The Bridge, April 17, 2014

Food & Farming Issue

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In thIs IssuE:

Connecting Montpelier and nearby communities since 1993 | April 17April 30, 2014

Vermont goat creamery expands

gmo labeling: Vermont won't wait

HarsH winter leaVes Farmers oUt in tHe cold

april 17 april 30 , 2014 The Br idge

Kate Burnim is an artist, designer and illustrator. She was born in Wimbledon, England in 1976. Most of her childhood years were spent in New England though her formative years of adolescence found her overseas again in the heart of London, England and traveling throughout Europe and Israel. Each summer of her life has brought her to a lake in rural Mass. The synthesis of the urban with the rural is a thread that runs throughout Kates work. Kate studied art from a young age with her grandmother, a painter, printmaker and sculpture, and later at Silvermine Arts Center in New Cannan CT, The California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland CA, and The Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA. Kate further studied herself, humanity and place on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, the backwoods of Idaho protecting the native forests and wild places throughout the US.

As a mother, raising the future, her children are her focus and her greatest accomplishmentparenting, her spiritual practice. Kate believes in the humanizing force of art and design and seeks to make that connection with each work. Whatever her medium Kates predilection for minimalism and simplicity never becomes cold. Her work is that which celebrates that lone leaf on the wet snow. It is a reverence for the sound and the glint that is just enough to bring life but never to overwhelm. It is an art and design rooted in nature but never a copy. It is nature that is at the core of her work. Her presence as a fierce warrior for the subtle, the gentle, and the precious. Art allows Kate to protect moments and qualities and to celebrate the space and breath where goodness is found.Kate lives with her two kids and wee dog in Montpelier VT, working out of SnapWhistleStudio located at her home.

The Br idge april 17 april 30 , 2014 page 3

Heard On THe

STREET We finally made it into the woods to check the vernal ponds, and a semi-perma-nent pond used each year by countless Jefferson and spotted salamanders and wood frogs. Well, guess what? For the first time in 30 years, that pond was frozen right down to the bottom and al-though it has melted on top and around the sides by a few inches, the ice that remains is bonded solidly to the bottom of the pond. It must have formed early in the winter, before there was any in-sulating snow cover! Never mind, plenty of other water around, melt water, rain water, no shortage for amphibians. I predict a great toad hatch unless it gets dry awfully fast. And what glorious bird song today, particularly good after what we have been through!!

Nona Estrin

Nature Watch

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There's A New Organic Farm In South Barre!

Bear Roots Farm is a small-scale, diversified, organic vegetable farm located in South Barre at 175 Snowbridge Road. Their goal is to produce high quality, nutrient-dense food for the greater Barre community. They offer a CSA program that offers on-farm pick up, business delivery, or farmers market pick up. The farm stand, located at the farm, will officially open at the end of May. Starting on May 17th you can find them at the Barre Farmers Market, located at the Granite Museum from 9 a.m.1 p.m. We started Bear Roots Farm to make high-quality, locally-grown, organic food available to our community. To find out more about us visit our website: www.bearrootsfarm.com

Public Meeting on Parklet Proposals

Montpelier Alive has solicited proposals for seasonal parklets (extensions of the sidewalk that cover parking places and can be used for public or private activities) to be installed in the downtown as a two-year pilot project. There will be a public presentation of at least one proposal for a public parklet on Thursday, April 24, at 7 p.m., in the City Council chambers. Montpelier resident Ward Joyce and students from Vermont Technical College will present their idea for a parklet on the Rialto Bridge. For information, contact Montpelier Alive at 223-9604 or [email protected].

Sign Up Today for Onion River Sports' 11th Annual Century Ride

All proceeds go to the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier. Register ahead of race day for $60 or on the day of the event for $75. The event kicks off on July 26 at 8:30 a.m., when riders depart from the Montpelier Pool out through the city. There are three distances that riders can register for ,including an 111 mile full century, 110 K Metric Century (68 miles), or a 40-mile ride. Visit www.onionriver.com for more information or e-mail Tristan at: [email protected]

East Barre Resident Named Vermont Nurse Fellow

Tara Reil of East Barre was named one of 25 nurses to be honored as one of this years Ver-mont Action Coalitions Vermont Nurse Leadership Fellows. In a press release put out by Mary Val Palumbo, DNP, APRN, associate professor of nursing at the University of Vermont and co-lead of VAC said, This program will prepare the nurse fellows to lead and inform health care decision-making by leveraging their frontline perspective and providing additional insight into the business and financing of health care.

Car Burglars Back in Town

A recent string of Front Porch Forum posts have brought to light a series of car break-ins in the Montpelier area. Thieves appear to be looking for money and anything of value. One report noted a strong smell of cigarettes and alcohol remained in the car after the robbery.

City of Montpelier School Budget Vote Results

The school budget proposal as revised was approved by Montpelier voters on April 15. The final tally was 914 people voting yes and 565 people voting no. 1,479 people turned out to vote, significantly fewer people than turned out on Town Meeting Day 2014. On Town Meet-ing Day 2014 2,446 people voted, just over a third of the 6,319 registered voters in the city.

3-Square Vermont Is There to Help

Vermonters are a hardworking people, but the high costs of food, fuel and other necessities make it tough to get by, said Jen Evans of the Central Vermont Community Action Council (CVCAC). CVAC wants to remind Vermonters that federally funded programs like 3-Sqaure VT are there to help. According to Evans, A family of four earning up to $3,632 a month may be able to get benefits. For more information and to find out if you qualify, please contact 1-800-639-1053.

CVCOA Seeks Candidates to Join Board of Directors

Central Vermont Council on Aging (CVCOA) seeks candidates interested in serving in positions on its Board of Directors. The Board is responsible for and has authority over the overall management and performance of the Council on Aging. Interested candidates should visit http://cvcoa.org.board-of-directors.html or email Executive Director Beth Stern at [email protected]

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corrections:in the april 3, issue of the bridge, several of the commas in the

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Once upon a time, 40 or so years ago, an energetic movement sprang up in Vermont as nonconformist con-sumers launched cooperative buying clubs to preorder whole-grain flours, dried fruit and other hard-to-get natural foods at reasonable prices. As surpluses left over from preor-ders accumulated and consumer preferences changed, the co-ops set up outlets with retail hours. Ideals slowly matured into businesses with little or no upfront capital to urge the process along. Things simply evolved organi-cally.

All that's changed. Hunger Mountain Coop, which began as a Plainfield buying club without capital investment, member eq-uity or paid employees, has become a major Montpelier business employing some 160 workers in a 20,000-square-foot building. And Chris Riddell, president of the Granite City Cooperative, which aims to open a gro-cery in Barre next year, can tell you in great detail how elaborate opening a food co-op has become.

"You don't just 'build it and they will come," he summarizes.

After incorporating in July 2012, the Barre co-op, which plans to operate as the Granite City Grocery, raised about $25,000, Riddell explains, to finance, among other things, a market survey and a financial model, both performed by consultants in Minneapolis. Meanwhile, organizers began recruiting members, who were asked to buy $200 capi-tal shares in the enterprise. As of today 420 sharesfrom individuals and householdsare paid up, current in their installment pay-ments or subject to promissory notes. Once that number reaches 800, meaning a capital fund of $160,000, the co-op, Riddell says, will move to the next phase: settling on a location. It's a model used nationally for co-ops. There are milestones based around the number of owners [who have commit-ted capital]. We're planning to get to [800 shares] by late summer.

Once the co-op has determined its future location and signed a lease or purchase agree-ment, it will approach banks for a loan that Riddell estimates will furnish 30 percent of the venture's total financing. In all, he says, anywhere from $1 to 4 million will be needed to open the doors. Of that, about

20 percent will serve as working capital for the first year of operation. It's a long hill to climb: that $1 to $4 million is $1 to 4 mil-lion more in capital than Hunger Mountain, for example, started with.

where?

