a working farm experience.

Visitors flock to the Green Mountain State by the thousands, money in hand, drawn by the open lush green landscape, dotted with black and white holsteins, red barns and stone walls. Dairy farms are not simply a Hollywood backdrop for tourists to look at. Some tourists even want to "get down and dirty" on the farm.

The New England Agricultural Statistics Service (NEASS) estimated the value of agritourism (AT) was $19.5 million, or about 4 percent of total gross farm income generated in Vermont in 2002. That's no small change. Income from "AT"-related activities increased 86 percent from 200O-2005. This type of activity will continue to increase as more farmers see the added financial advantage of agritourism and sales of farm products.

One-third of all farms in Vermont (2,200 farms) received income from agritourism in 2002, averaging nearly $8,900 per farm. Smaller farms tend to be involved in agritourism more than larger farms. Thirty-eight percent of farms with fewer than 50 acres received income from "AT" in 2002, compared to about 34 percent of the farms with 50-149 acres and 29 percent of farms with 150 or more acres.

While a greater percentage of smaller farms were involved in agritourism, larger farms had a higher average income from "AT." Farms with fewer than 50 acres received an average of $5,750 while farms with 500 or more acres received an average of $15,300.

The most common source of agritourism is on-farm sales of commodities produced on the farm. Sales were led by maple syrup and other maple products, followed by fruits and vegetables, Christmas trees, cut flowers, nursery products, and cheese. Other categories of agritourism income are accommodations, outdoor recreation, entertainment and education.

Farms that are involved in farm-based tourism use it as a supplement to their income. Marginal farming enterprises are likely to survive with successful agritourism models. They don't transform the economic situation of these operations, but again, it helps them to survive. If the farm has a good location, it has a better chance of being successful and may have the potential to prosper independent of the farming operation. The more successful the farm based tourism enterprise becomes, it is less likely resources will be allocated for maintaining or expanding the farm operations. Farm-based tourism may provide the incentive for farmers to diversify their operation to meet the tourists' demand for specialty foods and value-added products.

Agritourism Models on Small Farms

Farm tourism in Vermont can include such things as wine tasting and a summer concert series at Harrison Leibowitz' Snow Farm Winery in South Hero, sleigh rides at the Brattleboro farm of Helen Robb and her family at their Brattleboro farm, or simply buying maple syrup at the sugar operation of Karen Fortin's in Highgate.

Jacques Couture, a dairy farmer from Westfield, runs a family bed- and- breakfast operation. He says his guests are not looking for a sanitized Disney World kind of experience. "They come because we're a working dairy farm -- they expect to get their feet dirty."

Beth and Bob Kennett of Liberty Hill Farm in Rochester provided a farm experience for a group of girl scouts on a weekend visit from Massachusetts. The Kennett family milks 75 Holsteins and is one of many farm families that have turned to agritourism as a way to increase income.

Destination Farms and the Swenson Family

A new niche market emerging on the landscape is the "destination farm." While it still produces food, it also accommodates a variety of visitors: tourists, school and scouting groups, seniors, and even members of the community.

"Come experience the beauty of Vermont in the winter," invites the website of the Swenson Farm in Fairlee. "Wander at your own pace over miles of trails through beautiful woods and open fields -- all part of an active dairy farm. Be sure to visit the cows and calves!"

Melanie and Bob Swenson have found an innovative way to diversify their love of farming by offering activities such as snowshoeing. The family built trails on 210 acres of their land and Sawyer Mountain and called it the Sawyer Mountain Snowshoe Trails at Swenson Farm. One trail passes right by the heifer barn and calf hutches, so that people can visit with the animals.

Visitors also learn about animals like the deer that live in the back areas. The Swensons describe the various habitats and hand out identification cards for animal tracks. They also organized their large collection of antique tools into a museum. Neighboring inns recommend the Swenson Farm to their guests.

Some farms combine the destination experience with a bed-and-breakfast. For more information and statistics on agritourism, go to: www.nass.usda.gov/nh.

* The largest agritourism sites in the state are Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, Billings Farm in Woodstock and Hildene in Manchester.

Vermont Tourism Stats

In 2005, tourists made an estimated 13.4 million trips to Vermont for leisure, business, or personal travel. Their expenditures for goods and services totaled $1.57 billion. Tourist dollars help to repair roads, provide health care, protect the environment and more. Tourism in Vermont employs 36,250 people.

The 2002 agritourism receipts of $19.5 million included local sales of Christmas trees, nursery products, fruits, and vegetables. It is projected that agritourism dollars have increased yearly since 2002.

It is estimated that in 2005, 1.2 million visitors participated in agritourism. Of that total, the primary purpose of 67,000 visitor-trips was agritourism. Total visitor spending associated with these person-trips was $164 million. Total visitor spending includes expenditures for lodging, meals, and transportation, as well as specific agritourism-related expenditures.

Source: Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing

* The Agriculture Resource Management Survey (ARMS)

In 2004, ARMS found that 52,000 farms received income from agritourism, representing 2.5 percent of all farms - earning about $955 million in income. Recent surveys suggest that the market for agritourism could expand. Two-thirds of the visitors lived in metropolitan areas and the average distance traveled was 80 miles.

Part III. Section 3.TRAINING AND MENTORING NEW AND CURRENT FARMERS

2009-06-11T16:49:00.000-07:00

According to Elliot Coleman, an author and spokesperson for the organic movement, our educational system has forgotten the vital systems of the earth and living organisms. Here are three quotes from Coleman on this subject. He said, "If we wish to teach reverence for the earth, we need to insist that practical time spent on the soils of the earth is just as valuable in training citizens for an informed life in the 21st century as time spent in academy lecture halls." He goes on to say, "When food production is considered a lowly activity, something for the unschooled, the result is to forfeit humanity's essential connection to the source of life." And finally, "By choosing not to educate our children about soil and agriculture and food, our institutions of higher learning deprive today's younger generation of a truly valuable education."

Source:

Coleman, Elliot. "Educational Agriculture." Vermont Commons, Spring, 2007.

With the average age of farmers increasing, the need to replace those who are retiring is critical to the future of agriculture. Therefore, it's critical that efforts are made to train new farmers and to support young farmers who grew up on farms and want to continue to farm.

There are different routes a young person with little farming experience can take -- the academic route or the more hands-on approach or a combination of the two. The focus of this chapter will be on re-training, apprenticeships, mentoring and college programs.

For many years, colleges and universities have offered the traditional path of education for agriculture students, especially for the sons and daughters of farm families. In the past few years alternative forms of education and training have begun to sprout up around the country. I will focus on some conventional as well as alternative approaches to education and training in this chapter.

One organization which is dealing with this issue is the Vermont New Farmer Network (VNFN) that increases the capacity of agricultural resource providers to meet the needs of new farmers. Workshops are held to educate new and current farmers in the areas of organic dairy farming, greenhouse and season extension, access to new markets, finances, credit, access to land and alternative forms of land tenure.

The network includes established farmers who want to stabilize their production and re-strategize their operations, aspiring farmers who are committed to becoming farmers as a career option, and potential recruits who have an aptitude and interest in farming but little experience.

* The VNFN is supported by the University of Vermont's Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Contact Deb Heleba at (802) 656-0233 for more information.

Side Notes:

There weren't any networks in the spring of 1969 when I took the hands-on-approach by apprenticing at Hill & Dale Farm in Putney, Vermont under Erling Anderson, a biodynamic gardener and farmer.

Here is my story. When I received my discharge papers from the U.S. Army in the Spring of 1969, I left Ft. Dix, New Jersey and went home to Vermont to begin my apprenticeship. I heard about the training through a good friend of mine, Robert King, who was also apprenticing under Erling.

This experience changed my life. Erling Anderson was a great teacher. I'll never forget the day Erling asked me check out the bean crop for bean seeds for next year's crop. Well, I picked the beans but they weren't dry enough for picking. Erling was not a happy camper when he saw what I had done. Live and learn. Hey! I wouldn't be writing this book if it wasn't for him.

Examples of Academic/Practical Programs in Sustainable Farming

A good place to start is the online USDA directory under the subtitle Educational and Training Opportunities in Sustainable Agriculture. The directory provides a list of the colleges and universities with sustainable ag programs, along with schools offering one or more courses in organic farming.

Many of the colleges listed are land grant universities and colleges specializing in agriculture. For years, these school have provided schooling in conventional/industrial agriculture but now are also teaching sustainable and organic farming. Their goal is to provide the necessary skills needed to make a living on the farm, even though the reality is that many farm families could not exist without off-farm income.

University of Maine: The first U.S. program to offer a Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Agriculture began in 1988 at the University of Maine. Mark Guizzi is a young farmer who graduated in 2000. Guizzi says he got more out of the program because he had worked or interned on four farms before starting college, which helped him better understand the importance and application of his coursework. He said that the program was a good way to learn the principles and ecology behind agriculture, but, as he made clear, you also need practical experience.

