Open Farm Week Registration is Now Open | Vermont Business Magazine

Submitted by tim on Sun, 05/21/2023 - 23:49

Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets Calling all farmers! Registration is now open for the 9th Annual Vermont Open Farm Week! This year’s event is scheduled to take place from August 6-13, 2023.

Open Farm Week provides an excellent opportunity to connect with your community, engage with customers, and highlight the unique aspects of your farm. You can choose any day during the week to host an event, or host on multiple days during the week if your schedule allows!

To ensure a memorable experience for visitors, Open Farm Week events must include an activity that is not part of the regular farm schedule. This could include tours of fields or barns, tastings, cooking demonstrations, workshops, direct product sales, and more.

There are a range of registration fees available to make the event accessible to all farms. These fees cover coordination, planning, registration management, outreach, promotion through various channels, marketing materials, and resources for each farm.

Farms can also pay an additional $20 to become a Featured Open Farm Week Farm, which provides targeted audience promotion and prioritized media outreach.

Registration closes July 1st. We can't wait to visit you this summer!

WLEI Grantee Highlight:
NEK Grains

Did you know Vermont-made flour is making a comeback in Vermont? In the 1800s, over 40,000 acres were in wheat production in the state. By 1950, that dropped to only 900 acres due to depleted soils and competition from the West.

At NEK Grains in Waterford, Vermont, they're grinding away at bringing grains back to the state. Their success is driven in large part by the farm-to-table movement. The first thing you'll see on their NEK Grains is, 'Grown in Vermont, Milled in Vermont.'

With a Working Lands grant, they've purchased their own flour mill, expanded their retail store, and are working to increase their production capacity by 700 percent!

Read more about NEK Grains!

Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund Business Sense Tools

A reminder that the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund's business management coaching program just launched Business Sense, a six-module training series for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

The series provides essential tools and information resources in areas such as financials, operations, sales and marketing, and more.

The first two modules, Financial Literacy and Business Operations, have been released and the remaining four modules will be launching soon.

The series is designed to accelerate the growth of Vermont-based enterprises and expand the leadership capacity of entrepreneurs.

Access the first two modules

NOFA-VT Vermont
Family Farmer Award

The Vermont Family Farmer of the Month Fund makes a financial award to a Vermont family farmer each month.

Awards recognize farmers whose businesses are contributing to a resilient Vermont agricultural landscape and demonstrate environmental stewardship through sustainable practices.

Applications are open for awards from July to October. Please apply by Monday, May 29th at noon.

Apply now!

New VAAFM
Beef Price Dashboard

The Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets has a new Weighted Average Price Data Dashboard for their Beef Reporting Program.

The dashboard incorporates four years of price reporting from voluntary participants in the Agency's Beef Reporting Program.

You can view the average hundredweight price by using the dashboard, or view the PDF reports for the most recently monthly figures including retail price cuts.

Learn more about Beef Reporting

View the VAAFM Grants Calendar