North Main Street's Barre City Place, owned and developed by Williston's DEW Prop-erties, seemed the natural location for the co-op, at least at one point, and DEW and Granite City began discussing a lease ar-rangement before the co-op had even incor-porated and DEW had even been awarded the development proj-ect, says DEW repre-sentative Steve Morton.

Barre Mayor Thom Lauzon, a member of the co-op, encouraged them to consider leas-ing at City Place, but after many months of deliberation, the co-op abandoned the idea.

We weren't ready to open a store this spring, Riddell says, referring to DEW's development timeline. To be honest, the City Place space would not be an ideal space to open a grocery in any event. He cites, for example, the lack of the 35 dedicated park-ing spaces that the co-op feels it needs.

Lauzon, who continues to favor the City Place site, notes that DEW offered the co-op almost that many spaces25 to 30and that, outside office hours, far more parking frees up.

The 5,000-square feet of first-floor space that DEW has envisioned as a grocery, and for which the developer even built a load-ing dock, remains unleased. In an artist's conception on the DEW website, signs read-ing Market and Cafe beckon from the 82,000-square-foot building's Main Street facade; but, after approaching Granite City and several established local grocers, includ-ing Hunger Mountain, the developer has found no takers for the grocery idea.

I don't really understand the co-op's re-sistance to City Place, Lauzon opines. It really defies logic.

Granite City is currently examining six other sites, all in what Riddell refers to as walkable downtown Barre. He declines to identify the locations. The co-op's planning model calls for a space of 6,000-square feetnot a small store, given both the dimensions of most downtown shops and what most Ver-mont co-ops started with.

all-natural? no thanks.

What distinguishes Granite City's vision from many other food co-opsaside from its considerable start-up costsis what the co-op intends to sell. We're going to have a mix of organic, natural and conventional foods. It's clear from what people have said in Barre: an all-natural foods market is not going to fit this demographic.

The organizers are thus not relying on the model of the natural foods co-ops that began dotting the Vermont map in the 1970s, but on the example of an earlier generation of co-ops, such as the Hanover Consumer Co-op,

established in its name-sake New Hampshire town in the 1930s. The Hanover Co-op, which now operates three large stores in the Upper Val-ley, handles the wide range of merchandise one associates with su-permarkets. Riddell and

his colleagues feel that the need in working-class Barre, which has seen two natural foods ventures fail in recent decades, is a grocery store, period, in a revitalized downtown that has not had a full-service grocery since the Grand Union checked out in 2001.

Locating downtown rather than on the city's outskirts is a key issue for the co-op. A store-front on the route of the Barre-Montpelier bus, and convenient to other downtown amenities, would make the store handy to those who can't or don't want to drive. Still, while access on foot or by bus is a nice, politically-correct plus, parking, or the lack thereof, continues to circumscribe the model for doing business in American downtowns, Barre included.

What is not part of the model, though, is hirsute volunteers repackaging preordered hundred-pound sacks of peanuts in an in-conspicuous cellar. In Barre, Riddell says, it's plain that whats needed is a retail food store in the community, not a buying club. [The model] has now shifted to, 'Open an alternative to Whole Foodscorporate-owned natural foods.'

As for an opening date, he says, I would think about this time next year. By that point he expects the co-op to have 1200 members. Most start-up co-ops take 24 to 48 months to open, he adds.

I just don't see progress quickly enough, Lauzon responds. I hope I'm wrong, but I think that the co-op is going to be a story of missed opportunities. Doors open and doors close.

Granite City Grocery: Testing a New Model by C.B. Hall

Outside of City Place, Barre, VT. Photo by C.B.Hall.

You don't just 'build it and they

will come, he summarizes.


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On a cold and windy April morning in Berlin, Dog River Farm owner George Gross stands in one of his greenhouses amongst rows of organic onion starts destined for the shelves of City Market and Healthy Living Market in Burlington. Just outside, theres a pool of water that accu-mulated overnight from melting snow sitting atop frozen ground, and its going nowhere fast. Gross had expected to be in the middle of construction right about now on his new market stand. As soon as this snow is gone, were going to break ground, he says.

The market stand renovation is one of sev-eral projects Gross has in the works. This year, we plan to extend our pick-your-own strawberry growing season by investing in a strawberry tunnel, he says.

These investments in infrastructure are pos-sible thanks to the usual resources that Gross and other farmers draw upon regularly: plenty of planning, a reserve of funds saved and bor-rowed, plus a whole lot of persistence, a bunch of grit and a dash of luck. There is also the pre-season influx of cash from community-supported agriculture (CSA) shares, a now ubiquitous form of consumer-to-farmer fund-ing. For Gross, who has been selling CSA shares at his organic vegetable farm for 10 years, this particular form of financing farm improvements and operations has come with a fair share of headaches and unanticipated costs.

I saw the writing on the wall, says Gross,

observing that a lot of CSA members were burnt out on the idea; they found it just didnt work or was wasteful. There was too much food, members didnt want the food they got or didnt know what to do with it. They had to be there at the pickup location on a desig-nated day or they would lose the share, and then there was the occasional missing box. When it comes down to it, the traditional way of delivering on the CSA share agreement can be aggravating and unproductive for both the farmer and the consumer.

People have lost track of the whole idea of the CSA, which is to fund the farmer, says Gross. Its a concept thats all about buy local and help your farmer but it seems that weve forgotten the help your farmer part, he says. Noting that a CSA is meant to make money available to the farmer early on in the season, Gross said that he spends 75 percent of his annual budget in the first couple of months. Ive had employees for a month now to get the farm ready. And, we have to buy all of our materials up front to get the better deal, he says.

Knowing there had to be a better way to run his CSA, Gross started Dog River Farm Dol-lars (DRF Dollars for short). It's a new twist on the CSA concept that uses debit card tech-nology to provide greater flexibility, choice and savings for the consumer, while boosting the financial benefit to the farmer. How does it work? CSA share members purchase a pre-loaded value card that also comes with bonus dollars if paid in full by a certain deadline

early on in the season. The cardholder then swipes the card at Dog River Farms self-serve market stand to redeem the dollars in veggies, fruit or other bulk items.

The benefits? Unlike the traditional CSA model, DRF Dollars never expire; its self-serve on-site at the farms market stand, and there is full flexibility of choice. You can use these dollars anytime for veggies, eggs, meat, honey and fruit options like pick-your-own strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, says Gross. Dollars are also good for bulk options like root bags toward the end of the season and even for products I sell here from neigh-boring farms in the Dog River Valley, like oats and flours. Plus, the savings in costs to the farmer is passed on to the consumer.

The cost of running a CSA this way is incredi-bly low, according to Gross. With the old box style, you had to buy boxes that didnt last and then there were all of the other headaches that came with getting the food to the consumer," he says. The only catch is that DRF Dollars cannot be redeemed at the farmers market, but for good reason: Gross cant account for who is going to come and use their card at the market. In any case, Gross said, there is more convenience and better selection at the farm. Come to the farm to use the card; If I run out of chard, I have extra in the cooler,

he says. Plus, theres more variety here at the farm. I can sell things here that I dont sell at the farmers market, like blueberries.

Ultimately, DRF Dollars benefit Gross in the upfront cash it affords him to improve the farm. This means adding greenhouses and purchasing equipment like the strawberry tunnel. Im so close, he says. If I sold two more shares, Id be there. And, then theres the improvements to the market stand. Were going to rip the market stand right off the barn and rebuild it old-style, with big tall walls and high ceilings, he says. In the fu-ture, he envisions a patio on the side with seating for visitors to have breakfast before they go pick their strawberries. For now, he is expanding his local offerings with chicken and beef from neighboring farms, honey from Bee Boys Honey produced on site, plus oats, flours and other grains from a new farm down the road.