Guizzi said the keys are to get the necessary training, start small, not go into debt and don't expect to get rich, but rather to seek a richly rewarding life. This was Mark Guizzi's experience. He first rented, and now owns, a nine-acre farm in Dixmont, Maine called Peacemeal Farm, where he grows herbs and vegetables.

Another popular choice for those interested in sustainable agriculture is Washington State University. It has a solid record of research in organic methods and offers a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture and food systems, including a major in organic agricultural systems.

CREAM - Cooperative for Real Education in Agricultural Management is a more traditional undergraduate program at the University of Vermont. Every year, about 15 students at UVM embark upon a one-year adventure that begins at 4 a.m. It takes place in the dairy barn at the University along with 30 milking cows. You might hear comments like "Don't ever miss chores. You're just screwing each other." This comment came from Keith Bocatch in 2004. Decisions on the farm are made by the students who work together as a group.

The students take part in the milking, cleaning out the barn, feeding the animals, making sure the cows are comfortable, and keeping the books. They learn the importance of milk prices and how when there is a deficit you have to make hard decisions. The CREAM farm experience is more than reading about farming in a textbook.

James Sturzione said, "It shows you that not everything is perfect. That's real life. Not making it in the business world is a hard reality. You might just need to face a challenge like this on the farm. At CREAM, you take it head on. You don't back away from it." James grew up 15 minutes outside of NYC where the closest he got to a cow was a milk carton in the supermarket.

Jim Gilmore, the professor who runs the program, says it is more about people skills than dairy herd management. Jim is the son of an Ohio State University animal science professor and farmer. Gilmore has been part of the CREAM program since its inception in 1987. Gilmore recalls, "We realized that this is going to be much more than a hands-on experience. It's not just students doing chores. It's students learning how to work as a group and solve problems."

Vermont's model was built on a similar cooperative program at Washington State University. The CREAM model is now being used at the Universities of Maine and New Hampshire, and even one in Ireland. Recently, the University of New Hampshire (UNH) started an organic dairy farm. (See more on UNH program below)

The alumni of the CREAM program are now agribusiness executives, teachers, veterinarians, and researchers and dairy farmers. Eleven graduates have gone on to veterinary school. Andrew Meyer, a 1992 graduate, helped develop agricultural policy for the former Senator from Vermont, Jim Jeffords. In 2003, he joined his brothers, both CREAM graduates, on the family farm in Hardwick, which has converted to organic farming. Meyers was featured in an earlier chapter as an agricultural entrepreneur.

There are a number of pre-veterinary majors who have worked with animals. Jackie Hulce says that she sees herself driving around Vermont taking care of dairy cows like the "James Herriot" of the Green Mountains. Amy Krikorian did a summer internship at a zoo and for some odd reason said, "I really like scooping poop. I can't help it." Each to his or her own.

Source:

The information on CREAM came from an article by Thomas Weaver in the Vermont Quarterly, Winter 2005, a magazine of the University of Vermont. Issue #36

2 Plus 2 Program

University of Vermont (UVM) & Vermont Technical College (VTC)

The mission of 2 Plus 2 is to prepare the next generation of Vermont dairy farm managers using the resources of UVM, VTC, and the Miner Institute in Chazey, New York. The program seeks to ensure that there are highly motivated, highly trained young people entering agricultural and agribusiness careers in the state. Full tuition scholarships are available to Vermont students. Funding is provided for Vermont students through the Vermont legislature. The student must show an interest in farming and proven aptitude in school. Funding is available to 10 students a year for a yearly total of twenty students. The program is not focused on advanced graduate work.

2 Plus 2 enables students working to be dairy farm managers to make a transition from VTC to a second two years at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Vermont.

All students first earn an Associate's Degree in Dairy Management or a degree in Agricultural Business Management at VTC.

Mathew Angell is an eighth-generation Vermont farmer in the 2 Plus 2 program. His family has farmed the same Randolph fields since Vermont became a state in 1791. The Vermont program paid his full tuition as long he maintained a 3.0 average. Mathew studied biology, business, the latest farm technologies, plant and soil science, animal health and disease, and growth hormones and genetic engineering.

Mathew began 2 Plus 2 as one of 1,200 students at VTC. He also spent time working at UVM's dairy barn as well as a spring semester at William Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, New York where he focused on Advanced Farm Management and then returned to UVM to graduate in 2007.

University of New Hampshire (UNH)

In 2007, UNH created a new organic dairy farm with the hope of addressing the issue of integrated, sustainable organic agriculture in the Northeast. The farm is being developed to serve as a resource for organic dairy farmers, farmers considering the transition to organic, and students of sustainable agriculture and dairying. The milk from the farm goes to the Organic Valley Milk Cooperative.

Utilizing the combined farms' 130 acres of cropland, research will focus on integrated cropping systems that reduce the loss of nitrogen and phosphorous, reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides and improve soil and crop quality. Money for the project came from a grant of $450,000 from New Hampshire organic yogurt maker Stonyfield, and additional funding from the private and public sector.

Hampshire College: Traditional Liberal Arts colleges are also developing programs to train farmers. A couple of the leaders are Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and the University of California, Davis. Marada Cook was enthusiastic about her Hampshire College experience. She was attracted to the college because of its independent approach to learning and the campus farm, greenhouse and practical work assignments, such as with local food organizations. Marada believes that graduates are prepared to farm when they leave Hampshire. She now works on a farm in Maine.

Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vermont offers a four-year environmental degrees in Sustainable Agriculture as well as Conservation Ecology, Outdoor Education and Northern Studies.

The Sustainable Ag Semester immerses students in the daily rhythms of farming by exploring the ecological management of plants, animals and the land. The farm includes certified organic gardens, a greenhouse and hoophouse, a small orchard, solar and wind-powered barns, and a variety of livestock, including draft horses used in the gardens, pastures, and forests.

Sterling is a small liberal arts college located about 35 miles south of the Canadian border. (802) 586-7711

P.O. Box 72, Craftbury Common, VT 05827 www.sterlingcollegeonline.com

Antioch's Green Education: The newest program I've heard about is the Masters in Business Administration (MBA), six-semester, two-year program from Antioch, which focuses on sustainability and agriculture. There are courses on group dynamics -- to promote an understanding of how groups work in organizations, workshops on ecological systems to study the principles of sustainability, leadership and diversity skill training and more practical business courses related to farm-ventures.

Jerediah Beach is the assistant director of the nonprofit Natick Community Farm in Natick, Massachusetts. He said, I've learned business skills, economics, groups dynamics, how to run an organic business and how to start a farm at Antioch." Organic initiatives from starting the farm to traveling up the supply chain, have long been a sustainable model for new farming ventures such as CSA's and farm and food initiatives.

Farming for Credit: At colleges and universities across the country, students are finding opportunities to make sustainable agriculture part of a well-rounded education. Go to "Farming for Credit" for a list of 42 student farms organized by region.

One such farm is located at Dartmouth College. Scott Stokoe, the manager of the organic farm says, "I think of the farm as an agent of change." Since 1997, the farm has come to fill a small but important role within the Dartmouth College community, supplying fresh produce to one of the campus dining halls and helping students prepare for study-abroad programs in Africa and Latin America. Today, the farm has a half-dozen part-time student workers, along with lots of volunteers. Stokoe and the students also operate a campus farmstand that grosses $4,000 a year.

The Common Ground Student-Run Educational Farm is a 3-acre CSA site and part of the 97 acre Horticultural Research Farm at the University of Vermont. It is unique in that it's a student-run educational farm in South Burlington. The Common Ground is a non-profit group dedicated to sustainable farming and the workers are students eager to learn about organic gardening practices.

The Farm and Food Project at Green Mountain College:

This small school in southern Vermont is taking sustainability to a new and old level. The college aims to supply 5 percent of its dining hall food from its farm. What's unique it that they are doing it with draft animals.

The farm is right on the edge of the 820-student campus. If you stop off at the college, you'll notice the free-range chickens milling around the back door of the library. The biggest challenge is to learn about draft animals and equipment. They have found the best way to get information is to go to the farmer down the road.

Phillip Ackerman-Leist, the director of the Farm and Food Project said, "We've found a way to show that farming and the liberal arts education are soul mates -- the liberal arts approach is key to recrafting our food system." Dozens of classes use the farm as part of their coursework and students in the Environmental Studies Program can major in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Production.

A Directory of Vermont Student Gardens and Farms:

Bennington College Community Farm

Green Mountain College Organic Farm

Middlebury College Organic Garden

Sterling College Farm

University of Vermont Common Ground Student-Run Educational Farm

For other information on colleges and university training sites, go to USDA's Educational and Training Opportunities in Sustainable Agriculture on the web.

The Price is Right: Some two-year community colleges offer a hands-on Associate of Arts degree in Sustainable Agriculture. These are much more affordable than a program at a university and in some cases, more practical.

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OTHER TRAINING AND MENTORING ALTERNATIVES

With the increasing high cost in many four-year schools and universities, many young people are prohibited from attending college and studying agriculture. Shorter and less expensive paths, including internships, volunteer positions, apprenticeships, and paying farm jobs may be enough to learn the fundamentals of farming.

