Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Council on Rural Development, along with an advisory group of youth leaders and adults that work with and support youth, are announcing the release of the “VT Vision for Youth Success” report today to showcase bright spots, challenges, and concrete action recommendations to advance opportunities for youth in Vermont communities. This report is the culmination of a deep engagement process that included the voices and insights of over 600 Vermonters of all ages, including more than 200 youth voices. Input was captured through a series of youth-adult co-facilitated forums in every region of the state, stakeholder interviews, youth-led discussion around the state, and a statewide survey reaching every corner of Vermont. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Agency of Education in partnership with The Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets recognized six supervisory unions (SU/SDs) that have achieved the highest rates of local purchasing through The Local Foods Incentive Grant program established in 2021. The efforts of schools, farms, community partners, and the state continue to create new and exciting partnerships that are boosting both the economy and food access across the state. Windham Northeast has paved the way for this program’s success in recent years. In recognition of their success and to recognize the other programs making impressive strides, on Monday June 10 Interim Secretary Zoie Saunders held an event with the school community at Bellows Falls Union High School.

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont- $3.48/g, down 7.2 cents per gallon from last week's $3.55/g. The lowest price in the state yesterday was $3.19/g while the highest was $3.79/g, a difference of 60.0 cents per gallon. The national average price of gasoline has fallen 10.0 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.40/g today. The national average is down 23.0 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 18.2 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets The Working Lands Enterprise Board (WLEB) has announced 51 awards to Vermont farm, forest, and food businesses and organizations in 2024. The $2,329,561 in awards will support those who are earning a living off the land. The award categories are: American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Primary Producer Impact Grants - $812,991 awarded to 6 farms to support businesses after being negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic; Business Enhancement Grants - $558,343 awarded to 14 businesses to support market development, infrastructure, equipment costs, and workforce development; Small Farm Diversification & Transition Grants - $150,000 awarded to 12 farms to support them in diversifying farm products, transitioning to a new form of farming, processing farm products, and/or developing an accessory on-farm business; Supply Chain Impact Grants - $788,159 awarded to 6 businesses and nonprofits to support critical supply chain infrastructure investments that create new opportunities for multiple businesses in their respective supply chains; Trade Show Assistance Grants - $59,968 awarded to 13 businesses to support attendance at trade shows to bring Vermont products to out of state markets.  

Vermont Business Magazine This weekly report is a list of planned construction activities that will impact traffic on state highways and interstates throughout Vermont for the week of June 10, 2024. Please remember to drive safely in all work zones. Lives depend on it. 

Vermont Business Magazine For World Oceans Day, the Richmond, Vermont-based stainless steel cycling water bottle company Bivo is launching the Sea Turtle Bottle, with 100% of profits going to the Sea Turtle Conservancy to protect sea turtles. Made in collaboration with South-Florida based photographer, environmental advocate and avid cyclist, Ben Hicks, these bottles feature laser-engraved sea turtle artwork meant to highlight the concerns around plastic debris in the ocean and how that’s impacting sea turtles and other marine life.

by Olga Peters, Vermont Business Magazine Richard Wobby Jr., executive vice president of the Associated General Contractors of Vermont, predicts another great year ahead for Vermont’s construction industry. Extra federal and state funding flowed through contractors’ projects. Repairing the damage from the summer and winter floods kept companies busy. “Between FEMA (flood repairs) and our normal workload, we’re probably going to see somewhere around a 12% increase in total work out there,“ Wobby said. “The work is there, and we are flying.“ The worry, he added, is that Vermont’s approximately 15,000 construction workers are insufficient to meet demand.

by Olga Peters, Vermont Business Magazine Barre City has a conundrum: How can it become more resilient to future flooding while also preserving land for housing? During last summer’s flood, the city’s mostly residential, low-income North End neighborhood absorbed a devastating blow. The city has received 57 buyout applications from property owners whose buildings were substantially damaged. If approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the buyouts will help compensate property owners. In exchange, the city would return the land to green space. Forever. The exchange, however, could mean less land available for housing and, for a city with a Grand List based mostly on residential properties, a loss of property tax revenue. A chance also exists that when the housing goes, so will residents.

by Olga Peters, Vermont Business Magazine Depending on who you ask, Vermont needs anywhere from 3,500 to 7,000 new housing units to meet its immediate needs. Both estimates, however, exceed the amount of new housing built annually in the state. Commissioner Alex Farrell, Department of Housing and Community Development, acknowledged a disparity between the amount of effort the state and communities have put into housing and the amount of new housing coming online. After the 1980s and 1990s, he said Vermont stopped producing housing for various reasons. Some reasons are within the state’s control, and some are not. He said the state can control the regulatory environment that fosters more housing.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Agency of Transportation highway and bridge projects scheduled for 2024.

by C.B. Hall, Vermont Business Magazine As construction season gets underway in Vermont, the Agency of Transportation appears to have resolved the most urgent problems created by last July’s floods — undercut roadways, damaged culverts, washed-out roadside slopes and so forth. Less than 8% of the projects being advertised to prospective bidders this year are directly tied to the floods. But Jesse Devlin, VTrans’ highway safety and design program manager, said that ”numerous permanent emergency relief projects” currently in or scheduled for design development will be advertised within the next several years. Several large multiyear road construction projects, meanwhile, continue apace. These include Burlington’s Champlain Parkway, the widening of the I-89 crossing of the Connecticut River at White River Junction, and the revamping of the I-89 interchange with US 2/7 in Colchester.

Vermont Business Magazine The extensive inventory of ceramics by artist and Benedictine monk Brother Thomas Bezanson (1929-2007) created while he was part of the monastic community at Weston Priory (Weston, VT) will be sold in two sessions at Maine auction company, Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, on June 28, 29 & 30 and August 23, 24 & 25, 2024. Weston Priory Vermont is a community of Benedictine monks inspired by a tradition of prayer, manual work and hospitality. It has been the home of the largest and most important repository of Bezanson's work completed between 1959 and the early 1980s. The 61-piece collection represents the evolution of his artistic skill and refinement of his glazes throughout this period, and it has been lovingly cared for since he left the monastery in 1983.