Letter to the editor: Farms getting a pollution pass

Vermont has known for at least 60 years that it is not meeting its water quality standards in Lake Champlain and that the major contributor to the problem is conventional dairy. Conventional farming was designed in the years following Wolrd War II, when fossil fuels were cheap and abundant. The Haber-Bosch process, invented by two German scientists in the early 1900s, converted the nutrients in petroleum into fertilizer, making ages-old and time-consuming crop rotation and mechanical weed control obsolete. … (read more)

VERMONT — Registration is now open for the 8th annual Vermont Open Farm Week, taking place at farms across Vermont on Aug. 7-14. This special week in August, hosted by DigIn VT, creates an opportunity for folks to connect with Vermont’s working landscape, … (read more)

BURLINGTON — University of Vermont Extension, in collaboration with the Vermont Fresh Network and Dig in Vermont, recently released a new regulatory navigation tool for agritourism operators. The free tool is designed to help both individuals new to agrit … (read more)

VERMONT — Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, known as SARE, is accepting preproposals to distribute $5 million in funding across its three largest grant programs: Research and Education, Research for Novel Approaches, and Profession … (read more)

Danone, a global food company and the owner of Horizon Organic, plans to terminate contracts next year with all of its organic dairy farmers in Vermont and other parts of the Northeast, leaving farmers without buyers for their milk.Other buyers in the are … (read more)

VERMONT — While manure often gets a bad rap, it gives farmers who raise livestock a valuable resource to meet the nutrient needs of crops and supplies organic matter to the soil in a way unmatched by commercial fertilizers. Using manure effectively maximi … (read more)

VERMONT — Next week a special social media event will showcase a day in the life of Vermont farmers. #Farm24VT runs from 5 a.m. on Wednesday, May 12, until 5 a.m. the following day. Farmers will share photos, videos and stories that provide a behind-the-s … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury distributor of John Deere and other brand farm equipment has been sold to a larger chain of stores that sells new and used equipment to farmers, commercial landscapers, builders, and homeowners. United Ag & Turf of East Windsor … (read more)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Small Business Administration this week said that agricultural businesses are now eligible for SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and EIDL Advance programs. SBA’s EIDL portal reopened Monday as a result of funding authorized … (read more)

VERMONT — A free, interactive online series will help farmers and agricultural service providers learn how to adapt to the evolving COVID-19 situation to remain viable and continue to serve their customers’ needs. University of Vermont Extension; the Verm … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — Addison County Relocalization Network, known as ACORN, is following up November’s 4th Annual Producer Buyer Forum with its annual winter workshops series for farmers and food producers.  ACORN Board Member Annie Harlow is a main organizer of … (read more)

Kudos to New Haven’s Geoff Davis and his timely, well-written, necessary letter to the editor — “Large scale dairy farming inherently Unsustainable” (Sept. 16).  — with many numbers supporting his statements. I would encourage anyone who did not read this … (read more)

In the third of a three-part series examining the historic and current role of the Otter Creek in Addison County, and its current status as the heaviest conveyor of phosphorus pollution into Lake Champlain, we turn a sympathetic ear to the burden placed o … (read more)