sustainable agriculture
Shaileen Swan Discovers the Joy and Healing of Farming
Shaileen Swan understands the healing power of farming. While she worked as a senior recreation therapist at a psychiatric facility in Syracuse, New York, Swan helped patients grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers in a small courtyard. The sense of community and pride that the garden instilled for patients was enough for Swan to realize she […]
Farmer Training Certificate Program Inspires Student To Open Tortilleria
Brandon Chase’s personal and professional goals include living sustainably, spending time outdoors, and opening a tortilleria in Washington State. After living in Vermont for the past six months, the California native is looking to make big changes in his life as he plans to move to the San Juan Islands with his wife, Lila. Chase, […]
Seeing the Big Picture for Sustainable Food Systems Leadership
Molly Clark came to UVM to get a broader perspective on sustainable agriculture. The environmental studies graduate student from the University of Pennsylvania enrolled in UVM’s Breakthrough Leaders for Sustainable Food Systems Professional Certificate Program last summer for a high-level understanding of food, farms, and sustainability. Clark is an assistant field manager of Rushton Farm—owned […]
Farmer Training Student Taps into His Entrepreneurial Side
Sam O’Brien comes from a family of dairy farmers. His paternal great-grandparents ran a dairy farm in North Ferrisburg, and O’Brien grew up hearing stories about his father’s childhood on the family farm. O’Brien, 19, will follow in his great-grandparents’ agrarian footsteps and focus his career on vegetable farming. The Colchester resident is a student […]
UVM Alumna MJ Pickett Realizes Her Power in the Food System
MJ Pickett knows she can make a change. The UVM alumna, who graduated in 2010 with a degree in Natural Resources Management, grows vegetables and raises hogs with her husband at their farm in Gunnison, Colorado. Their farm, Calder Farm Ltd., produces pork, root crops, and cut flowers. The couple started their farm in 2016 […]
New Cannabis Plant Biology Program Focuses on Horticulture and Post-Harvest Best Practices
-Monique McHenry, PhD, program director for the UVM Certificate in Cannabis Plant Biology program Cannabis-based products, including hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD), are marketed as improving health, but few regulations exist to ensure product quality. Horticulture, extraction, and storage practices are critical to the quality of any cannabis product. That’s where the UVM Professional Certificate in Cannabis […]
You Can Breakthrough a Broken Food System to Lead Change
By Cynthia Belliveau, Dean of University of Vermont Continuing and Distance Education and professor in UVM’s Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences. We have a problem. The current American food system is ecologically, economically and energetically unsustainable. There are nearly seven billion people who need to eat. We have a global system that degrades our land, […]
UVM Is: Martha Caswell Advocates for Agroecology
Countries around the world, from Senegal to Brazil and the Netherlands, are embracing agroecology to achieve a more sustainable food system and adapt to climate change. But one place where agroecology has yet to go mainstream is the United States. Martha Caswell, research and outreach coordinator for the UVM Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC), understands […]
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 […]
Learning the Business of Local Food in the UVM Food Hub Program
Benjamin Bartley’s career has touched many facets of the food industry, from baker, cook, and butcher to educator, advocate, and program director. The University of Florida alumnus, who graduated with degrees in religion and political science, completed UVM’s Food Hub Management Certificate Program last year. Now a value chain specialist at La Montañita Co-op in […]