Two other farms in Vermont use the debit card model: River Berry Farm in Fairfax and Wood's Market Garden in Brandon. "Its a vi-able option for us, says Gross. Shares are still for sale. And, the market stand will be open sometime between late May and early June. For more information on Dog River Farm and the DRF Dollars, visit www.dogriver-farm.com

Barre Farmers' Market on the Move by C.B. Hall

The Barre Farmers' Market has an-nounced that it is moving to the grounds of the Vermont Granite Mu-seum on Route 302, a mile and a quarter north of the market's former location in the city's center. The market will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, a shift from its former Thursday scheduling.

In an interview with The Bridge, market president and Barre Town vegetable grower Alan LePage explained that the move comes in the wake of the market's failure to find a good home downtown. The market dates from 2000 and has occupied a succession of sitesstarting out at City Hall Park, moving to the Vermont Granite Museum for the first time in 2005, then to the lawn of the city's library for an unsuccessful 2007 season. After a year off, the farmers returned to City Hall Park, the venue to which the market is now

saying goodbye.

We were losing groundlosing vendors, los-ing our basic customers, LePage said of the City Hall Park site. There were times when there was just no parking. The access was Byzantine. A beautiful spot, but with major deficits.

Research into alternative downtown venues turned up no attractive alternatives. The mu-seum site, he said, offers plenty of visibility and plenty of space for both vendors and their customers' cars.

All things considered, I'd rather be down-town, he conceded, but farming is a busi-ness. It's nice to be an ornament, but it's about making money.

The farmers are shifting to Saturday, he said, because it was difficult to draw customers on a weekday. The weekday timing had origi-

nally been chosen to complement the Satur-day scheduling of the county's main farmers' market in Montpelier. He dismissed any pos-sibility that making the location more acces-sible to Montpelier residents and shifting to Saturday would adversely affect the Montpe-lier market's vigor. I don't think Montpelier has anything to worry about. . . People in Barre don't shop in the Montpelier market, as a rule, and vice versa.

In a telephone interview, Laini Fondilier of Westfield's Lazy Lady Farm, who has been selling at the Montpelier market for 18 years, didn't seem worried, either. I think there'll be a pinch of a loss, she said. We had Barre people showing up on Saturday. Saturday is a very good market day. I wish them luck.

The Barre market will launch its season at the museum on May 17, with a celebratory grand

opening scheduled tentatively for the summer solstice, June 21. LePage is optimistic about the change: We're hoping to be reborn, with a bang. Already we've got double the number of vendors that we had [last year].

Photo courtesy of Emily Kaminsky

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Dog River Farm Dollars: A New Tech Twist on the Old CSA Concept Proves a Win-Win for Both Farmer and Consumer by Emily Kaminsky


Vermont has passed historic GMO (genetically modified organisms) la-beling legislationthe nations first GMO labeling law to be effective without the requisite that other states pass similar legisla-tion. This Right to Know law, passed by 26 to 2 votes, requires food producers to state on food labels or, in the case of unwrapped produce, in bins or on shelving, whether food products contain GMOs or were produced using genetic engineering.

On April 15, the Vermont Senate approved the legislation with amendments to the House of Representatives version and will return it to the House for approval of the proposed changes. If the House concurs, the law heads to Gov. Peter Shumlin, who is likely to sign the bill.

genetically engineered foods defined and arguedAs defined by the World Health Organi-zation, genetically modified foods are de-rived from organisms whose genetic material (DNA) has been modified in a way that does not occur naturally, e.g. through the intro-duction of a gene from a different organism. Although most genetically modified foods are derived from plants, development of foods from genetically engineered microorganisms and animals is likely.

According to the U.S. Department of Agri-culture, genetically engineered crops, includ-ing corn, cotton and soybeans, are grown on about half of the 169 million acres of U.S.

cropland. Topping the list of genetically en-gineered vegetables are corn, soy, zucchini, alfalfa, canola and, making up half of the U.S. sugar production, sugar beets. Eighty percent of processed foods include genetically modified ingredients.

Genetically modified food opponents argue that genetic engineering of food may interfere with environmental and human natural bio-logical processes, alter or decrease naturally existing nutritional value in food and ulti-mately be unethical. Advocates contend that genetic engineering of food can increase nu-tritional value and crop production and create more weather and insect resilient plants.

Whether the science is good or bad is not the question, said Sen. Joe Benning, R- Caledo-nia. The question is, does the consumer have the right to know?

Vermonters want the right to knowAccording to Washington County Republi-can Sen. Bill Doyles Town Meeting Day sur-vey, 76 percent of Vermonters who responded voted that food products sold in Vermont produced with genetic engineering should be labeled. Fifteen percent disapproved, and nine percent were undecided.

Vermonts Right to Know bill, H.112, strives to empower the consumer to make informed decisions regarding the potential health effects of food they purchase the environmental impacts of their food, and disclose factual information and protect re-

ligious practices.

should there be a dairy exemption?Should milk and products made primarily with milk, such as plain yogurt, butter and cheese, be exempt from GMO labeling? If cows are fed corn, and the majority of corn grown in the United States is genetically en-gineered, theres a good chance GMOs will be in your morning coffeeif you drink it with half and half.

Sen. David Zuckerman, P-Chittenden, ex-plains the complexity surrounding labeling dairy and meat. Strict federal labeling laws for dairy and meat already exist, but they do not require label information on genetically engineered feed given to the animals. The state of Vermont may not be able to override federal law due to federal preemptionwhen the federal government can invalidate a con-flicting state law.

Federal law bars GMO labeling of dairy. But, because the Legislature wants to be sure not to appear to be creating legislation favoring Vermonts dairy industry, the Right to Know legislation includes a study under the Office of the Attorney General. The study, due by Jan. 15, 2015, will recommend whether or not milk and products made primarily with milk should be labeled and the legal basis for the recommendation.

no to the trigger mechanismAnd then theres the issue of neighborly col-laboration. Vermont may be the first state to approve a Right to Know GMO labeling law without a trigger mechanism, which would put the laws implementation on hold until neighboring states follow suit. Maine and Connecticut have already approved GMO la-beling legislation, but these include triggers. The rationale of waiting is that if states collec-tively passed GMO labeling laws, they would be able to pool resources to defend themselves against almost certain lawsuits from food as-sociations, such as the Grocery Manufacturers Association.

But Sen. Zuckerman believes that a food as-sociation could sue one state, compelling that state to defend itself alone without neighbor-hood collaboration. He doesnt like the idea of passing a law that cant be put into effect.

The idea of passing with a trigger was, at best, passing the buck; at worst, duping our voters, Zuckerman said. Its giving people a pipe dream. We either believe we have the evidence or we dont. Lets do it.

Vermont may decide to move forward alone. Supporting the House decision not to wait for

other states, the Senate approved a new date of July 1, 2016, for the law to become effective whether or not other states join in.

Funding our legal defenseTo help alleviate the cost of legal defense against potential litigation from food asso-ciations, and hopefully reduce the burden to Vermont taxpayers, the Senate created a legal fund with a goal of $1.5 million. The attorney general can also use the fund to implement the legislation.

Monies for the fund can come from three places: gifts from individuals and public and private organizations, which is standard oper-ating procedure for such special funds; excess monies from pending suits in the attorney generals office; and, possibly, the 2016 state budget. If the fund does not reach $1.5 mil-lion by end of Fiscal Year 2015, the attorney general will make a budget request for funds to cover the gap.

However, Zuckerman doesnt think the state will have to kick in. I am extremely confi-dent we will have $1.5 million in the fund, he said. There are people and organizations all across this country who would be will-ing to help.

industry and consumer costLegal issues aside, will the industry pass the cost of labeling onto the consumer, increasing food prices? The Washington State Academy of Sciences, in its report Labeling of Foods Containing Genetically Modified Ingredi-ents, found that the direct costs of mandatory labeling were notable.

