Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) announces the opening of the FY2025 funding cycle for the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, which aims to strengthen Vermont’s specialty crop industries and producer associations. Specialty crops are defined as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, horticulture crops (including honey, hops, maple syrup and mushrooms), and nursery crops (including Christmas trees and floriculture).  Approximately $180,000 is available in grant funds for FY25. Grants requests must range from $15,000 to $45,000. Interested applicants should apply by January 8, 2025 at 11:59 PM.

Vermont Business Magazine ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain has announced that it has become the first location in Vermont to achieve the KultureCity certification. KultureCity is a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting inclusivity and accessibility for individuals with sensory needs. KultureCity’s flagship initiative, the Sensory Inclusive program, has been widely embraced by venues, stadiums, and cultural institutions across the nation and around the world. This groundbreaking program provides training and resources to staff, enabling them to better accommodate individuals with sensory sensitivities. As a result, countless families and individuals can now experience and enjoy live events, entertainment, and public spaces with greater comfort and ease. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Education rereleased an updated version of the State Education Profile Report. Since the first release in August, the Agency has worked with education leaders across Vermont to share data and gather feedback about potential data inconsistencies and ways to improve data presentation. The rereleased report highlights emerging trends in enrollment, student demographics, student outcomes, staffing, and expenditures. While statewide trends remained consistent after the data refinements, changes were found at the individual Supervisory Unions and School Districts (SU/SDs) level. These shifts will have greater impacts on comparisons among SU/SD groups in future reporting.

Vermont Business Magazine Mascoma Community Development (MCD) is pleased to announce the closing of $13 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation to finance the expansion of Weidmann Electrical Technology, Inc. (Weidmann) in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. The project is needed to support higher levels of demand for large power transformer insulation and to create pathways for career advancement and income growth in Northern Vermont. With the support of MCD’s New Markets Tax Credit financing, Weidmann will expand its transformer board manufacturing capacity and construct a finished goods storage facility that will create and retain quality, accessible jobs. The company is a significant employer in St. Johnsbury, a town experiencing substantial declines in household median income and population due in large part to lack of good jobs and skills-based training programs. The Weidmann project is estimated to retain 300 jobs and create 67 new jobs upon completion.

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $3.10 per gallon, up 0.5 cents per gallon from last week's $3.09/g. The lowest price in the state yesterday was $2.79/g while the highest was $3.29/g, a difference of 50.0 cents per gallon. The national average price of gasoline has fallen 1.4 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.01/g today. The national average is down 11.2 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 23.7 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

Vermont Business Magazine A team of archaeologists from the University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire, and others have collected data which indicates the presence of a large-scale pre-Columbian fish-trapping facility. Discovered in the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, the largest inland wetland in Belize, the team dated the construction of these fisheries canals to the Late Archaic period (cal. 2000-1900 BCE), pre-dating Amazonian examples by a thousand years or more. 

Vermont Business Magazine A total of nine cheeses from Jasper Hill Farm received medals at this year’s World Cheese Awards, including Gold Medals for Harbison and Vault No. 5; Silver Medals for Cabot Clothbound, Caspian, Moses Sleeper, and Alpha Tolman; and a Bronze Medal for Willoughby. Barnstorm Blue, made by Jasper Hill Farm and Ripened by Murray’s Cheese, was awarded a Silver Medal. Bayley Hazen Blue was first awarded one of 108 Super Gold Medals before selection as a Top 14 finisher. Ultimately, Bayley Hazen Blue was awarded 83 points, which amounted to a fifth-place finish overall, with the winning cheese at 86 points. The World Cheese Awards, hosted annually in different international cities, was held this year in Viseu, Portugal. A total of 240 judges from 39 countries were split into 104 teams to undertake the mammoth task of determining which entries were worthy of an accreditation. 

Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets The Request for Applications is now available for the 2025 Trade Show Assistance Grant. $50,000 is available to provide Vermont agricultural, food, and forestry businesses with funds to exhibit and sell their Vermont products at trade shows targeting out-of-state wholesale buyers. These matching grants can partially offset the expenses associated with exhibiting at trade shows, which provide excellent opportunities to network with wholesale buyers and expand into new domestic and international markets. Applicants may request between $2,000 and $5,000 to offset the costs of up to five trade shows. Eligible applicants must have at least three wholesale accounts and their product(s) must meet the Vermont Local Definition as defined in Act 129. The application will be open from December 6th - January 20th. 

by Joyce Marcel, Vermont Business Magazine Lisa L. Keysar is a true rarity — a top female executive in a man’s insurance world. Keysar, 62, was serving as the executive vice president of Montpelier’s Union Mutual of Vermont when she became president and CEO in October 2020, after the sudden death four months earlier of its popular leader, Michael Noblesat, at age 50. Keysar is the 15th person to be the company’s CEO and the first woman to lead the firm since it was founded in 1874. She is steeped in the insurance business: her father served as president and CEO of Union Mutual from 1993 to 2001. The company celebrates its 150th anniversary this year.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Arts Council is now accepting applications for its Artist Development Grants, which support artists at all stages of their careers. Artist Development Grants fund activities that enhance mastery of an artist’s craft or skills or that increase the viability of an artist's business. Funding may also support aspects of the creation of new work when the activity allows the grantee to accept a rare and important opportunity. Grants are up to $2,000, and there are two grants rounds each year. This year, responding to feedback from artists as well as research and trends in grantmaking, we're excited to pilot a new method for selecting grantees for this grant program: random draw.

by Teresa A Fama, MD MS It’s time for the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) to develop different methods to control health care spending in Vermont.  The GMCB uses blunt measures based on price and volume, two main tenets of an old fee-for-service financing system dating back to the 1980s – or even earlier – that ignore the escalating healthcare needs of an aging population and do not capture the impact of the innovative tools we are using to care for patients. Price and volume are crude metrics that do not tell the story of current health care delivery. Care today includes staffing shortages, high turnover rates, more temporary (and costly) workers, more hospital workers being unionized and offered higher wages, and increasing pharmaceutical costs. 

AccuWeather Global Weather Center Ski mountains are getting an early-season boost with a bomb cyclone and atmospheric rivers unleashing feet of snow in the Northwest, as well as a storm bringing the first accumulating snowfall of the season to elevated parts of the Northeast. AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Expert Paul Pastelok says a promising season is shaping up for skiers and snowboarders in much of the Northwest, Rockies, Midwest and northern New England, but it could be a challenging winter for mountains in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.