Students and community members share a meal made by the Recipe for Human Connection class in November 2022. Photo provided by Center for an Agricultural Economy
Vermont Business Magazine The Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE) received congressionally directed spending (CDS) from the Senate Committee on Appropriations LHHS-Innovation and Improvement account in the amount of $100,000. CAE received the award through Senator Peter Welch’s office. “Senator Welch and his staff have always been very supportive of local agriculture and our community; we are very thankful for this support,” said Jon Ramsay, Executive Director of CAE. The award will help fund two of CAE’s programs that work with area schools: Place-Based Education and Just Cut.
CAE’s Place Based Education Program supports work in all Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union’s (OSSU) schools to increase opportunities for experiential learning focused on local food and agriculture. Reeve Basom, CAE’s Place Based Education Coordinator, co-teaches a high school class at Hazen Union School called “Recipe for Human Connection" (RFHC).
The class builds community through food and cooking, both within the classroom and through projects that connect to the wider community. Common activities include leading taste tests for local pre-K students, growing and harvesting food in the Hazen greenhouse, and hosting the monthly community meal at the United Church in Hardwick. In this 6th year of RFHC, a new introductory version of the class for middle schoolers has been added, and a total of over 60 Hazen students will participate in these classes this school year.
Reeve said, “We receive feedback from students all the time about how much this class means to them as they learn how to connect with each other through food, and it feels wonderful to get this kind of support through CDS that validates these students’ experiences.”
CAE’s Just Cut program supports local food purchasing at area schools. CAE has operated Just Cut since 2013 and the program operates out of CAE’s Vermont Food Venture Center (VFVC) facility. The program works with around 20 farms annually, contracting with farms before the growing season starts. Farmers plan how much they need to grow for Just Cut and know how much income that will bring, and Just Cut can count on receiving a specific amount of vegetables.
CAE’s delivery service, Farm Connex, picks up the produce at the farms and brings it to the VFVC where CAE’s staff prepare it into ready-to-use products like diced potatoes, shredded cabbage, or whole peeled carrots. The finished products are then sold to schools, colleges, and hospitals. In 2024 CAE’s staff purchased, processed, and distributed 180,000 pounds of local produce through the program. This is enough for 580,000 servings of local produce on plates at these institutions.
Since Just Cut started in 2013, the program has processed over 1.1 million pounds of fresh vegetables. Area schools benefit from these vegetables as they are served throughout the local supervisory union.
Valerie Hussey, Food Service Director for the OSSU, said, “Just Cut minimally processed veggies gives the OSSU schools more opportunities to use a variety of local products on our menus as a lot of the labor has already been done for us. Time is always an issue in school food service as we are on very strict schedules. In the past we did not serve root veggies as often since they require a lot of time and labor; now our schools have standing monthly orders, which is a win-win for both CAE and the OSSU school food service programs.”
The funding will allow CAE to move forward with the purchase of new equipment which will streamline efficiency and allow more varieties of produce to be processed. As a result the Just Cut program will be able to serve more schools a greater variety of vegetables. Support from the CDS will help CAE continue their critical work that supports food security, place-based education, and fostering connections between youth and the community.
The Just Cut teams process cabbage at the Center for an Agricultural Economy’s Vermont Food Venture Center in Hardwick. Photo Credit: Elizabeth Rossano
2.10.2026. Hardwick. Center for an Agricultural Economy
To support vital journalism, access our archives and get unique features like our award-winning profiles, Book of Lists & Business-to-Business Directory, subscribe HERE!