One can research apprenticeship opportunities in the various farm magazines. What's even harder is to find is a farmer who has the professional training to teach farming to apprentices, young and old. Sadly, in today's modern world, it is considered unworthy of educated people to become farmers even though many of Vermont's farmers in the last 35 years have college degrees, including myself. I became a commercial grower while teaching high school.

The Hands-On Approach

Here are some training opportunities without the college diploma:

The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service or ATTRA is a good place to find internship opportunities. ATTRA maintains a list of internships in the U.S. and Canada at www.attrainterships.ncat.org.

Another place to look for on-the-job training is World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF}, an organization where volunteers learn first-hand about organic growing by helping farmers. Marada Cook, mentioned above, worked on a mixed vegetable farm for five months during her senior year in high school. She says the experience was less formal than an internship and while it didn't pay a wage, housing and food were provided.

For a combination of the academic and apprenticeship experiences, there's a full time, six-month Apprenticeship in Ecological Agriculture at the Center for Agro-Ecology and Sustainable Food Systems at the University of California, Santa Cruz, which includes a 25-acre farm and the three-acre Allan Chadwick Garden. Tuition in 2006 was $3,750.

Other Training Opportunities in the Northeast

The Maine Organic Farming and Gardening Association (MOFCA) has trained an estimated thousand or more apprentices in its 35 year history. The apprenticeships provide a check on the reality of farming. Some thrive and some don't and most do not go onto farming.

An apprenticeship is definitely a good thing to do before a four-year college program instead of the other way around. Many young people do a number of apprenticeships, sometimes taking a year off from college or working on farms in the summer. For more information on the apprenticeship programs in Maine, go to: www.mofca.org

Source:

On Training and Educating New Farmers came from Mother Earth News, February/March 2007 Cultivating New Farmers

NOFA Vermont provides a directory of placements for people interested in apprenticing on farms. The numbers are steadily going up every year. In 2005, 60 placements were made and in 2006, there were 65. NOFA VT does not have the resources to track the results of the internships.

The New England Small Farm Institute (NESFI) in Belchertown, Massachusetts also provides a list of internships throughout New England. Call (413) 323-4531 or go to their website at NESFI.

Many farm magazines list farm apprenticeship programs including the Bio-Dynamic Quarterly, Acres USA and the Natural Farmer -- a NOFA publication for the Northeast.

Growing New Farmers (GNF) is an online site that connects programs, services and resources for new farmers throughout the 12 Northeast states. This regional initiative provides future generations of Northeast farms with the support and expertise they need to succeed. GNF began as a four-year project funded by a grant from the USDA. The project focuses on providing a professional network and service delivery system focused on new farmers.

Women's Agricultural Network (WagN)

WagN is a collaborative effort of the University of Vermont Extension Service and the USDA. It works to increase the number of women operating profitable farms and ag-related businesses.

Other states have similar programs. * See more on WagN on page .

According to Judy Gillen of the New England Small Farm Institute (NESFI), mentioned above, this is one of the real challenges today. Too many apprentices end up being used as laborers on farms rather than learning the real art of farming. This is not a knock on farmers as many of them have not been trained as teachers and they don't have the time for mentoring apprentices. Gillen has found that the European apprentice model makes a lot of sense as farmers are trained more as teachers and the work is serious in nature.

NEFI has set a teacher-training mentoring program for farmers as part of a Northeast apprenticeship network. The goal is to foster professional development on the farm and create a real learning environment. Check it out through the New England Small Farm Institute. The mentoring handbooks are comprehensive and lay out the training process step-by-step. I was very impressed with the amount of work and detail that went into the farm curriculum mentoring handbooks. Go to NESFI on the Web for more information.

Part III. Section 4. LABELS/SMABELS NATURAL THIS/NATURAL THAT

2009-06-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

As founder and manager of the Brattleboro Farmers' Market in the early 1970s, I, along with other farmers, grappled with the question of labeling. What did words like "native" and "local" mean? The Market Steering Committee decided "native" meant anywhere in New England, and "local" meant within 50 miles of the market. As early as the 1970s, the subject of labels and what they meant created confusion. Today, in Vermont the word local means within 30 miles of a food store or farmers' market. This means, for example in Burlington, produce or value-added products could come from New York since it lies just across from Lake Champlain.

In a nutshell, most consumers want fresh, healthy, local food or they want healthy, processed food (applesauce/pickles/jams) that comes from farmers and processors with local ingredients. Survey after survey proves this point. I know -- I've done a few myself. Up to 75 percent of folks want nutritious, local food, even if they have to pay more.

For the past few years, consumers have been demanding more labeling so they know what they're eating, how its grown, where it comes from and who grows or produces it. The confusion comes with words like free-range, fresh, and natural. You need to be a lawyer to understand all this food-labeling jargon. We live in an age of choices but often it's more like guesswork.

Side Notes:

The food industry is taking advantage of this confusion. Today, their message emphasizes natural -- you know, anything to make you feel better and be more secure with the food supply. At General Mills, the idea is that good food is in the eye of the beholder. If the shopper believes organic is better for you, then so be it. Life is what one makes of it. That's why they use slogans, such as "Taste You Can Believe In." My response would be, "Give Us This Day Our Daily Illusion."

But does labeling really help the consumer? In some cases, it does mean something, but, many times, it's unclear or simply untrue. Let's review the examples of free-range, natural, and fresh:

Free Range - These words are used by the USDA exclusively for poultry -- not eggs -- and require that chickens be given access to the outdoors for an undetermined period each day. According to Consumer Reports, whether you're buying turkeys, chickens, beef, or eggs, many labels don't give you much information. Free-range suggests a lot of time roaming out-of-doors but access to the outside could mean that the animals spend little or no time outdoors. Large industrial poultry operations can open a side door in the factory for a few minutes a day and qualify, even if birds are packed inside like peas in a pod.

Mountain Edge Farm: A Local Model

Jennifer and Sean Lang raise 250 white-breasted turkeys for Thanksgiving at Mountain Edge Farm in Hinesburg, Vermont. A hand-painted sign on the road reads that the birds aren't given any growth hormones nor antibiotics. They aren't advertised as free range, even though they are freer to roam than most domestic fowl.

The birds are fed an "all-natural" grain from Canada to fatten them for slaughter. I'm not sure what "all natural" means; probably no antibiotics added to the grain. What matters most to Sean and Jennifer isn't fancy labels but healthy, happy birds and customers. Compare these gobblers with the birds most Americans purchase at the supermarkets -- frozen, rock-hard, shrink-wrapped cannonballs.

The Langs' birds also don't bear the Vermont Agency of Agriculture's "Vermont Seal of Quality," as the label doesn't provide information to the consumer on how the bird was fed, how it lived or was slaughtered. It only tells the consumer where it was raised. The Langs decided to "keep it local" and stay out of the state bureaucracy. Anyway, the folks who come to the farm know the Langs and how they raise their birds.

Natural: The word "natural" doesn't tell you anything about how the animals were raised or slaughtered or whether they feed included additives, such as hormones, or antibiotics. It's one of those overused words that can mean most anything the marketing folks want it to mean. Are Perdue chickens natural? The company says they are. There are some government regulations regarding natural fresh meat and poultry products but they are vague and unverifiable. It seems like everything is "natural" these days.

Consumers Union points out that there's no standard USDA definition for the term "natural," except that meat and poultry bearing that designation cannot contain artificial flavorings, colors, or chemical preservatives, and must be only "minimally processed" in a way that doesn't significantly alter the raw product. However, like "free-range," "natural" isn't verifiable by any independent agency.

Fresh: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates the term "fresh" when it's used to describe fruit and vegetables. It means a food that is raw and has never been frozen or heated, and contains no preservatives. However, when it comes to meat and poultry, the rules change. The consumer might assume that a fresh, store-bought turkey has never been frozen, preserved or processed. Under USDA rules, however, a fresh turkey can be stored at a temperature as low as 24 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the Consumers Union Guide to Environmental Labels, "there is much variability in how much poultry can be cooled and still be labeled fresh."

To get the definitive truth on labels, read Marion Nestle's newest book What To Eat: An Aisle-by-Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices and Good Eating. It describes in detail all there is to know about labeling and much more. She wrote the book because of persistent questioning by consumers about what to eat. Nestle is considered by many to be the nation's leading nutritionist. She is a lecturer and Professor of Nutrition at New York University and the author of two other books, Food Politics (2002) and Safe Food (2003).

Nestle began to spend time in supermarkets outside of her hometown of New York City. She learned that, out of 320,000 total and available food and beverage items, an average supermarket carried between 30,000-40,000 of them. On a visit to a Wegman's supermarket in Ithaca, New York, she found some romaine lettuce marked "home-grown." Taking that as her lead, she began to explore the seven types of romaine lettuce in the store, asking the meaning of "home-grown," comparing prices and freshness, and so on. It was mind-boggling.

