ELLEN KAHLER

STARKSBORO — From climate change to shifting consumer preferences and markets, Vermont’s agriculture industry has faced obstacles and opportunities over the years. 

Starksboro resident Ellen Kahler has spent nearly two decades collaborating with other Vermonters to address those challenges and strengthen the state’s food system.  

She’s done so largely through her role as executive director of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, or VSJF, a nonprofit organization with the mission of nurturing the sustainable development of the state’s economy. 

Kahler’s various contributions to the ag industry have earned her a spot among those selected as this year’s inductees into the Vermont Agricultural Hall of Fame. Kahler was chosen as this year’s Ag Innovator, a category recognizing Vermonters who have “demonstrated a fresh and forward-thinking approach to agriculture.”

“I was totally surprised, totally humbled,” Kahler said of her induction. “The ‘Ag Hall of Fame’ makes it kind of sound like you’ve been doing it your whole lifetime, and I’ve been doing it for a while but compared to the other inductees, I haven’t been doing it nearly as long. But I’m thrilled and humbled and feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to do this work, because it’s a passion of mine.” 

Kahler and the other 2024 Vermont Agricultural Hall of Fame inductees will be celebrated during the Champlain Valley Fair in Essex Junction later this summer. 

She said she’s grateful for the opportunity to be involved in the work that earned her the distinction, particularly having grown up in an area of western New York where many farms were lost to housing and suburban development. 

“When I moved to Vermont in 1989, I came here because I wanted to be connected to the land and be able to go to farmers markets, interact with farms and see farms actively working and have access to really good food that was still really local and contributed to the local economy,” Kahler said. “I’m very driven to do whatever I can so that Vermont doesn’t look like the suburbs that I ended up growing up in western New York or in other parts of the country that have gotten so away from their farming roots and food production roots.” 

Kahler began serving as executive director of the VSJF in 2005. The organization was created in 1995 by an act of the Vermont Legislature to partner with the state government, private sector businesses and nonprofits to “build a thriving economic, social and ecological future for Vermont,” according to its website. 

VSJF provides network development, strategic planning, and other services in the areas of agriculture and food systems, forest products, renewable energy and environmental technology. 

FARM TO PLATE 

In 2009, the Legislature tasked VSJF with developing a 10-year strategic plan for expanding and strengthening Vermont’s ag and food sector — an initiative known as the Vermont Farm to Plate Investment Program. 

Vermont agriculture at the time was facing substantial challenges: the dairy industry was going through a crisis with milk prices and the Great Recession was underway. 

Though, Kahler noted, it was also a time filled with hope and optimism; the state’s farm-to-school program was becoming more active, the Vermont Fresh Network was taking off and farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture options were increasingly popular. 

“It was this really exciting time in some aspects of the farm and food sector and then really economic challenging time in the other parts of the farm and food sector,” Kahler said. “The Legislature was like, ‘What’s going on, why is this like this, and could you spend some more time learning more about this and figuring out how to advance and strengthen the entire farm and food sector.’”  

VSJF was asked to take a holistic view of the farm and food sector, rather than focusing solely on production agriculture. The organization began by developing a graphic of the soil-to-soil cycle of the food system and organized summits around the state to discuss the current conditions of Vermont’s agriculture and food sector.  

“What we were trying to do was help educate people about the totality of the food system and not pit any kind of agriculture against some other kind, that’s not the point here,” Kahler said. “We need it all. We need a diversified, whole system view of food production.” 

Following an extensive public engagement process, the organization helped develop the first Farm to Ptate Strategic Plan in 2011. VSJF was reauthorized to continue its work with the program in 2019, and two years later released the Vermont Agriculture and Food Systems Strategic Plan for 2021-2030. 

