agriculture
Food Hub Certificate Helps Organizations Find Their Place in the Food System
Ben Earle is all about using innovative approaches to solve organizational and community problems. The executive director of Feed the Need in Durham, Ontario, enrolled in UVM’s Food Hub Management Certificate Program in 2018 to help gain a deeper knowledge and hands-on training on the role and place of food hubs in the food system. The UVM food hub […]
UVM’s Food Hub Program Takes its Curriculum on the Road to Michigan
Food system experts in Michigan wanted to offer a comprehensive food hub management program without reinventing the wheel. So they turned to UVM. UVM’s Food Hub Management Professional Certificate Program is heading to Michigan in 2019 as part of a new partnership between the University, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, and the Michigan State University Center for Regional […]
UVM Is: Teresa Mares Studying the Challenges Faced by Migrant Dairy Workers
Near the Vermont-Canadian border, migrant dairy workers are grappling with food insecurity and increasing anxiety. Living on the dairy farms where they are employed, undocumented migrant workers are often reluctant to go grocery shopping—or anywhere for that matter—for fear of detention and deportation by the federal border patrol. Vermont is not often viewed as a […]
Farmer Training Student Digs Deep to Better Understand Food Policy
Allie Williams learned early on the importance of healthy food. While growing up in Houston and Memphis, her family had always put a big emphasis on cooking and eating right. But high obesity rates in Memphis, along with a gluten allergy she was diagnosed with in high school, eventually gave Allie the desire to learn […]
A Military Veteran Learning to Farm Finds His Calling at UVM
Farming was the last thing on Anthony Hamilton’s mind during the Iraq War. But a decade after being stationed in Baghdad, he’s learning how to raise livestock, grow vegetables, and operate irrigation systems and tractors at UVM. A student in the UVM Farmer Training Program, Anthony is raising chickens at Catamount Farm, growing everything from […]
UVM Is: Terry Bradshaw Helping Students Navigate the Realities and Rewards of Farming
While growing up on a farm in the small town of Chelsea, Terry Bradshaw learned from a young age the value of expertise and outreach. To help keep his family’s farm running smoothly, his parents often asked state and regional agriculture officials for guidance on a variety of farming issues. That support system gave the […]
Farmer Training Alumna Makes the Leap from Science to Sheep Farming
Annie Hopper never considered farming as a career. The Houston native, who studied conservation biology at Middlebury College, was going about her life pursuing a profession in science while interning for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency in Washington, D.C. But something felt off. Her heart wasn’t in it and she longed to be back […]
Farmer Training Student Chris Waters Starts a New Chapter in Sustainable Agriculture
By S’ra DeSantis We talked to Chris Waters, a student in the UVM Farmer Training Program, about his lifelong dream to be a farmer and his plans to apply all he’s learned about sustainable agriculture back home in Colorado. Where are you from? I live and play in Fort Collins, Colorado, a town with a […]
Pitchfork in the Road: Graphic Designer Lara Dickson Finds a Second Career at Next Chapter Farm
By Sarah Tuff Dunn A few years ago, Burlington’s Lara Dickson was living high on the hog in graphic and web design, feeding off 20 years of freelance and independent contract work. Today, the 46-year-old is literally living with the piglets as the one-woman wonder behind Next Chapter Farm, a 15-acre enterprise in West Berlin, […]
UVM Program Helps Students Navigate the Complexities & Rewards of Food Hubs
By Sarah Tuff Dunn What does it mean to be a food hub? That’s the question hundreds of communities across the United States are asking as they seek meaningful partnerships with local farmers to provide sustainable, healthy sources of fare—and an answer UVM is now answering with its Food Hub Management Program. Students can choose […]
