Current News

Vermont Business Magazine US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that the agency is making investments in 185 projects worth nearly $196 million to create new and better market opportunities for producers and entrepreneurs across the country. The funding includes $2,247,000 for Vermont and New Hampshire businesses through Value Added Producer Grants, a Rural Business Development Grant and Business & Industry Loan Guarantee. Funding includes $250,000 Value Added Producer Grants for three farms in Vermont and one in New Hampshire; and a $1.2 million Business & Industry Loan Guarantee to finance a 788 kW solar array farm in Georgia, Vermont. 

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Killington Resort, the largest ski and snowboard resort in Eastern North America and part of POWDR – an adventure lifestyle company – hosted the women’s Audi FIS Ski World Cup for the seventh time over Thanksgiving Weekend. Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami won the giant slalom under cold and sunny skies on Saturday with Mikaela Shiffrin rounding out the podium in third. On Sunday, the crowd roared as Mikaela Shiffrin won her sixth slalom title at Killington and the 90th Audi FIS Ski World Cup of her career. The crowds totaling 34,000 over the weekend began arriving on Friday for the athlete bib presentation and fireworks display, and filled the Grandstands, vendor village and Great Gulf LiveKillington.com VIP tent both Saturday and Sunday as 100 of the fastest female alpine ski racers from 20 different countries descended Superstar.

by Joan Goldstein, Commissioner, Department of Economic Development As the temperature starts to tumble, we at the Department of Economic Development (DED) are still mindful of the damage created by our summer storms.  That’s why Governor Scott announced a holiday push to raise an additional $1,000,000 dollars for flood relief from sales of ‘Vermont Strong’ license plates and socks. Proceeds will benefit individuals via the Vermont Community Foundation and the Business Emergency Gap Assistance Program (BEGAP) will distribute funds to businesses, nonprofits, and landlords. The BEGAP portal closed in late October. We have enough applicants still in the queue to account for this new infusion of funding.  To date, BEGAP has helped 500 organizations.

The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets has announced that $7.5 million is available through the Agricultural Clean Water Initiative Program (AgCWIP) for local and regional partners to provide services for Vermont farms to support the improvement of water quality and climate change mitigation across the state of Vermont. The Ag-CWIP program supports activities in organizational capacity development, education and outreach, technical assistance, conservation practice surveys, and more. Eligible applicants include individuals, businesses, and organizations who work with farmers to support conservation efforts.

by Peter Sterling, REV There’s good news ahead in the fight against climate change. Utilities, business owners and energy experts now acknowledge there’s an affordable path to achieving what was once just a dream for environmentalists - a 100% renewable energy future for Vermont. This future includes more energy storage and conservation, weatherizing of our homes and a switch off of fossil fuels and onto hydro, solar and wind power for all of our electricity. This renewable energy future starts with the political leadership to change our laws at home- updating our 2015 Renewable Energy Standard to require utilities to get to 100% renewables by 2030. Once a leader in New England in the energy transition off of fossil fuels, Vermont is now the only state in the region to not have updated its renewables requirement in the last eight years as the reality of the economic, environmental and social costs of the climate crisis have sunk in.

Vermont Business Magazine Three Palestinian students were shot while walking on North Prospect Street in Burlington Saturday by an unknown person for an unknown reason, police said. All three are expected to survive, with one victim in more serious condition than the others. Seven Days reported Monday morning that Jason J. Eaton, who police said lives in the building in front of which the shooting occurred, was expected to be arraigned on Monday morning. Charges were not immediately announced. Governor Phil Scott on Sunday issued the following statement: “The shooting of three students of Palestinian descent in Burlington last night is a tragedy, and I hope each of them make a full recovery from their injuries. My thoughts are with them and their families. I have offered the State’s full support to the Mayor and Burlington Police Chief as this senseless crime is investigated, and in support of the Palestinian and broader Burlington community."

by Emily Bradbury Richard Berkfield, executive director of Food Connects, has a vision that someday soon, Vermont farmers and food producers will be able to supply more food to more people in the region. In doing so, farms and small businesses will thrive and people will have access to healthy, affordable, locally produced food–especially those living in rural areas where food is grown, but not always available. While that vision may call to mind verdant farms and colorful produce, for Berkfield, at the moment it’s about warehouses and refrigeration.

by Amanda Kuhnert Matt Lewis doesn’t shy away from new challenges. In fact, he embraces them. “If someone else can do it, I figure I can do it too,” he said. “I do my very best to learn everything I can.” His career includes stints as a carpenter, rock-climbing gym manager, sailing instructor and, most recently, a consultant for AT&T. In June, he added business owner to the list when he and his wife, Carrie, purchased Gourmet Provence, a bakery on Center Street in Brandon, where the couple have lived for a decade.

Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies In this episode, we are joined by Christian Cobaugh, the founder and CEO of Vernal Biosciences, a groundbreaking mRNA production company located in Colchester. With Vernal recently securing an impressive $20 million capital raise, Cobaugh shares the company's remarkable achievements and their unique features. Cobaugh delves into the importance of moving swiftly and outlines an ambitious vision for the future of Vernal Biosciences. 

by Secretary Lindsay Kurrle and Secretary Jenney Samuelson Vermont faces a housing crisis. So, like we did during the pandemic and the flood, the Scott Administration has worked to tackle this issue with a collaborative, cross-agency approach bringing together the agencies of Commerce and Community Development, Human Services, Natural Resources and Digital Services, and the departments of Housing, Children & Families and Public Safety. This collaboration gives us a comprehensive view of this complicated problem. And we’ve been successful in transitioning an unprecedented number of Vermonters out of homelessness and creating more new homes than Vermont has seen in decades. But the fact remains, it has not been enough.

Vermont Business Magazine Retreat Farm and HatchSpace are bringing everyone to the table to participate in an exciting community build project that supports the area’s newest community space. If you have driven along Route 30 lately, it’s hard to miss the big changes happening at Retreat Farm. The renovation effort to transform the historic North Barn into a community gathering space is underway. Over the past few months, Tom Bodett from HatchSpace embarked on designing a unique farm table for the North Barn. The long farm tables will feature locally sourced and milled pine, and an innovative sawhorse design that makes the tables beautiful, functional, and easy to store.

Bromley Mountain Ski Resort The long awaited opening day of the 23/24 Bromley season is finally here! The first 150 skiers/snowboarders to arrive will receive a free gift as a token of our appreciation so dust off that equipment and join us for top to bottom turns all weekend long! Our route down from the summit will be Upper Twister to West Meadow. The #1 Sun Mountain Express and #5 Alpine Chair are scheduled to spin both Saturday, 11/25 and Sunday, 11/26 from 9:00am-4:00pm. There is no easy way down from the summit. Early season conditions exist and are suited for intermediate to advanced skiers and riders.