Nestle writes that lettuce was easy to figure out compared to fish. Fish was the hardest to write about because of many issues and quandaries, such as where the fish comes from, whether it's farm- raised, wild and or organic, and on it goes. Nestle says all farmed fish are artificially colored.

Side Notes:

Connections: In the best of worlds, I would know the farmers in my community and how they grow the food. I wouldn't need any labels. That's why farmers' markets are so valuable. You meet the farmers and talk to them about how they grow the food or process the jam and pickles or make the loaf of bread. It's all about connections. Many food co-ops and natural food stores have local-food displays, with a picture of the farmers and the farm. The restaurants that are served by the Vermont Fresh Network also have cards on their tables showing where the food was grown.

So are Labels Really Needed? My answer is simple. Knowing your local farmers like the Langs'and knowing how they raise their livestock is the best kind of labeling. However, most consumers don't have a connection with their local farmers, so there has to be some way of protecting them with labels when it comes to understanding where their food comes from and how it's grown and processed. Most of the population lives in the cities and suburbs where there are no farms left. We are fortunate in Vermont that we have access to local food and local market.

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OTHER LABELS

Two other labels beginning to show up on grocery shelves are "free farmed" and "certified humane" raised and handled. The labels' meanings are similar and basically certify that animals used for dairy, lamb, poultry or beef products are raised in a healthy manner without the use of growth hormones or antibiotics; that they have sufficient space and shelter, the company of other animals of the same species, access to good nutrition, fresh water and that they are slaughtered in a humane way.

In 2003, the Humane Farm Animal Care organization created the label "certified humane." Their goal was to improve the lives of farm animals. The guidelines for this certification are similar to organic guidelines, but organic feed was not required. The guidelines are also species specific, which means there is a different set of guidelines for dairy cattle, beef, sheep, swine, and poultry.

Organic standards apply to all livestock, with no differentiation. Certified humane standards define exactly how much room must be available for each animal and outline measurable air quality standards, lighting, and other aspects of an animal's physical environment. For more information, check out certifiedhumane.org.

Regional labels include the California Clean Label, organized by small-scale farmers (californiaclean.com), and the Appalachian Harvest Label overseen by Appalachian Sustainable Development in southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee. The Core Values Northeast Label marks apples grown in New York and New England with Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which minimize the use of synthetic pesticides. Protected Harvest is a new national label for IPM grown foods, ie. potatoes from Wisconsin. There are many labels for coffee made from organic, shade grown beans.

The Fair Trade Label: The Fair Trade program is administered by the non-profit group, Transfair USA. Fair Trade insures that a minimum price or living wage has been paid to farmers and laborers for coffee, tea, chocolate, mangoes, bananas and pineapples. Whole Foods, Inc., the largest organic grocer, uses Transfair.

Country-of-Origin Labeling: Consumer advocates have been pressing for country-of-origin labels to help shoppers avoid tainted food from countries with lax environmental laws such as shrimp from Vietnam treated with antibiotics. As part of the 2002 farm bill, country-of-origin labeling was supposed to have gone into effect in the fall of 2004. However, Congress postponed it until 2006. There has been a move by House Republicans to wipe it off the books.

Grass Fed: "Grass fed" is another label for cows and sheep fed their traditional diet. These animals have a lower impact on the environment than animals raised on grains in industrial feedlots. Grass-fed meat is lower in saturated fat and has more omega-3 fats and vitamin E. The consumer needs to read the label, however, as some grass-fed beef are fed grain for flavor and fat. When I raised beef, I would buy a young steer in the spring and butcher it in the fall just as with the pigs. I would leave them in the pasture until the last month when I would mix in some corn to fatten them up a little. What a difference in the taste; the pork was sweet and lean with a little fat.

Source:

Other Information on labels came from The Green Guide, #105 November/December 2004, from an article by Brian C. Howard, who can be reached at emagazine.com.

Part III. Section 5. THE VERMONT LABEL CONTROVERSY

2009-06-09T16:58:00.000-07:00

The "Made in Vermont" label brought has always brought distinction to a jug of maple syrup,apple cider, or a wheel of cheddar cheese, but it's not so simple anymore. When you buy a Maine lobster, you expect that it comes from a lobster boat anchored somewhere off the coast of Maine, right? And Georgia peaches come from Georgia. So, how come some Vermont products are perceived to come from the Green Mountains and have a label which suggest the product comes from Vermont, yet is produced in another place. The fact is that Vermont's good name is peddled by larger companies - far and wide.

In other words, can a company from "Anywhere U.S.A." create food products and say it came from Vermont? The answer is yes and no. Take Williams of Vermont Deli Meats owned by the largest meat company in the world - none other than Tyson Foods, an Arkansas company with $25 billion in sales. The Vermont name was peddled for years on the label. The products was discontinued a few years ago.

When most Vermonters think about Green Mountain Gringo Salsa, with a picture on the label of mountains and the sun in the background, they just assume its produced in Vermont. Sorry folks -- that's not the case. Today, it is a national brand owned by T.W. Garner Food Company of Winston-Salem North Carolina. In 1989, the first jar of the salsa was produced in the kitchen of Christine and Dave Hume at their Chester, Vermont farm. Perhaps they used local ingredients from their garden. When the salsa was made commercially in Stowe, Vermont, the ingredients were purchased from outside Vermont and mixed up in batches at the processing factory.

The state of Vermont does have rules regarding labeling, but for the most part, most consumers don't read the labels. If a processor takes wheat flour from the midwest and sugar from Florida and makes cookies with them, they could call their product, "Vermont-Made Cookies. All they'd have to do is have a glorious cookie picture and say they were baked in Vermont. Most folks wouldn't know the difference. This is a far stretch but some people believe the coffee beans in Green Mountain Coffee roaster coffee comes from Vermont. Hum!

Maple Grove - B&G Foods is the New Jersey owner of B&M Baked Beans. They also own Maple Grove Farms of Vermont, which began in 1915 as a cottage industry by two local women, Helen Gray and Ethel McLauren, who made maple candy using pure maple syrup and cream that were produced on their farm. Today, Maple Grove of St. Johnsbury, Vermont has grown into one of the largest packers of maple syrup and salad dressings in the U.S.

Most of the syrup comes from Canada and some from the U.S. Even though Vermont is the largest producer of syrup in the U.S., Maple Grove could not find enough syrup to meet its needs. All of the products at Maple Grove are brought in and processed at their facility in St. Johnsbury along with a gift shop.

At one time, "Up Country Naturals of Vermont," was a Maple Grove brands. The Up-Country cake-mix product began 1996. Other products included "all-natural" specialty foods including maple syrup products, honey, spices, and salad dressings under the title of Maple Grove. The Up-Country cake-mix label stated that the company was on the banks of the Moose River in northern Vermont. That much is true.

Maple Grove discontinued the Up-Country line and created another label called Maple Grove Farms Organics, which now sells a pancake mix, a host of maple products syrup and salad dressings. The ingredients in the pancake mix are USDA certified organic.

* By the way, the Adamant Natural Food Co-op makes their own cake mixes from flour milled locally, sometimes grown locally. It is the oldest food co-op in Vermont and the nation.

McKenzie's - Some Vermont companies have had to leave the state because of industry competition. Years ago, the McKenzie family of Vermont processed pork products in Burlington, however there weren't enough local hog farms to supply them with pork products so they had to purchase hogs from the midwest. The family company was particularly famous for frankfurters and using Vermont maple syrup on its hams.

Like many industries, the trend in the food industry has been towards consolidation. When McKenzie's was sold in 1999 to a Massachusetts firm, the family stopped packing bacon, hot dogs and maple-cured hams after a 92-year run in Burlington. Kayem FoodsInc. of Chelsea, Mass is now the owner. They're also a family business.

There is still an operation in Burlington with McKenzie's Country Classics on the label. 10 people work in the company's Flynn Avenue facility. In the late 1980s, 75 to 100 people were kept busy at the Burlington facility. The deli meats are processed in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and don't use the Vermont name on their products any longer. Bill McKenzie, the brand's regional sales manager is the 65-year-old grandson of the company's founder.

Side Notes:

Jack Lacy raises hogs in Jericho and they are processed in Williston and Barre. Lacy makes it clear that fake Vermont products hurt Vermont farmers and punish Vermont entrepreneurs. Hadley Gaylord raises pigs in Waitsfield and takes them to Craig Harrington's slaughterhouse in Williston. Brenda Blair makes them into sausage. Local Vermont producers and processors can develop legitimate brands, but it's a struggle against the likes of B&G and Tyson Foods.

The reality is that there isn't enough grain being grown to process into bread and pancakes or pigs being produced to make hams and bacon. And there aren't enough raw materials that could go into the salsa's, pickles, pasta, dressings, jams, and chips that are processed in the Green Mountains. Jerry Seinfeld would say - "Not that there's anything wrong with." Well, there probably isn't if you consider the fact that many so-called "local products," contain ingredients from elsewhere, like pretzels from Pennsylvania. I'm referring to the wheat and salt in those baked, twisted flour concoction. It's all in the marketing, folks.