Opponents of GMO labeling say that with the existing system, consumers have a choice. Make your pick: conventional products that may or may not be produced with or include GMOs and are the least expensive to produce and purchase; slightly more expensive prod-ucts labeled as GMO-free goods; and USDA organic products that are the most expensive and for which the USDA prohibits the use of genetic engineering in food production, whether processed food, crop or livestock pro-duction. The consumer decides the value of knowing.

Sen. Benning argues that if the Federal Drug Administration requires food manufacturers to label our carbs, its disingenuous to have anything genetically engineered in the chain of events that leads to the food product and to escape having to label it.

The GMO Labeling Bill: Vermont Wont Wait by Amy Brooks Thornton

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Dr. Steven Sobel, DCChiropractic Physician Holistic Chiropractic care for all ages Functional Neurology Safe and effective treatment of back, neck and extremity conditions without the use of drugs or surgery Sports, work and auto injuries

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[email protected]

Tell them you saw it in The Bridge!


Starting a business, running a farm and managing a farmers market are all com-plex endeavors. Each pursuit comes with its own myriad of legal hitches that can be daunting for someone who is also responsible for the day-to-day operation of a farm, restau-rant or business.

There is a lot of helpful information out there however, and the Internet has helped to bring that information right to our fingertips. Un-fortunately, it can be hard to sift through all of that information and find the stuff that is really important. This is where the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS) at Vermont Law School (VLS) comes in. CAFS has developed a new web portal called Farm and Food Legal Resources. This new portal brings all of the legal resources about food and farming that are scattered throughout the web under one roof. The website is still in its early stages, but CAFS is working to build it out in order to create a one-stop site for legal and policy information about agriculture and food systems.

The site seamlessly breaks down materials into different sections, each tailored to a dif-ferent stakeholder. There is a link for consum-ers, farmers, physicians, attorneys and others. Each link brings people to the information that is specifically directed at and tailored for them.

The portal is part of CAFS larger mission to enhance the publics access to agricultural and food legal resources. CAFS, which is just in its first full year of existence, is still trying to find its footing. Faculty and students involved with CAFS are busy immersing themselves in the food movement, searching for areas with

the greatest need and places that their exper-tise can have the largest impact.

The beginning of the center involves a self-education where were setting aside our own backgrounds and getting a deeper under-standing of food system issues, said Jamie Renner, an assistant professor at VLS and the person in charge of directing the CAFS legal clinic.

VLS has managed to compile quite the team to run the CAFS program. Led by Laurie Ristino and Laurie Beyranevand, the team has an extensive background working in ag-riculture and food systems. Before joining VLS, according to the VLS website, Ristino was a senior counsel with the Office of the General Counsel, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington, DC. Ristino and her team hope to shape the next generation of food and agriculture law and policy experts right here in Vermont. Their scope and aspirations go far beyond Vermont, however. The CAFS program is training stu-dents to be leaders in the field throughout the nation and on the international stage.

They are doing this not by confining students to the classroom and firing a never ending barrage of torts and contract terms at them, but by giving them real world experience. The barrage comes too, but CAFS strives to give its students the experience to be success-ful, not only in the classroom and on the bar exam, but in the real-world.

The legal market is saturated right now. Simply put, there are more lawyers than are needed. VLS is hoping that CAFS can help solve this problem by creating new markets for attorneys in helping farmers, food provid-ers and entrepreneurs grow and manage the ever-growing food market.

Farmers markets, CSAs, organic producers

and consumers are continually being forced to deal with an increasing number of regula-tions, food labels and the likes. VLS hopes to train its future attorneys to help manage these growing needs. As the local and organic food movements expand, managers and organizers routinely run into organizational dilemmas. VLS is training the next generation of legal experts to help these people dot all of their is and cross all of their ts.

The mission of CAFS, exemplified in its staff and realized in the projects that they are un-dertaking, is to prepare future attorneys to not only assist in furthering the local and organic food movements, but to become partners with the people on the ground. CAFS is trying its hand at this by partnering with the National Farmers Market Association and the North-east Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA) to help farmers market managers across the country develop a national template for developing bylaws, managing expansion and establishing the markets themselves.

The farmers market project is a five-year proj-ect that is still in the early stages, but through-out the process, CAFS will partner with local farmers markets here in Vermont and the region to gain hands-on insight into the needs of the markets.

This project, like all CAFS projects, is indi-vidually funded by an outside grant. By oper-ating in this way, the CAFS program has been able to start up and operate at a significantly lower cost to VLS than if the law school had to front all of the money. CAFS hopes to eventually become self-sustaining and eco-nomically independent, but they are content with seeking out both financial and research partners until they are able to do so.

CAFS, itself born of an anonymous grant, hopes to one day become financially indepen-dent by creating its own sources of funding. For example, said Renner, we are working on a food labeling project.

This food labeling project, spearheaded by Laurie Beyranevand, hopes to help better in-form consumers about the many food labels they are confronted with when they go into the grocery store. Eventually, as the project develops, Beyranevand and her team are ex-ploring the possibility of making it an app that they could sell at a fair cost to consum-ers. That way, when shoppers go into the store they will be able to simply scan an item with their phone and quickly access the legal meanings of all that stuff on the container.

The goal is that this app will be to explain all of the health claims that are often plastered on products; state what the manufacturer and producer have to disclose, and what they do not; and what, if any, part of the product is regulated. Renner said, We are interested in partnering with scientists and nutrition-ists to help decode ingredients. Whether it is through this app or any number of future projects that CAFS hopes to take on, their goal is to improve access to information and healthy food.

In light of some legislators fears that Vermont could face a lawsuit if the state passes a law that mandates products containing GMOs be labeled, I asked Renner if CAFS took risks like this into account with projects like their food labeling project, which could have a similar backlash from food producers.

Truth is a defense to defamation. We will never shy away from speaking the truth about food. Renner replied. He doesnt think the CAFS labeling project will face the type of resistance that GMO labeling is likely to re-ceive. We are just saying from a legal per-spective what kind of category a statement fits into. When I say what they [health claims] mean and what they dont mean, those are legal issues. They are not opinions.

CAFS does not plan to shy away from issues. We feel very comfortable because we are pushing out information that I think is legally sound and true, said Renner.

Law to Farmer by Jerry Carter


Walking into Central Vermont Community Action Councils new facility in downtown Barre, you would hardly know that in just seven months, 11,000 pounds of food came through one door and went out another in the form of 33,000 prepared-meal servings to people in need. For the first time in its 50-year history, Central Vermont Community Action Coun-cil (CVCAC) not only distributed groceries, baked goods and other essentials through its food shelf, but a wide assortment of prepared meals, thanks to a unique educational pro-gram called the Community Kitchen Acad-emy (CKA).

CKA is a 13-week, 9-credit basic food service skills course developed and offered by the Vermont Foodbank at the Chittenden Food Shelf, and recently replicated in Barre in part-nership with CVCAC.

They wanted to expand the program in Washington County and we were a natural partner, says Hal Cohen, CVCACs execu-tive director. They essentially moved their entire kitchen from their Barre Town facility to CVCACs new facility. That, plus equip-ment from LACE (a downtown Barre retail food business supported by CVCAC that

ceased operations in 2011), helped CVCAC replicate the academy in Barre.

The program is free to students who are unemployed, underemployed, meet income eligibility thresholds or are part of other pro-grams like the Division of Vocational Re-habilitation or Reach Up. Students receive practical, hands-on experience in all aspects of cooking, as well as education on hunger relief, sustainability and the buy local movement. Already, CKA Barre has graduated two classes totaling 14 students, all of whom were look-ing to restart or start their careers in the food service industry and succeeded in completing this intens,e 30-hour-per-week job training program. The CKA has an 85 percent job placement rate for its graduates.

