Current News

by Secretary Anson Tebbetts, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets As legislators move into the second half of the session, efforts to improve the quality of water in Vermont continue. On the tables of legislative committees, a series of proposals address everything from funding to emergency action. These are healthy discussions, and they are not confined to the Golden Dome.

The Agency of Agriculture is working with farmers and stakeholders on a host of issues. As the Legislature does its work, farmers and stakeholders are doing theirs. Many people are working through water quality, contemporaneously. We are making progress.

Lake Carmi. ANR photo.

Vermont Business Magazine Are your New Year’s resolutions already in the rearview mirror? If so, you’re not alone, but you still have time to make good on at least one. NOFA Vermont is pleased to join other organizations and farms from around the country in raising awareness for the third annual CSA Day on February 23. People who are committed to eating healthy foods, supporting their local farmer, and being adventurous in the kitchen can make good on one of their resolutions by signing up for a spring or summer CSA now. A directory of farms in Vermont with CSAs is available online at nofavt.org/buydirect.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation (VTFPR) and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Foods & Markets (VAAFM) report that emerald ash borer (EAB), a destructive forest insect from Asia, has been detected in Vermont. Officials with the USDA Animal & Plant Health and Inspection Service (APHIS) have confirmed the identification of a beetle recently found in northern Orange County, Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) on Tuesday met with five current and former students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, who traveled to Washington this week to speak to legislators and work to prevent another tragedy like the mass shooting they experienced at their school February 14.

Vermont Business Magazine Iowa is the best state in the country, according to the second annual 2018 Best States study from US News & World Report, the global authority in rankings and civic journalism. US News evaluated all 50 states across a range of criteria, from education and health care to infrastructure and the economy, to capture how states best serve their citizens. Vermont ranked 9th overall, with its best sub-categories being Health Care, Opportunity and Crime & Corrections. It lagged in Economy and Infrastructure and was only average in Quality of Life.

Vermont Business Magazine On Tuesday, February 27, 2018, the RuralEdge (RE) Board of Directors announced the resignation of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Trisha Ingalls. Brian Pickard, Chief Operating Officer (COO), will provide leadership in the interim. Based in Lyndonville, RuralEdge develops affordable housing.

by Adam Grinold, Executive Director, Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation I lead an organization that is working to build a vibrant regional economy. The dry language of economic development does little justice to the way our work touches real people and real communities. A sample of our activities from just the past few weeks illustrates the range of challenges and triumphs, and what our daily work entails.

​Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Retail & Grocers Association (VRGA) is proud to announce they will receive a $2,500 Workforce and Education Training fund grant from the Department of Labor. The “mini” grant fund promotes job readiness activities that will eventually lead to jobs. The grant is for VRGA’s RISE Up retail training pilot program, which will provide 100 individuals with scholarships to complete the National Retail Federation’s Retail Industry Fundamentals credential.

The credential helps entry level workers advance in the workforce. With the retail sector employing one in four workers in Vermont, RISE Up addresses the skills gap in the retail sector of the Vermont workforce. The “skills gap” refers to the disconnect between the skills an employer needs to fill critical positions and what prospective employees are equipped to do.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont State Craft Center Overview Commission is seeking new volunteer representatives from the Vermont crafts community to join the Standards Group for the Vermont State Craft Centers network. For anyone with a working knowledge of the Vermont crafts in his/her community, this is an opportunity to play an important role in helping to elevate craft and craft education throughout the state.

Working with the Overview Commission and the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing, the Standards Group works to promote Vermont crafts by helping to grow and nurture the network of Vermont State Craft Centers statewide. Currently in the network are five galleries (Artisans Hand, Frog Hollow, Gallery at the VAULT, Northeast Kingdom Artisans Guild, Collective--the Art of Craft) and three craft education centers (Fletcher Farm School, Shelburne Craft School, Vermont Woodworking School).

Vermont Business Magazine Late yesterday, President Trump signed into law bipartisan legislation introduced by Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) that will improve landline telephone service in rural areas plagued by phone calls being dropped or not getting through at all. Welch partnered with Rep. David Young (R-Iowa) to champion the legislation after learning from Dakin Farm in Ferrisburgh and Camels Hump Middle School in Richmond that their incoming and outgoing phone calls were being dropped or not completed. As a result, Dakin Farms has experienced lost revenue due to uncompleted customer calls and public safety is jeopardized when school officials are unable to reach parents to convey weather-related school closings.

The cause of the problem is poor service by middleman companies across the country whose job it is to connect calls between national and local landline networks.

Vermont Business Magazine In a special board meeting on Monday, February 26th, the Burlington School District’s Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a “Resolution Related to Action on Gun-Related Violence Prevention.”

by Mary Kate Mohlman, Director, Health Care Reform and Jolinda LaClair, Director, Drug Prevention Policy, Agency of Human Services Each year almost 6,000 women check out of a Vermont hospital with their newborn. As they leave, behind them is a place filled with doctors, nurses, lactation consultants, food, and the resources to address almost any emergency. There is a sense of security and safety. In front of them is a car, a heavy, awkward car seat, and a drive to a home where the joys and challenges of caring for an infant await them. This moment is daunting for any family, and especially one struggling with addiction.