I'm not saying that is true of Vermont cheddar cheese or some maple syrup products even though the farmers in Quebec might raise heck about how some of there maple syrup goes into bottles of syrup with the Vermont name on them. The fact is that some Vermont companies use all Vermont products and some businesses process food without using local ingredients. Take Red Hen Bakery of Middlesex. They use as much local grain as possible as long as the grain is of high quality. But the fact is that there aren't enough farmers growing wheat in Vermont to satisfy the needs of local bakeries.

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The Vermont Bread Company (VBC) was founded in 1978. Its original name was Innisfree Farm. As the small bread company grew into a national business, it came to be known as the Vermont Bread Company. Very few people can remember the name Innisfree Farm any longer.

If you call try and call VBC today in Brattleboro at (802) 254-4600, you won't get any information because they were bought out by Charter Baking of Boulder, Colorado in February of 2005. As natural and organic breads become part of the mainstream baking industry, many small bakeries were bought up by large corporations.

Charter Baking was established by a New York-based equity firm. The company's management team reads like a who's who in the industry. Paul Mullan, former chief executive officer of Del Monte Foods, is the bakeries chairman. Charter Baking not only bought out the Vermont Bread Company, they also acquired Rudi's Organic Bakery - a national brand in Colorado, Superior Bakery in Connecticut, Mathews Bakery in Boston, and the Baker Bakery in New York and New Jersey.

Side Notes:

Rules/Smules - Today, the Vermont Bread brand is the leading natural and USDA organic bread in the Northeast. Charter Baking also bought a small bakery in Western Massachusetts called, Baldwin Farms - one the best tasting, heavier organic breads I've ever tasted. Today, the bread has lost its flavor and quality.

The same is true with Ben & Jerry's ice cream that was bought out by Unilever a few years ago. To me, it just doesn't taste the same. I believe the quality has been compromised. Unilever, a multi-national food corporation of Anglo-Dutch parentage, also makes home care, food, and other personal products including margarine, beverages, teas, and Dove Soap.

Many companies choose to do business in Vermont because it's where they were founded, even though the raw materials come from out-of-state. Peter Thompson's company, New England Country Foods, makes Vermont Country Soup. He said, "we can't source sufficient raw materials here in Vermont to meet the content requirement because the state of Vermont doesn't have processing facilities for vegetables and for chicken meat." If you look on their web site, it states, "New England Country Soup that is all-natural, ready to serve, low sodium, earth-friendly soup that is easy to prepare and safe for the environment."

Vermont's Not-So-Easy to Understand Regulations

According to state regulations, if the Vermont Bread Company had baked the bread in Illinois, it could not use the Vermont name on its label. The regulation would possibly change if Vermont was a wheat-exporting state, which, of course it is not. In that case, the bread maker would need to use a certain percentage of wheat grown in Vermont in the bread.

• Cold Hollow Cider of Waterbury, the largest producer of apple cider in the state, no longer uses the Vermont name on its label as most of the apples come from New York state.

• Vermont Jam Company - If someone made a blueberry jam with imported blueberries, they could use the word Vermont on the label as long as they processed the imported fruit in the state. Vermont does not grow enough blueberries to make them indigenous to the state.

• The way the regulation reads in relation to cheese is that 75 percent of the milk must come from Vermont unless there is a deficit of milk produced in the state. Twenty five years from now this may change if less milk is produced. That is highly unlikely, but you never know. The same could be said with a Vermont Apple Sauce brand if fewer apples were grown in the state.

• The question is - are products being misrepresented to the public via their labeling and packaging? One draft of the attorney general's regulation would require at least 85 percent of a product's ingredients to originate in-state or at least 85 percent of the product to be processed in-state for it to be called a Vermont product. The claim must be true. The item must be substantially transformed in Vermont into something new and different such as milk being made into yogurt or apples processed into applesauce.

• Basically, Vermont takes a "compromised" position when it comes to labeling. Legislative oversight is necessary to keep up with the changing times. On October 7, 2005, the Attorney General's office adopted a new consumer fraud rule, CF 120. A revised rule was filed on August 8, 2007. The rule was issued on order to avoid deceptive marketing. In general, the rule prohibits the use of the word "Vermont" on certain "non-Vermont" items except when a "Vermont" company name is used in close association with the product. For more information, go to www.atg.state.vt.us

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An Example - The latest salvo in the label war came when the infamous Bove's tomato sauce received a hefty penalty by the state of Vermont for using Vermont on its label. Bove's is a well-known restaurant in Burlington and a processor of up-scale tomato sauce. The sauce did not use Vermont tomatoes nor was it processed in Vermont. Thus, the company did not comply with the law. Not only did Bove's pay the fine. They also donated a large amount of tomato sauce to the Vermont Food Bank.

Vermont Seal of Approval - As far back as 1975, the Vermont legislature authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to establish an identity label, which would be applied to agricultural products produced in the state as long as they met standards of quality. The legislation led to the establishment of the Vermont Seal of Quality (VSQ).

During its first 25 years, the VSQ was a regulatory-based program, serving primarily as a means of identifying Vermont farm products that met or exceeded federal standards. Through 1999, sugarmakers represented approximately two-thirds of program participants, while the dairy industry dominated the program in sales.

By the mid 1980's, there was a limit to the number of inspections the agency could perform as many new products and commodities like Christmas trees, nursery stock, and processed food came onto the market. There was also a lack of personnel to regulate the program. Within a ten year period, the program was shuffled among three different agencies and now it's back under the Agency of Agriculture.

It was not until 2003, that other more permanent changes were made to the system. The "Buy Local" initiative was instituted to promote the purchase and promotion of Vermont farm products. However, there's never been enough money to support the program. For twenty years, value-added products have struggled with erratic marketing support. Its been like trying to keep the old tractor running with wire and old parts.

What's clear is that the "Vermont Seal of Quality" should be maintained and strengthened as should the "Buy Local" initiative. The ideal program would include both marketing and regulatory support. While the "Buy Local" marketing program has been well received in the state, many of the major markets for Vermont products lie out of the state, where the "Buy Local" message is lost.

Source:

Justis, Steve. Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Agriview,

February, 2007.

Italian False Foods - It's not only Vermonters who are questioning their name being on food produced out of state; the Italians are outraged by false `Italian' foods being imported into their country. Imagine a delicious dinner of pasta with meat sauce and grated parmesan. Add a salad of fresh mozzarella and Roman tomatoes sprinkled with Tuscan olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The only problem is that none of this food comes from Italy.

Foods that look or sound Italian but are produced elsewhere amount to $66 billion in annual sales - nearly half of the $135.5 billion worth of real Italian food that is sold worldwide each year. According to the Italy's farmers association, it might not be illegal but it is deceptive to the consumer.

Part III. Section 6. ORGANIC STANDARDS UNDER FIRE

2009-06-08T17:01:00.000-07:00

Organic farming has nothing to do with Miracle Grow, that soluble, synthetic chemical fertilizer that dominates the TV airwaves every spring and makes your lawns and gardens grow and glow. Many of those water-soluble chemicals, filled with phosphates and nitrates, find their way into streams, brooks and lakes, creating algae bloom and suffocating fish and other aquatic life.

The USDA Organic Standards Act specifies that for food to be certified organic, current national standards prohibit the use of synthetic/chemical fertilizers like anhydrous ammonia, pesticides like Sevin and herbicides like Roundup or Atrazine. It prohibits the use of antibiotics, genetically engineered seeds, genetically produced hormones (rBGH) for milk production, sewage sludge, artificial ingredients in its production and irradiation.

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More on Food Irradiation: The basic premise is that consumers can be protected from outbreaks of food poisoning with the use of irradiated foods. Irradiating food is a method of killing harmful bacteria -- the goal being to destroy microscopic organisms that cause spoilage and human disease. Corporate food processors want to douse a growing portion of the food supply with potentially hazardous radiation. What the food industry doesn't tell consumers is that if you eat too much irradiated food, it may cause genetic damage, cancer, and other serious illnesses.

Despite many studies showing the potential danger of irradiated food, the food processing industry is pressuring the government to expand its application. Food irradiation uses high-energy gamma rays, electron beams, or X-rays (all of which are millions of times more powerful than standard medical X-rays) to break apart harmful microbes, bacteria and insects than can hide in meat, grains, and other food.

If radiation is powerful enough to kill living organisms, it is also powerful enough to alter the food itself. Scientific studies bear this out. Radiation exposure does strange things to food, creating substances called "unique radiolytic products." This category of irradiation byproducts can cause gene mutations and chromosome alterations. Some mutations can cause cancer. The main problem with high-energy irradiation is that it can break apart molecular bonds and create mutagens within otherwise safe food.

The FDA has approved the use of irradiation on portions of our food supply. We might therefore assume that the scientific studies of these foods reveal no mutagenic effects. Not so! More than one-third of the studies showed mutagenic effects.