STARKSBORO RESIDENT ELLEN Kahler address attendees at a press conference for the first Vermont Farm to Plate Strategic Plan in January 2011. Kahler will be inducted into the Vermont Agriculture Hall of Fame later this summer for her work with Vermont Farm to Plate and other contributions to the state’s farm and food sector.
Photo courtesy of VSJF

Increasing local consumption of local food production has been at the heart of much of VSJF’s work with the program, Kahler said. VSJF estimated that in 2009 Vermont food products made up 5% of all in-state food purchases. In 2020, that number had risen to 16.1%.  

The latest strategic plan sets a goal of further increasing local food consumption to 25% of all in-state food purchases by 2030. Kahler noted there are a few key challenges the state faces in reaching that goal, such as availability of farmland. 

Kahler said the state has a finite amount of land, about 80% of which is forested. A portion of the remaining land consists of open farmland in areas like Addison and Franklin counties. 

“All of that land is increasing in land value so much that it becomes harder and harder to maintain it in agriculture or for young people, the next generation, to get into agriculture,” Kahler said. “At the very time that we’re trying to increase local food production and consumption, we have this huge downward pressure on land, meaning to keep that prime ag land in agriculture production is becoming harder and harder to do at a time when we need it to become easier.” 

Other challenges include climate change and massive consolidation within the distribution system (trucking companies and warehouses) and retail grocery space.  

“That has made it more difficult for Vermont small and mid-scale producers to be able to sell their products into the wholesale market,” Kahler said, adding that access to those markets is a key part of increasing local consumption of local food production. 

“Selling food in Vermont to only direct markets like farmers markets, CSAs, farmstands, only represents about 3% of total ag sales,” Kahler said. “We’re not going to get to 25% (of local consumption) just by doing farmers markets and CSAs and farmstands, we have to have producers getting into grocery stores and restaurants.” 

Kahler noted that VSJF has collaborated with various Vermont entities to address these challenges. The organization has also seen several successes come out of its work with Vermont Farm to Plate, including greater awareness among consumers of the state’s food system and its value and increased understanding of the importance of collaboration across the supply chain. 

Kahler is also excited by a growing awareness of the regional food system. Vermont Farm to Plate and its counterparts around New England have teamed up on “New England Feeding New England,” an effort to achieve 30% regional consumption of regional production by 2030.

“We’re working to try to help them to accelerate their local food system development work as well, because that’s going to help our producers here in Vermont,” she said. “If we can get more of our product in Vermont down into Massachusetts markets and Connecticut markets and Rhode Island markets where there’s wealthier people then they can potentially get a higher price point for some of their products, and it expands the market overall of getting their food out of state more.”

ELLEN KAHLER, LEFT, smiles with Justin Rich of Burnt Rock Farm in Huntington. Kahler has spent nearly 20 years collaborating with farmers and other Vermonters to address challenges and opportunities in the state’s agriculture and food sector, largely through her work with the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund.
Photo courtesy of VSJF

FOOD SYSTEM CAREERS

Outside of Vermont Farm to Plate, Kahler’s role at VSJF has allowed her to help tackle development of the state’s food and agriculture sector in other ways. She said VSJF is involved in efforts to raise awareness of the careers available within the food system, such as by creating a food system career guide. 

Kahler noted that over 62,000 people are employed in the state’s food system today, which represents about 10% of the private sectors jobs in Vermont.

“Food system jobs are not just farm jobs. There’s marketing and brand development jobs, there’s meat slaughter and processing jobs, there’s truck drivers,” Kahler said. “There’s this whole incredible, amazing array of career opportunities for young people to get into the field and we want to expose them to that.” 

Kahler has also worked closely with Glenn Evans, Vermont State University executive director for the Center for Agriculture & Food Entrepreneurship, and others to start a new center on the university’s Randolph campus. 

“The idea is to really revamp the whole curriculum and offering so that it still supports the dairy community and having young people that want a career in dairy farm management, but that it also is broadened to all types of agriculture and food processing and food entrepreneurship,” she explained. 

Kahler said that curriculum is currently being developed, with the hope of having the program approved and ready to accept new students in 2025. She noted the Patricia A. Hannaford Career Center could serve as a feeder into the program once it’s up and running.