Common Good Vermont: The Vermont Community Foundation’s Food & Farm Initiative: A Healthy Local Food Movement That Reaches All Vermonters

Description

Common Good Vermont talks with Janet McLaughlin, Special Projects Director/head of the Food & Farm Initiative, Vermont Community Foundation, and Sarah Waring, Executive Director, Center for an Agricultural Economy.

The Vermont Community Foundation recently announced nine grants totaling $494,584 for the second year of its Food and Farm Initiative, designed to connect Vermont’s local food movement with the fight against hunger. Last year, the Initiative focused on strengthening and expanding farm-to-school programming. This year, the focus continues with a keen eye to strengthening the connections between farmers, distributors, and consumers; educating and engaging kids and families; and building a coordinated, statewide structure to carry the work of farm to school forward.

Janet McLaughlin, special projects director at the Vermont Community Foundation and head of the Food & Farm Initiative, will offer an update and insight on what’s happening on the ground and where the Initiative is heading, and will be joined by Sarah Waring, executive director at the Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE). CAE received a Food & Farm Initiative grant in December 2013 for a project that will test the viability of lightly-processed Vermont vegetables for sale to schools, and develop recommendations and tools for producers throughout the state who are considering entering the market. Sarah will offer her perspective on local food, farm-to-school programming, and what it’s like being a part of the Food & Farm Initiative.

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