Source:

For more information on food irradiation, check out Gary Gibbs book, The Food That Would Last Forever: Understanding the Dangers of Food Irradiation (Avery Publishing) 1993.

Nearly 80 percent of consumers in a CBS News Poll said they would not eat irradiated food; yet FDA officials seem poised to approve expanded use of irradiation in our food supply.

• The FDA requires that irradiated foods include labeling.

.• Since the early 1990, a limited number of foods have been irradiated, like fruits and vegetables by a few stores.

• Irradiated poultry is available in some grocery stores - mostly small independent markets.

• If you see the label Radura on a plastic container of strawberries, its been irradiated. Radura is the official irradiation label.

• Spices don't need to be labeled as irradiated.

• Strawberries and other fruits from Florida are irradiated on a limited basis.

• Countries such as Israel and France irradiate food.

Source: Publication No. (FDA) 00-2329.

History of Organic Standards: Organic farming began as a pledge by farmers to consumers to grow food without synthetic chemicals. What began as a simple concept in the 1970s grew quickly into serious business requiring certification to verify the pledge. However, standards were not consistent in all regions of the country, making it hard to know what "organic" meant.

In 1990, Congress passed the first Organic Food Production Act. This marked the beginning of federal recognition of organic agriculture. That legislation instructed the USDA, which historically had not treated organics with respect, to establish uniform national standards for organic farming and food. The legislation also aimed to define organic, which for many years had meant different things to different people. This was a grueling task, which took close to a decade to work out. Forces within and outside the organic movement fought many battles. There was considerable input from the organic community and broad public support for strict standards.

Agribusiness wanted to define the term "organic" in very general terms, allowing the use of genetic modification, irradiation and sewage sludge. This was met with outrage by the organic movement. There followed an unprecedented flood of public comment from organic farmers and consumers. The USDA was forced to go back to the drawing board.

Questions continued to arise about the use of the "Big Three" - sewage sludge, irradiation and genetic engineering, which were not allowed in the standards of 1990. New organic standards were set in 1997 incorporating the "Big Three." There was a huge public outcry. The USDA received more than 300,000 letters of protest and the USDA responded by dropping the "Big Three."

The USDA created the National Organic Program (NOP) to implement the Organic Food Production Act. The program has two parts: first, to establish standards and second, to oversee and regulate the standards. The organic label requires certification by independent, government-accredited organizations.

In October of 2002, the USDA implemented NOP. However, since that time, tension has arisen again between agribusiness, organic farmers and others in the organic movement. There is concern that the purity of organic foods would be weakened, and that control by the organic community would be lost.

John Cleary, formerly of NOFA-VT, the Vermont chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, believes that Vermont farm products are trustworthy, but says that the organic movement must be vigilant that the national standards are not compromised. Cleary, now of Organic Valley Dairy Cooperative with offices in Vermont, said, "In order to maintain integrity we need to insure adequate public input and expertise, with organic growers informing the USDA."

Cleary went on to say that this can done through the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) that was formed by the USDA.

NOSB includes a group of consultants who advise the Secretary of Agriculture. This group has mechanisms for grower and public input. However, the USDA, according to Cleary, has not used the NOSB as intended. Because of this, it is critical for organizations such as NOFA-VT to play a larger role in maintaining a strong farmer and consumer voice.

The Latest Salvo: Many critics see an erosion of organic standards as well as the organic movement's ideals of localism and sustainability being compromised. A rider on the 2006 Agricultural Appropriations Bill legalized, for the first time, the use of synthetic substances in the processing and post-harvest handling of organic foods.

What worries many is that the rider was supported by the Organic Trade Association, a lobbying group that represents the interests of large corporations. Caren Wilcox of the Organic Trade Association said that there has always been a place for synthetics. For example, he said it would be impossible to produce organics without synthetics, i.e., ozone to resist bacteria or chlorine as a disinfectant.

Currently, 38 synthetics like baking soda are being used and are considered harmless. However, there is a real fear that the door will be open up to other synthetics - some which may be harmful to humans or the environment. Another concern was that the rider was passed in a secretive manner, as an amendment to the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act and inserted after the appropriation conference committee had adjourned.

Arthur Harvey, a producer of organic blueberry jams in Maine and a strong advocate for the organic movement, won a victory in a federal lawsuit against the USDA on the tightening up of organic standards on synthetic ingredients. Harvey found an alternative to synthetic pectin he'd been experimenting with as a thickening agent. It took some time, but eventually he discovered that apple pomace worked. Harvey said "manufacturers of organic products are terrified they won't be able to use synthetics." Two question come to mind. Can Harvey's natural pectin be produced in large enough quantities to meet the industries needs? And is the cost prohibitive for the food processors?

The National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture would create 7 categories of allowed synthetics in organic manufacturing: leavening agents, pH control, nutrient supplements, filter aids, clarifying agents, or a cleaner, and a sanitizer used in direct food contact.

How this will all play out is uncertain. As it stands, organic foods with the USDA seal must contain all natural ingredients, and be at least 95 percent organic. The other 5 percent still need to be examined to make sure there are no substances that poise a health danger to the consumer or to the environment. I bought a can of organic soup the other day that said all the vegetables were organic except for the corn. It's best to check the labels on the organic items you buy.

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Two Questions: Folks have to be vigilant about spices - many of which are not regulated when it comes to irradiation. When you purchase that bottle of organic salsa with all those spices, can you be assured none of them have been irradiated? Today, you can buy Salsa's which are 95 percent organic. What's in the other 5 percent? Or take the example of orange coloring that's used in organic products that can be derived from carrots. It's difficult to extract the orange coloring from carrots. So what's one to do? How is the industry dealing with it?

Source:

The information on synthetics came from Jake Whitney, "Agribusiness: Organic Erosion," San Francisco Chronicle, January 28, 2007.

P.S. According to Arthur Harvey, organic eggs are dipped in bleach before packaging and whole chickens are sealed in plastic bags containing up to 10 percent by weight of water containing up to 200 parts per million (ppm) of chlorine. These same chickens have never been outdoors or exposed to direct sunlight.

Organic Livestock Production and Dairying: Besides processing, the other most challenging issue with organic standards has to with livestock and milk production.

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Rules for Organic Certification of Animal Products:

1- The meat must not be irradiated and must come from animals that have been fed no genetically-modified feed.

2- The meat must come from animals that have been not been treated with antibiotics.

3- The meat must come from animals that have been raised according to a national list of allowed synthetic and prohibited natural substances. This list is lengthy and not easy to understand.

4. The meat must come from animals that have access to the outdoors and have been fed 100 percent organic grain or kept in pasture for the entirety of their lifetime.

* This last rule regarding ruminants having access to pasture has never really been worked out to the satisfaction of many folks in the organic movement. There are lots of loopholes. For example, how do you deal with a feedlot of 10,000 beef animals that are pastured on irrigated fields in the west - or a dairy herd of 2,000 dairy cows? How large are the irrigated fields? How long do the animals have to stay on the irrigated pasture.

The rule was intended to make sure that 30 percent of the feed (dry matter intake) came from open pasture during the summer growing months. This problem has never been flushed out. Today, a good portion of organic milk comes from western dairy's where the cows are fed on organic grain with little pasture. A lot of that milk is ultra-pasteurized and being shipped across the country. Check out the labels. You'll be surprised.

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Side Notes:

Most of the rules on livestock and dairying are not a concern for Vermont organic dairy and beef producers as the animals are out on grass in summer and receive hay in winter. I buy all my milk and beef from local sources or go directly to the farm for raw milk. But it's a serious issue for the organic movement as a whole.

When you look at all the rules described above, they are quite a change from the days when I was an organic vegetable and fruit grower back in the 1970s. The system was built on trust. It was simple then and it's complicated now. That's why we have to be vigilant to the corporate forces working to weaken organic standards.

There are other issues. Can a thousand acre factory farm be considered organic? Can a Twinkie be Certified Organic? Do additives and synthetic chemicals have a place in organic processed food? Should organic food mirror the existing food supply, which is salty, sugary, and highly processed? Apparently, the answer is yes to the above questions, much to the disbelief of many in the organic movement.

When I shop at various natural food co-ops, I notice more and more processed foods including those expensive organic TV dinners. I just bet you many of the folks that buy them take them home and use their microwave ovens for a quick-supper fix. What ever happened to the days when food preparation from whole foods was the norm -- or was it? I don't know any more.

* To receive e-mail public alerts on organic standards, contact the NOFA-VT office, (802) 434-4122, or send an e-mail to info@nofavt.org, or visit the website at www.nofavt.org.

Part III. Section 7. STATS ON THE LOSS OF LAND AND FARMERS IN THE NORTHEAST

2009-06-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

This statistical information gives a clear snapshot of why local alternatives are needed to cut the large amounts of imported food.

• In 1964, there were 227,355 farms. In 1997, the number was 125,430.

• In 1964, total acreage was 41,128,448; In 1997-25,266,630 acres;

• 7.4 million acres of pasture land have been lost since 1964.