While CKA is mostly a job training program, its also a way to repurpose food that would otherwise go to waste. Ninety-five percent of the food used by CKA to train its students in the culinary arts is rescued by the Vermont Foodbank from grocery stores, bakeries and other food establishments. In addition, 75 percent of all of the produce rescued comes from area farms. CKA students transform this food into delicious single or double-serving packaged meals in CVCACs small but ef-

ficient full-scale production kitchen as part of their hands-on education. Packaged meals are then walked across the loading dock to be distributed to CVCAC food shelf clients that same day. The program allows us to mini-mize the number of steps we would have to take to get food to families in need. The food stream becomes much more practical and accessible, says Michelle Wallace, program manager at the Vermont Foodbank.

There is more to the program than food res-cue according to Wallace. This program has a transformative quality that is hard to de-scribe. Its workforce development; theres a benefit to the environment; its higher educa-tion. At graduation, you see that there is an incredible impact on the individual student and their family. Graduates gain connections and social supports that werent there before, she says.

Wendy Viola of Warren is one of them. Wendy learned about CKA through her Reach Up caseworker. It seemed like a great opportunityshe loves to cook and came from a family of restaurateurs. When she met Chef Jamie, CVCACs CKA senior chef instructor, she knew that it was the perfect opportunity. Chef Jamie is amazing to be

around. She makes the whole education pro-cess feel very natural. And, the program itself and the environment is all very conducive to learning, beams Wendy, who graduated from CKA Barre in February and is now working for Cafe Provence on Blush Hill in Water-bury, both in the front end of the house, and as a prep cook. I feel successful and positive. Every morning, I not only get to choose which baked goods to offer, but I get to make them. Its satisfying watching our customers enjoy the food I bake. She has plans to become a full-time baker in the future and she has the skills to make it happen thanks to CKA.

Chef Jamies long-term goal for the program is to make the CKA Barre the go-to place for food service employers to find new employees. We want local restaurants and food service businesses to use us as their primary place for new hires, she says. Her message to area employers: Instead of putting a job up on Craigslist, come to us first. She also notes that CVCAC is seeking entrepreneurs to use the kitchen during off-hours.

According to Cohen, the CKA program fits right in with the mission of CVCAC. Were always looking for ways to help people get out of poverty. With this program, people get trained, learn a skill and get a job. The move to Barre gave us an opportunity to do a commercial kitchen and start this program, he says.

In fact, CVCACs move to downtown Barre from the Barre-Montpelier road is, in a sense, a homecoming, since the organization started in Barre City on Ayers Street almost 50 years ago. Its like coming back home, says Cohen. CVCAC decided to build a new home in downtown Barre after it had outgrown its old home. The move also made sense because over 50 percent of the people served by CVCAC in Washington County reside in the Barre area. Since opening its doors in July 2013, the de-mand for services has increased. Weve seen a 100 percent increase in the number of people weve been serving in the food shelf compared to the previous year, says Cohen.

Located on Gable Place off of Granite Street in the old P&S Furniture building, the new CVCAC facility is 24,000 square feet and cost $4.9 million, most of which was spent with local contractors and suppliers. This is now a community asset, we think for a really long time, says Cohen.

The next CKA Barre starts July. For more in-formation on CKA Barre, call 802-479-1053 or email [email protected].

The Vermont Foodbank and Central Vermont Community Action Council Serve Up a New Culinary Training Program in Downtown Barre by Emily Kaminsky

Jamie Eisenberg, Senior Chef Instructor, CVCACHal Cohen, Executive Director, CVCACMichelle Wallace, Program Manager, The Vermont Foodbank


Harsh Winter Leaves Farmers Out in the Coldby Carolyn Grodinsky

March 2014, the month for start-ing plants in the greenhouse, was one of the coldest on record. Temperatures ranged from a low of minus 16F to a high of 11F, averaging almost 11 degrees lower than usual. And it wasnt just the month of March, the entire winter of 2014 was extremely cold, with 68 days ex-periencing temperatures below 10F. Local farmers felt the impacts of the 2014 winter in many ways.

Paul Betz of High Ledge Farm in Wood-bury typically plants his seedling starts in March to be ready to sell on opening day of the farmers market. This year, Paul had to wait 10 days later than normal, as his heat-ing system couldn't heat the greenhouse when temperatures were sub-zero. Like-wise, plants at Gaylord Farm in Waitsfield are more than three weeks behind due to the very cold nights and lack of sun. Deb Gaylord noted that the delayed planting date means that some of the longer-season produce will not mature for harvest.

Chris Thompson of Owl Hill Farm in Plainfield hasn't yet planted his early sea-son crops for the early May and June har-vests. This later planting date will create a gap between the end of his winter greens season and the time for selling the greens he would have planted by now. To coun-ter the shortened planting season, Chris is planting all his high tunnels with fast-growing greens. Hell harvest these greens when it's time to plant the warm season crops. The work, typically done over sev-eral months, will be concentrated over a very short period, leading to extra-long, ex-hausting days. Having later greens for sale is hard on Chris financially, because the beginning of the season is when farmers need income most to buy items such as soil amendments, compost and potting soil.

Greenfield Highland Beef, as its name sug-gests, raises Highland cattle. These ani-mals have lived for centuries in the rugged, remote Scottish Highlands. The extremely harsh conditions have created a breed of hardy and adaptable animals, with long hair and thick skin, well suited for cold weather. But even this hardy breed was challenged by the winter just ending. The cold temperatures and lack of sunshine re-duced their normal weight gain. Cattle werent able to convert their hay ledge feed efficiently and grow at the same rate as they do during more typical winters. The lack of sun created serious problems, too. The Highlands normally soak up the sun, building heat in their bodies. With so few

sunny days this season, they werent able to conserve energy and needed more feed to maintain heat. Fortunately, with the return of warmer weather and sunshine, the cattle are already less physically stressed and are beginning to fill out. Greenfields veterinarian observed that he had never seen such winter loss as in the dairy cattle hes now seeing in his rounds. He noted that the cold winter also compromised the cattles resistance to disease and infection.

Gaylord Farm in Waitsfield raises Black Angus and Belted Galloway. Like the Highland Cattle, they required more feed over the winter to stay warm. The farm buys organic hay for its cattle and, because the animals needed extra to stay warm, hay has been in short supplyand there are still two months remaining before cattle can feed on springs nourishing grasses. Calving has also been difficult in the sub-freezing temperatures. The farm has lost a number of small animals, as the time to get on their feet to nurse in order to raise their blood sugar is greatly reduced with the cold. Extra staff is required to address all these issues and help more animals survive.

One silver lining of the long, cold winter was its impact on some warmer climate pests. Pests are slowly moving north, but they have not been able to establish popula-tions in this area. Betz hasn't seen the in-sects yet on his farm, or in this area, and he hopes the severity of the winter has killed the bugs and they don't want to come back up North. Betz's biggest pest concern is the squash vine borer. The moths lay their egg on the stems of the squash plants, the eggs hatch and move into the vines of the squash, and the vines collapse. Thicker vined-stemmed squash, such as butternut squash, are less susceptible than thinner ones, such as pumpkins and delicatas. Its a major concern for Betz, who grows many varieties of squash. He notes that if this pest harmed squash throughout New Eng-land, it would create fewer squash for the fall and winter season.

As of April 8, Betz still had between 18 inches and 2 feet of snow on High Ledge Farm, but hes still planning to have his wide variety of vegetable startsincluding lettuces, cabbage, kales, collards, broccoli, caulif lower and Asian greensfor the first Capital City Farmers Market on May 3. Support our farmers on opening day of the outdoor season. By then, the weather is sure to be warmer!


Lined up on shelves at either end of the glass-enclosed atrium are 30 or more gold and silver statuettes along with 18 or so plaques representing dozens of national and international awards that the cheeses and products of Vermont Butter & Cheese Co. have won in the last decade. Just recently the company changed its name to the Vermont Creamery, and now there are several more significant changes on the way.