• 3.6 million acres have been lost to cropland since 1964.

• The Northeast accounts for 4.2 percent of the nation's cropland but 30 percent of the nation's consumers live in the region.

• 4.1 million acres of forest land have been lost since 1964.

Farms and Land Resources in the Northeast

Farming in the Northeast is shaped by the land and climate. The region has the advantage of being a rain-fed region, with varied terrain, a wide variety of soils, and microclimates. These advantages are offset by a relatively short growing season.

The Northeast possesses some rich farmland, producing high-value specialty crops. It's also characterized by sloped, wet and stony topography suited for forage and livestock production, except for the river valleys, which are well suited for vegetable production.

From northern New York and New England, where the hilly landscape and cool climate support dairy, cattle and specialty crops, to the coastal plains of New Jersey and Maryland, where poultry and fresh produce are the mainstays, the Northeast is one of the most agriculturally diverse regions in the U.S. The greenhouse and nursery sectors flourish in high population centers and sprawling sub-divisions.

Overall, the Northeast specializes in field crops, hay, livestock, dairy, poultry and fresh produce as well as unique crops such as maple syrup and cranberries, synonymous with specific regions. Dairy was among the top five commodities in terms of cash receipts in every northeast state in 1998. The region's second most dominant crop in 1997 were greenhouse and nursery crops. Between 1987 and 1997, 31 percent of the region's orchards disappeared; New York lost nearly one-half of its orchard acres during that time. Between 1987 and 1997, agricultural sales increased 22% from $9.3 billion to $11.9 billion. Northeast sales were 6.3% of total U.S. sales.

Northeast Farms & Farmers

• Northeast farms are diversified and relatively small compared with large farms in other parts of the country. About half of the northeast farmers consider farming their principle occupation meaning they spend 50 percent or more of their time at farming. However, if it were not for off-farm income, many of these farms would go under.

• Eight percent of U.S. commercial farms account for 72 percent of total sales. Most of these are large farms. A small farm is defined by the USDA, as a farm with less than $250,000 in gross receipts. Ninety-four percent of U.S. farms fall into this category. Their average gross income is between $50,000 and $250,000. Three-quarters of U.S. farms have gross sales under $50,000.

• Most Northeast farms serve regional markets. Six percent are classified as large farms.

• U.S. Agricultural Exports totaled $49 billion in 1999. The northeast had only 3.3 percent of total exports in 1999.

Source: USDA, 1998.

• The percentage of women farmers in the Northeast is on the rise (up 2,500 between 1987 and 1997). However, there is one disturbing trend- there are twice as many farmers over the age of 65 as under 35. The average age of Northeast E farmers is 55 years old, only 8 percent are under 35, a drop of 46 percent between 1987 and 1997. (See More on Women in Agriculture called under the title "Get On the WagN" in the Appendix)

• In the Northeast, high land prices, an eroding farm service infrastructure -- from lenders to extension educators to equipment dealers, and lack of local markets and community support for farming -- creates barriers for next generation farmers.

• Suicide is the leading cause of death among American farmers, occurring at a rate three times the national average.

• Farm numbers have declined dramatically in the Northeast. The reason is the high costs of production, including fuel, services, and transportation and the low prices farmers receive for their products, especially dairy farmers. Another significant factor is the loss of farmland due to development pressures such as shopping centers, parking lots, highways and housing complexes called sprawl.

The dollar value of the land in most northeast states is the highest in the U.S. That's why purchasing farmland for new and expanding farmers is prohibitive. In 1999, the average figure for the northeast was $2,320 per acre. Two other economic vice-grips are the high cost for renting farmland and high property taxes for the farmer who owns his or her land. Some states have current use or preferential tax programs for farmland, which helps some.

In the Northeast, virtually all farms are owned by individuals, partnerships, or family corporations. Yet corporate ownership and control of farms is on the rise in several northeast states. This trend undermines efforts to build and revitalize local farm economies and protect agricultural resources.

The best mechanism by far for saving farms is called a farmland conservation easement, which protects the land from development. It is an increasingly popular preservation tool; not only does it keep the land available for farming, it reduces the price of the land, making it more affordable for future farmers. Monies for easements come from foundations and non-profit groups like land trusts, state and federal conservation funding, town conservation groups and local citizens.

Some other mechanisms are non-traditional partnerships between farm neighbors, land trusts, Community Supported Agricultural (CSA) farms, shareholders and school/community farms.

Purchasing farmland in the northeast depends on where the land is located. For example, the "North Country" of New York State is still affordable to some new farmers and retired people who want to set up small 50 to 100 acre farms. This is indicated by the growth rates of small "niche" farms in the North Country and other parts of the Northeast where land prices are affordable. However, as stated above, land prices in most areas are not affordable.

The statistics also show that small farms and large containment dairy operations are increasing in number. It's the mid-size farms that seem to be going out of business. Many of the small family-

run farms are organic, and produce specialty items like cheese, free-range chickens, grassland fed beef, greenhouse plants, fruits and vegetables. There are a growing number of organic dairy operations as well. A number of small farms use the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model to support their operation.

Source:

The information on the Loss of Farms and Land in the Northeast comes from a report from the New England Small Farm Institute in Belchertown, Massachusetts. (413) 323-4531 Check out NESFI on the web.

Part III. Section 8. VERMONT FARMSTAND SURVEY RESULTS

2009-06-06T17:10:00.000-07:00

The Vermont Farmstand Directory will enable consumers to easily locate farmstands and determine hours of operation and products and services available. The directory was made available in the spring of 2007. It will be housed and maintained online by NOFA-VT (www.nofavt.org) in addition to its extensive listings of Vermont farmer's markets, CSA's and certified organic farms. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Market also has a Vermont Farmstand and Pick-Your-Own online listing where 110 farms are listed by county. It is available at www/vermontagriculture.com/pyown.htm.

Survey Results:

The respondent rate was 47.6 percent (88 surveys were completed and returned. Not all 88 answered each question.

Do you run a farmstand?

Yes 80 No 5

Do you want to be listed in the Vermont Farmstand Directory?

Yes 80 No 5

Is your farmstand located on-site or off-site?

The vast majority (89 percent) are located on-site.

What is your farmstand structure?

30 percent had a farmstand structure -- traditional three walled

structure. 41 percent had a farmstore structure -- a four walled

building. 13 percent used a table and the rest used other structures. Farmstands vary in physical structure, from old sheds to modern farm stores.

Is your farmstand staffed or help yourself?

41 percent staffed, 21 percent help yourself, 21 percent both.

Nearly half of farmstands have staffed positions.

When is your farmstand normally open?

55 percent of farmstands are open by June. The months of greatest farmstand operation are May-October.

What products do you sell at your farmstand? The top four are:

22.7 percent -- maple

55.4 percent -- fruits and 59 percent vegetables

30.7 percent -- bedding plants, seeds

40.9 percent -- other (jam, honey, gifts)

Other findings:

• 56 respondents stated their farmstand carries less than 25 percent - off-site products.

• 18 percent of respondents are CSA's, 34 percent are pick-your-own operations, 23 percent go to farmers' markets and 18 percent offer farm tours.

• 95 percent said they felt a farmstand directory would be of assistance. 43 percent said it would assist consumers in locating farmstands. 38 percent said it would provide marketing assistance to farmers.

• Other assistance ideas: discount coupons, state-wide uniform farmstand signage, utilizing tourism centers as areas for marketing along with education, maps, the reprinting of past materials.

Specific ideas include: uniform directional steel signs displayed statewide that help consumers find farmstands, road-way literature for tour companies, farmstand brochures at Welcome Centers, coupons for the farm-to-family program, newspaper coupons for farmstand discounts, ads in local newspapers, and the farmstand directory needs to be available in both print and online to local consumers and tourists who frequent welcome centers.

Source:

Vermont Farmland Survey

Prepared for the: Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont

by Jillian Abraham, The Center for Rural Studies, University of Vermont, March, 2007.

Part IV. RESOURCES

2009-06-05T17:14:00.000-07:00

The Resources section is a comprehensive description of:

• NONPROFIT EDUCATIONAL FARM ORGANIZATIONS

• STATE GOVERNMENT AND UNIVERSITY AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS

AND PROGRAMS

• NATIONAL AND STATE FARM ORGANIZATIONS

• POLITICAL ADVOCACY FARM GROUPS

• VERMONT UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES -SUSTAINABLE FARMING

• OTHER SUSTAINABLE RESOURCES

• BOOKS

• TELEVISION

• NEWSLETTERS

• VERMONT PUBLICATIONS

• FILMS

NONPROFIT EDUCATIONAL FARM ORGANIZATIONS:

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The Northeast Organic Farmers Association (NOFA), Shelburne Farms, and Food Works are described in PART II - The Battle of the Bulge. The chapter Clamor in the Classroom focused on the program FEED (Food Education Every Day), in which these three organizations participate.