The glass atrium in Graniteville runs across the width of the aged goat cheese building and there are 10 windows that you can peer into and see different stages of cheese making. That 4000-square-foot building is now in the process of being swallowed by a 14,000-square-foot building going up around it on three sides and 10 feet above the roof. Once the new aged goat cheese production facility is up and run-ning later this summer, Mark Groleau, of Groleau Construction, Inc. of Barre, who is in charge of completing the project as construction manager, will be gutting the existing interior and rebuilding it as an integrated part of the new plant.

The new construction will be home to ge-otricum aged goat cheese production. Ge-otricum refers to the yeast spores that occur naturally in the air that are used to create the crinkled rind that is associated with aged goat cheese most notably from the southeastern regions of France. The geo process can be delicate. It requires a plant-wide computerized air handling and filtra-tion system imported from France to con-trol the temperature and humidity, among other things. The aging process will also be part of the production space inside the new building. We are not talking about years of aging like the sharp cheddar we are all familiar with. These cheeses are aged 7 to 10 days. Then, they are ready to be pack-aged and sent off to chefs, restaurants and specialty cheese shops that know how to store and handle the product.

The geo goat cheese is currently the fast-est growing product line for the Vermont Creamery. Several of the four or five aged goat cheese lines have been perennial award winners since the early days of produc-tion in 2005. Their major bread winners though, are made from cows milk, such as the cultured butter and crme fraiche, which accounts for about half of the milk that comes into the creamery from the St. Albans Cooperative Creamery. The goat milk comes from 17 goat dairy farms here in Vermont, as well as additional milk as needed from a co-op in Ontario, Canada.

Looking to secure the future, the Vermont Creamery recently initiated a project of

building a model goat dairy farm in Ran-dolph. The Ayers Brook Goat Dairy is near-ing completion. A new 27,000-square-foot goat barn was built last summer and is now operational with over 200 milking goats. The plan is to demonstrate to farmers here in New England how to run a success-ful goat dairy farm. These new farms will hopefully provide the milk to support the expanded production.

The Vermont Creamery was the brainchild of two Vermonters, Allison Hooper and Bob Reese. While traveling in France as a college student, Allison spent time work-ing on a farm and learned the essentials of traditional French cheese making. She brought those skills back to Vermont and hooked up with Bob in 1984 to create what was then Vermont Butter & Cheese Co. In 1988, they moved their operations into the Wilson Industrial Park, just a stones throw from the Rock of Ages quarry in Graniteville. After building a solid repu-tation, about 15 years ago they began to invest in expanding the creamery. It was about 12 years ago that a young intern with the National Dairy School in France came on board and soon discovered that the geo process cheeses needed to be separate from the other cultured products, and in its own building. Today that intern, Adeline Druart, is now the general manager and lives with her husband and son in central Vermont.

When the creamery began operations in the new location, they hired Groleau Con-

struction to do some minor renovations. The relationship grew and eventually Mark Groleau was hired as the construction manager for all of the succeeding expan-sion projects. Eventually they moved from about one third of the space in the build-ing they were in, to taking over the entire building. In that time frame, the creamery also added the new aged cheese building in 2005, which is now being more than tripled in size with the new construction.

They liked the idea of working with a local contractor, Mark Groleau. Mark has been responsible for managing all the new con-struction and major renovations at the plant, as well being the construction manager for the Ayers Brook goat barn. He brought with

him a slew of additional local subcontrac-tors, such as Hutch Brothers Concrete and Dexter Electric, both in East Barre. DMS Machining & Fabrication out of Barre did the steel work and BCI Construction of Orwell worked on the Randolph barn.

As Mark Groleau has come to master the stringent food industry construction re-quirements as relates to the Vermont Creamery, a nice working relationship has developed. There is already talk of several additional expansion projects on the draw-ing board. This bodes well for future farm-ers looking to venture into premium goat milk production, as well the contractors ready to expand the facilities to handle the demand.

Premium Goats Milk Production Expanding in Vermont by Mike Furey

The Ayers Brook Goat Dairy Barn in Randolph, VT.Photo by Mike furey


Reliability Knowledge Dedication

vtfoodbank.org

Why should you hire our Culinary Graduates?

CKA is an intensive 13-week culinary job training program located in Barre & Burlington. Since 2009, over 108 students have graduated from CKA and well over 80% have been successful in finding employment.

The hands-on instruction and college level academic work required of these students makes them ideal candidates for a position in the culinary industry.

CKA is accredited to provide qualifying graduates 9 college-level academic credits.

GRADUATE PROFILE1. Thirteen consecutive weeks of working in a high volume production kitchen 6 hours of instruction and production daily. Every student utilizes the latest commercial tools and equipment to produce quality entrees and side dishes daily.

2. ServSafe certification training.

3. Extensive knife skills experience.

4. Recipe comprehension, conver-sion, measurement and execution.

5. Organize mise en place and prioritize production lists.

6. Hands-on knowledge of vegetable cookery, soups, sauces and salad making.

7. Basic meat handling and cooking techniques.

8. Fundamentals of baking.

9. Breakfast, a la carte and banquet productions.

10. Life skills training on how to work in a team, solve problems and budget resources and time.

Do you have staffing needs? Contact the CKA chef instructors to find the right employee for your kitchen!CKA Burlington: 802.540.2571, [email protected] CKA Barre: 802.479.1053, [email protected]

CKA is a statewide program of the Vermont Foodbank in local partnership with: Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf to operate CKA Burlington and Central Vermont Community Action Council to operate CKA Barre.

Farm to Plate for All Vermonters by Erica Campbell

Vermont has a blossoming local food movement that is often in the news and even makes national headlines. While its wonderful to be recognized as a leader, we cant rest on our laurels. We need to continually examine the impacts of local food systems on the economy, health, food security and the environment. We need to ask, Is local food accessible to all, or is it just accessible to some?

Prior to the proliferation of cheap modes of transportation and industrial farming and processing, all food systems were regionally based, constrained by the limits of the land, climate and local farmers. Vermonters have a long history of self-sufficiency and producing and processing a wide array of food. Over the last century we began to lose that connection to our food and to the land as industrial food from afar became the norm.

There is a revival in local food systems, but it is often perceived as being supported by the more affluent foodie types of consumers, often urban. However, that is an incomplete picture of what the local food movement is and what it needs to be about.

Vermont is fortunate to have many organiza-tions working to decrease food insecurity and alleviate hunger, and many of these organi-zations are seeing the benefits of how local food systems can improve access to healthy food. For example, Salvation Farms coordi-nates gleaning programs (traditional harvest-ing and moving surplus) throughout the state

to capture fresh food that will not make it to market. The Vermont Foodbank runs several gleaning programs and distributes the produce to many food shelves. They also res-cue food from retail markets and run the Community Kitchen Academy, which trains underserved individuals with kitchen skills in a program that uses gleaned food to pre-pare meals for charitable food sites. NOFA-Vermonts farm share program provides free CSA shares to qualifying Vermonters and supports farmers markets in setting up Elec-tronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) systems. The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps partners with Central Vermont Medical Center to offer fresh local produce to families in need. These are only a few of the many great pro-grams in our state.

In 2009, the Vermont Legislature initiated the Vermont Farm to Plate initiative to in-crease jobs and economic development in the farm and food sector, and to increase access to healthy local food for all Vermonters. The Farm to Plate Strategic Plan was released in 2011, and that same year the Farm to Plate Network was launched to implement the plan. Members of the Farm to Plate Network encompass all types and scales of agricultural-related production and processing businesses, government entities, educational institutions, distributors, retailers and dozens of nonprof-its from food justice to technical assistance providers. Members work together on numer-ous high-leverage projects.

The Farm to Plate Network has undertaken

projects aimed at increasing food access, including the Farm to Plate Food Retailers Task Force working in conjunction with the Healthy Retailers program of the Vermont Department of Health to increase local food at small independent markets. The Farm to Institution Task Force is working to make more local food available where many lower income consumers eat, such as schools and hospitals. Lastly, the Food Cycle Coalition is working to implement the Universal Recy-cling Bill that prioritizes food rescue.

However, there is still a lot of work to be done. Food insecurity rates continue to be high, national budget cuts have significantly impacted Vermonters and programs intended to serve as emergency food are more regularly used as supplemental food by many families due to increasing needs.

That is why the Food Access Crosscutting Team is exploring how the Farm to Plate Network can better address food access and food insecurity. The group recently met for a day-long planning retreat in Montpelier. The team first assessed the contextual factors af-fecting the current state of food access. Some systemic factors include a lack of food justice, high poverty rates, lack of livable wages for many people, including farmers, and the fact that food is still not defined as a human right in the United States.

The group then explored what a truly food secure Vermont would look like in the future, particularly focusing on a common agenda

we can all work towards. The team also went through an exercise to identify gaps and op-portunities that can be addressed by the net-work and its affiliated organizationssuch as messaging and educating policy makers, funders and consumers; linking local food systems to health; and more deeply exploring how local food can be accessible for every-one. There is also interest in building new statewide partnerships and programming to address this challenging issue.

The Farm to Plate Network and its mem-bers will continue to meet to identify how Vermont and the Farm to Plate Network can increase food access and ensure that by developing the local food system we are also creating a more healthy society and benefit-ing the most vulnerable in our state.

Erica Campbell is the Farm to Plate program director at the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, which developed the Farm to Plate Strategic Plan and coordinates the Farm to Plate Net-work. Vermont Farm to Plate is a statewide initiative to increase economic development and jobs in Vermonts farm and food sector and to improve access to healthy local food for all Vermonters. www.VTFoodAtlas.com


When Camilla Behn joined Tone-wood Maple in November 2013 as its operations manager, she quickly realized that if the pure maple syrup and specialty products company wanted to continue its growth and expansion, it needed a new streamlined and more efficient com-puter tracking system.

Prior to her arrival, everything from record keeping, and accounting to traceability of where its food and inventory items were dis-tributed, and tracking of expiration dates of the ingredients used in its products, was being done manually in spreadsheets. Behn set out to find a solution, but to no avail.

There were different versions of QuickBooks that we could have used, said Behn, but the software was so expensive for a small company like ours that I just couldnt find something that could work.

Thats when Behn decided to call Robin Mor-ris, founder of the Mad River Food Hub in Waitsfield. The Mad River Food Hub is a licensed vegetable and meat processing facil-ity that provides small local food producers and processors, including Tonewood Maple, with a wide range of services such as business planning and distribution of products to local retail outlets in Montpelier, Waterbury, Bur-lington and the Mad River Valley. They also provide packaging, meat processing and dry, cool and frozen storage spaces.

Behns call was well-timed, because her di-lemma was exactly what Morris had spent the last year looking to solve.

Food safety requirements

The Mad River Food Hub requires businesses that use its facility to have what is called lot tracking for food traceability. Food traceabil-ity refers to the record keeping system of a business to track where its products have gone such as to which retail outlets or restaurants; the history of the animal that went into say, the bacon or sausage; and what ingredients went into a final product, like the maple syrup used in Tonewoods pure maple sugar cubes. Food traceability is a key component in food safety. If an ingredient or product is found to be tainted, a business must know immediately

where those ingredients and products were shipped so it can issue a recall.

Although the use of lot tracking isnt a man-date right now for small food producers state-wide, within one to four years thats expected to change. The FDA is in the process of finalizing regulations authorized by the 2011 enactment of the Food Safety Modernization Act. Morris says these regulations will signifi-cantly impact many small Vermont food pro-cessing companies by increasing food safety regulations, specifically the requirement to have traceability, like lot tracking, on all prod-ucts.

Businesses that will be impacted range from meat processing companies, like those that make sausage and bacon, to value-added busi-nesses like cheesemakers. Morris estimates that up to 400 Vermont food processing busi-nesses will be impacted by the regulations.

Id say that today, most small businesses are not tracking, and I understand why. When youre just starting out, its not the first thing on your mind, said Morris. But if youre making and selling food, you should have traceability. Lot tracking is a best practice for the industry, and any food company has an obligation to keep their customers safe.

Finding a solution

While Morris knew the businesses that used the Mad River Food Hub facility already had lot tracking in place, he also understood that many companies like Tonewood Maple were using spreadsheets and doing everything by hand. He figured there had to be a more efficient and cost-effective management solu-tion. He also knew that his companies werent the only ones struggling with this issue in Vermont, so in early 2013, Morris launched a three-phase project with funding and as-sistance from the Vermont Farm & Forest Viability Program, a program of the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB) and the Center for an Agricultural Economys Vermont Food Venture Center.

For the project, VHCB contracted with Stan Ward, a software professional, farmer and value-added processor, to first develop a pa-per-based lot tracking system to understand

exactly what all companies would re-quire. The next step was to complete in-depth market research of existing food traceability software solutions, and the last step was to work with a cross-functional team of Ver-mont food system stakeholders to evaluate over 130 different soft-ware solutions.

In late 2013, DEAR Inventory was selected to provide small busi-nesses with food and product trace-ability and accounting solutions. The system offers companies the ability to integrate with QuickBooks Online, XERO cloud-based accounting services, other cloud-based services including e-commerce solu-tions like Shopify, Magento and eBay, as well as shipping logistics ShipStation, which con-nects with FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL and in-ternational express mailing service. As part of the agreement between DEAR and the Mad River Food Hub, DEAR will provide func-tional enhancements to improve its support of food processing businesses and is offering a special first-year pricing for all Vermont food businesses.

a new beginning

When Behn placed her call to Morris, he was preparing to create a pilot group of members from the Mad River Food Hub and the Ver-mont Food Venture Center in Hardwick to test DEAR Inventory. Behn slid in as part of the pilot group, which also consists of a wide variety of businesses, including Arti-san Meats of Vermont, Joes Soups, Vermont Bean Crafters, Vermont Food Venture Cen-ter (lightly processed foods), and Vermont Switchel.

Behn said shes already seen an immediate positive impact for the business. The great thing about this [DEAR] is its an affordable program for small producers. And there are three distinct benefits, said Behn. One, it helps with cost accounting; two, it allows us to track and flag expired products and three, we can track products for safety and recalls.

When we buy a raw good from a distribu-tor to use in one of our products, say maple

syrup, she went on to explain, then if that product becomes tainted and has to be re-called, we know which batches of our prod-ucts contained that tainted product. With the system we can quickly recall the batches and can notify the appropriate distributors.

The pilot group is expected to complete its work between April and May, and then other Vermont companies will be able to purchase the system. Morris acknowledges that this system will do more than just help Vermont companies meet federal regulation standards; it has the potential to help them enter brand new markets.

While the FDA has a minimum requirement for food safety, its really larger companies like Whole Foods that are setting the industry standard because they require food processors to have food traceability requirements that are way above the FDAs, said Morris. Not having software to manage food traceability can hinder progress, and if people want to grow their businesses and ultimately sell to companies like Whole Foods, then they need to use lot tracking. In solving this problem for our members, were helping to solve it for all Vermonters.

Small Food Companies Win Big with New Lot Tracking Software by Amanda Ibey

Tell them you saw it in The Bridge!

Chicken and onion illustrations by Kate Burnim


Food is just one of many landmines that pepper the battlefield of my life as a parent in 21stcentury America. Health care, screen time, education, chores and al-lowances are just some of the topics I pore over and research. When I asked my mom how today is different from when she raised me, she said, You think about everything so much more than we did. Case in point: a photo of me, not one year old, grinning ear to ear with half an Oreo clenched in my fist and the other half smeared across my face. Times have changed.