1. THE NORTHEAST ORGANIC FARMERS ASSOCIATION OF VERMONT

NOFA VT began in the early 1970s by helping set up farmers' markets throughout Vermont. Since then, it has grown by leaps and bounds and is now one of the oldest organic farming associations in the U.S. The mission of this non-profit association of farmers, gardeners, and consumers is to promote an economically viable and ecologically sound Vermont food system for the benefit of current and future generations.

I have been a member of NOFA off and on since its inception in 1971 in Putney. It has grown from a small number of people to 1000 members in Vermont. There are seven NOFA chapters in the northeast along, with an interstate council. I consider NOFA Vermont to be the most influential and dynamic farming organization in Vermont.

I remember those early days at High Mowing Farm with Samuel Kaymen, Howard Prussack and the other young hippies who now have gray hair like me. Samuel was a preacher of sorts, espousing the benefits of organic farming. He went on to start Stonyfield Yogurt in New Hampshire. Samuel was involved with the annual summer NOFA conference for New Hampshire and Vermont, co-sponsored by the Biodynamic Association. At that time, there were only 2 NOFA chapters. Today, there are 6 and the annual Northeast NOFA summer conference is held in August in Amherst, MA.

For more information, go to www.nofa.org.

There are NOFA chapters in:

Connecticut -- ctnofa.org

Massachusetts -- nofamass.org

Hew Hampshire -- nofanh.org

New Jersey -- nofanj.org

New York -- nofany,org

Rhode Island -- nofari.org

Each state has a newsletter along with a winter conference except Rhode Island.

For more information on programs in Maine, visit the MOFGA website at www.mofga.org. MOFGA, now in its 36th year, stands for Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener Association. They have an informative quarterly newsletter that describes many of their activities as well as the Common Ground Fair, held in the fall of each year. For the past 31 years the Common Ground Fair has provided a venue of alternatives and practical examples (orchards, greenhouses, workhorse demo's, etc. It is considered the largest and best fair of its kind in New England and the northeast. I agree as I've attended the fair.

NOFA Vermont

PO Box 697, 39 Bridge St. Richmond, VT 05477 (802) 434-4122

www.nofavt.org info@nofavt.org NOFA Vermont puts out an informative quarterly newsletter, called NOFA Notes.

The Natural Farmer is the northeast publication for all the NOFA chapters. It is published quarterly in a 32 to 40 page newsprint journal. The paper covers news of the organic movement nationally and internationally as well as on farming issues in New England, New York and New Jersey. Each issue contains a special theme. The editor is Jack Kittredge. Jack has published 67 issues as of 2006. Before then, the paper was spotty at best. This is the best organic publication in the Northeast, with much in-depth information. Back issues are available.

The Natural Farmer

411 Sheldon Rd.

Barre, MA 01005

TNF@NOFA.ORG

Themes of some back issues: On-Farm Equipment, Bees, Beginning Farmers, Access to Land, Youth & Agriculture, Transition to Organic, Renewable Energy on Farms, The Organic Consumer, and Can Organic Feed the World?

NOFA Vermont Programs:

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Agricultural Education - Over 700 people attended the 23rd Annual NOFA Vermont Winter Conference at Vermont Technical College in 2005. It always seems to snow the day of the event. The conference is filled with the idealism of youth and the practicality of experience. Hundreds of workshops have been given over the years. Each year, there is a theme. In 2007, the topic was "The Road Less Traveled: Choosing the Road to Food Security in Vermont."

NOFA sponsored 16 on-farm summer workshops in 2005 as well as provided consultation to 57 schools through the VT FEED project. These projects focused on food service training, school garden planning, and connecting local farmers to schools. NOFA developed the Apprentice and Willing Worker Directory, bringing apprentices and farms together.

Promotion and Marketing: NOFA coordinated the Vermont Farmers' Market Collective, organized 16 Youth Farmers' Markets, produced and distributed the Vermont Organic Farmers Directory, organized the in-store promotion of certified organic products, and received funding to develop a value-added Vermont Farmers' Pizza. Sounds good to me, but I need a taste test first.

Community Food Security (CFS): The goals of CFS are to increase access to local and organic food for limited-income Vermonters and to provide public education in linking farm, food and hunger issues. In 2005, NOFA provided, through the Vermont Farm Share and Senior Farm Share Program, subsidized food shares to 636 limited-income seniors and 34 senior housing sites from 20 CSA farms. The annual Share the Harvest fundraiser was supported by NOFA along with 74 restaurants which contributed a percentage of one-day sales to support a number of limited-income families.

Organic Certification: This program certifies organic farms by verifying organic practices. In 2005, NOFA increased the number of certified organic farms and processors to 49,000 acres of Vermont farmland with gross sales of $48 million dollars. NOFA also worked to maintain the integrity of national organic standards.

Technical Assistance Programs - The goals are to create economically viable farm models in Vermont through technical information and services for commercial organic growers, including research and on-farm workshops.

• The Dairy Technical Assistance Program included 9 on-farm technical workshops, 2 dairy transition workshops and on-farm consultations for farmers switching from conventional to organic dairy farming.

• Collaborated with the University of Vermont to provide 21 farms with technical assistance on grass management.

• Provided assistance to 6 dairy farms and 5 vegetable farms to develop business plans as part of the Farm Viability Enhancement Program of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board.

• Developed farmer mentor relationships for 29 livestock producers on soils, grazing, marketing and animal health.

• Collected data on 14 Vermont organic dairy farms as part of a collaborative project with the University of Vermont and the Maine Organic Producers Association to research what it costs to produce organic milk.

• Launched the Northeast Organic Producers Alliance

• NOFA loaned money to small farmers for equipment and operating expenses through the NOFA Revolving Loan Fund Program.

Social Action

The goals are to educate the community on current social and political issues that have a direct impact on organic farmers in Vermont. Current issues include concern over genetic engineering, regulatory obstacles to on-farm sales, and national organic standards. Members are informed through e-mails, NOFA notes and public presentations.

Vermont Farm Viability Enhancement Program (VFVEP)

NOFA participates in VFVEP where farmers receive free financial and business planning help from NOFA, the Extension Service and the Intervale Center.

Green Mountain Growers Revolving Loan Fund

NOFA-VT accepts applications for the loan fund. Loans range from $2,000 to $15,000 for equipment, working capital, and improvement of business management.

Part IV. Section 2. SHELBURNE FARMS

2009-06-04T17:22:00.000-07:00

Shelburne Farms is a 1,400 acre working farm, national historic site and nonprofit environmental education center located on the beautiful shores of Lake Champlain in Vermont. Shelburne Farms was created in the 1880s by William Seward Webb and Lila Vanderbilt Webb as a model agricultural estate. The barns and courtyards were built during the Gilded Age in 1886 by the Webbs of New York City. The grounds were designed by the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Omlstead, who also designed Central Park in NYC. To the west are the Green Mountains and to the east are the Adirondack Mountains -- a most beautiful setting especially as the sun goes down over the lake.

Its mission is to cultivate a conservation ethic. Schoolchildren, adults, educators and families come to the farm to learn. Visitors enjoy the walking trails, children's farmyard, inn, restaurant, and special events.

In 1972, Shelburne Farms was founded as an educational nonprofit organization. The grass-based dairy supports a herd of 125 purebred, registered Brown Swiss cows. The milk is made into an award-winning farmhouse cheddar cheese.

The cheesemaker at Shelburne Farms told me that the term "farmhouse cheese" means that the milk must come from the cows on the farm. Shelburne Farms cheese is only made during the summer months when the cows are munching on green grass. The cheese is made with raw milk; it's not pasteurized, the way most cheese is made today. Most of the cheese is sold at the farm store, through mail-order and local markets. I was told in the summer of 2008 that Costco is interested in carrying the Shelburne Farms brand of cheese.

Besides producing a high-quality cheddar cheese, the farm is involved with a number of school programs including FEED. There is an outreach program for students and teachers along with an educators workshop where teachers develop the curriculum.

Examples of Education Workshops:

From the Farm-to-You Workshop: Students grind wheat berries into flour, make bread, care for the farm animals, make butter, and harvest vegetables from the farm garden to make a soup to share.

Farm Life and History: Explore the importance of agriculture in our lives by making discoveries about the past. By doing farm chores, comparing farm tools from the past to the present, investigating journals and photographs from the late 1800s and early 1900s, students gain a sense of what life was like on the farm.

Join the Flock for Children connects children's literature, art and life cycles of animals while spending a day on the farm during lambing season. Students explore a year in the life of a sheep from its birth and care to the harvesting of its wool fibers. Students spend time with newborn lambs and their mothers and work with wool from carding to spinning to felting.

Other workshops include Spring in the Forest, Active in Winter, Pond Life Cycles, Milk and More, Sugaring Time, Wetland Ecosystems, Stories in Stone, Winter Trekking and Farmer for a Day.

For general information go to www.shelburnefarms.org.

For information on FEED, contact:

Kim Norris, Shelburne Farms

1611 Harbor Road

Shelburne, VT 05482

(802) 985-8686, ext 25