The messages are loud and clear: dont eat fast food, dont eat processed food, dont eat any-thing your grandparents didnt eat, dont eat pesticides or GMOs, watch out for all those antibiotics in meats and dairy products, dont buy mass-produced meat that is the result of cruel treatment of animals, dont eat fish from polluted waters, and maybe you should consider gluten-free. I hear them all.

When I shop at Price Chopper once a week (I go there because I get 10 cents off a gallon of gas for every $100 I spend, and because I can feed my family for the week within my

budget), Im aware of issues around food and the compromises Im making because of what I can afford. Like landmines, choices explode as I make my way through the aisles.

Coming through the doors, the produce sec-tion is where every shopping trip begins. In front are the items on sale, and thats good butBOOM! The first landmine is hit. It might be on sale but its not organic. Never. I have a list of the dirty dozen: the 12 most important foods to buy organic because of their high levels of pesticides. As I pick the staples that we always eat, another BOOM! As far as I can tell, I cant ever buy too many bananas for my household to consume. But I know they come from far away, and there is a cost to the fuel and transportation is takes to get them to me, every week. Food within a 100-mile radius? Not even close.

Just behind produce is the bakery. I side-step the landmine of sweets with only a little boom for eyeing the apple turnovers. Im not too tempted. I also may or may not buy deli lunchmeat, sidestepping an explosion of pre-servatives and nitrates. I buy the bread they bake at Price Chopper; I like it and so do the

kids. But, BOOM! Its not local (and there are a lot of great local breads) and its white. I know that white flour, white sugar and

many white foods are processed, stripped of whole grains and any

nutrients they might have had.

From here, every aisle in the grocery store is one big BOOM! I hear Michael

Pollan in my mind: Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants. I believe it. But the reality of

feeding three kids, pack-ing lunches and making

healthy food that will actually get eaten in such volume is too much of a burden for eating mostly plants to bear. For every time I pack cucumber slices or blueber-ries, there are Goldfish and graham crackers. For every dinner with Brussels sprouts, there is macaroni and cheese. I am resigned to compromises.

At Price Chopper I feel like I strike a middle road. I buy ground turkey instead of ground beef for homemade meatballs because spa-ghetti and meatballs are something everyone can always agree on. But BOOM! The meat is not local, and I wonder if the ground turkey was processed humanely, or was raised with hormones and antibiotics. It says natural but that could mean anything. The same goes for the dairy section: BOOM! There is organic

milk, but a half-gallon is more expensive than a whole gallon of nonorganic. I have to think in terms of enough for the whole week.

I buy fish, which has its very own special set of landmines. BOOM! BOOM! We should eat fish to get those essential omega-3 fatty acids. I have a guide that lists clean and dirty fish, or those that have more or less pollution and toxins from the ocean (that we humans put there). So I try to buy wild Alaskan salmon. Thats what I can remember from the list that I dont carry anymore, and I know that we all like it. We also eat Tilapia which I hope, rather than know, is clean.

Finally, there is the frozen section where I make decisions like BOOM! frozen pizza, because I know that we make dinner at home every night, and there are nights when pizza is all I can muster up the energy to make. I diffuse the landmine by getting American Flatbread. I will decide how many other meals are going to involve frozen shortcuts, and grab a pint of Ben & Jerrys to ease the end of what I know will be a long week making as much healthy food as I can for my family, while sometimes taking a less healthy but easier way out just because Im exhausted.

BOOM! Landmines in the World of Food Choices by Michelle A.L. Singer

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The sun is shining, temperatures are rising and the snow is melting. While the sap might be drying up, the beer is running. Spring is here at last and its time to enjoy the great outdoors.

The time for huddling around the fire and sipping heavy beers behind the confines of four walls is over. Its the time of year to grab a Frisbee, rejoice with friends and embrace the sun. Thats why the Three Penny Taproom in Montpelier is kicking down the doors, rolling out the kegs, firing up the grills and cranking the tunes. This years Montbeerlier Festival will feature the bluegrass sound of the Mad Mountain Scramblers, said Kevin Kerner, the manager of Three Penny and one of the event coordinators.

We are doing bluegrass-themed, said Kevin, because spring has taken a while to get here

and bluegrass is just spring. Its kind of just celebrating. You know, he said, its finally here guys. Everybody, come out of your houses. It is going to be alright.

Kevin and his brother, Scott, one of the three owners of Three Penny, are making sure ev-erything is going to be alright when hundreds of people descend upon Langdon Street in Montpelier on Saturday, May 3, by orches-trating an incredible draft list of beers to highlight the seasons flavor. Outside, Three Penny will be showcasing a collaboration beer made just for this event. Made at Lost Nation Brewing in Morrisville, this beer marks the third collaboration Three Penny has crafted in preparation for the annual event.

Over the last two years, Three Penny has teamed up with two other local greats, Sean Lawson, of Lawsons Finest Liquids, and Sean

Hill of Hill Farmstead Brewery, brewing under his Grassroots label. Each of these past two collaborations resulted in great beer and fantastic festivals, a combination that Kevin and Scott are hoping will work again. So while the recipe is different, they are hop-ing the results are the same.

When Three Penny teamed up with Lawson in 2012, they set out with the goal of mak-ing, something as low in alcohol as humanly possible that was still balanced and hoppy, said Scott. Because the event fell on Cinco de Mayo that year, they ended up calling the beer, TPT (Three Penny Taproom) Especial.

Last year, Montbeerliers second year, they partnered with Hill to create Grassroots Three Penny Song of Spring, which was a 4.2% ABV hoppy amber ale. Both this beer and TPT Especial satisfied the fine balance that Three Penny is looking for when making its annual Montbeerlier collaboration, great taste and low alcohol content. This combina-tion is not easily struck, but Scott emphasized how important it is to Three Penny, The idea is that we have about 700 people who show up for this party, and the original intention was that we need to make a low alcohol beer that people can have at like 3 or 4 in the afternoon and not fall on the pavement, and be able to enjoy the entire party.

At Montbeerlier, its all about enjoying the party, the good weather and the great people while sipping on some of the finest beer the world has to offer. Kevin and Scott are really excited for this years collaboration with Lost Nation, which incorporates two of their fa-vorite hopscitra and galaxy. The two hops, which are known for their tropical fruity notes, will be on full display in this blond and hazy ale. With 60 percent of the grain bill being made up of wheat and an intensive dry-hopping cycle, this beer will be as refreshing and aromatic as a spring breeze. While neither brother has had the chance to sample the beer yet, they are confident it will turn out great.

Longtime friends with the guys over at Lost Nation, Kevin and Scott are psyched that they got the chance to push Allen Van Anda and James Griffith out of their comfort zone of making exceptional old world beers, to try-ing something that merges old world simplic-ity with some of the markets newest and most celebrated hops for this years collaboration. Lost Nations Vermont Pilsner, one of Three Pennys best selling beers, will also be on tap outside.

Three Penny isnt the only outfit that is col-laborating out there. Many breweries around the continent and in Europe are collaborating on a regular basis so that brewers can explore

new techniques, try new styles and really take advantage of the terroir of some of the most renowned breweries in the world.

Kevin said he first dabbled in collaborative brewing while working as a brewer at the Fly-ing Goose Brew Pub & Grill in New Hamp-shire in a project undertaken by the New Hampshire Brewers Guild. Members of the guild were asked to create their own recipe, brew it and then share the recipe with oth-ers to brew. This exercise helped demonstrate the role that terroir plays in shaping a beer. Differences in water quality and yeast really made each beer taste uniquely different even when all other factors in a beers recipe were kept constant.

Big craft breweries are getting in on the ac-tion, too. Sierra Nevada, which was founded in Chico, Calif., regularly invites collabora-tion with outside breweries and brewers. Matt McCarthy, Wes Hamilton and Scott, the three owners of Three Penny, were fortunate enough to be invited out to Chico just one year after the bar opened to

Documents

The Bridge, April 17, 2014