Senator Patrick Leahy cuts a ceremonial ribbon Friday to mark the opening of the Vermont Food Venture Center in Hardwick. He was joined by some of the people who helped bring the project to fruition. In profile, from left to right, are Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Ross, Senator Leahy, Marcelle Leahy, Vermont director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Molly Lambert, Matthew Suchodolski of the U.S. Economic Development Administration, Vermont Secretary of Commerce and Community Development Lawrence Miller, and Tom Stearns of High Mowing Seeds. Photo by Joseph GresserHARDWICK — “You’re really redefining community development in Vermont,” U.S. Senator Pat Leahy told farmers, entrepreneurs, and officials Friday.
“Hardwick has become a national model for the future of agriculture.”
It was the official opening of the Vermont Food Venture Center, a 15,000-square-foot nonprofit industrial kitchen where entrepreneurs can develop their small businesses. Before the speeches, a crowd of about 300 people milled around and toured the facility, tasting some of the products people have created or perfected using the center’s kitchens and with help from its staff. Among the samples were jalapeño chips, smoked farm-raised salmon, a traditional farmers’ drink called switchel, and a salve made of bear fat.
The venture center is not new. It has been operating in Fairfax since 1996, but outgrew its space. Hardwick made a successful bid to bring the center to the industrial park thanks to a core group of farmers and entrepreneurs in the area. The group is establishing a food system that includes not only new businesses but also infrastructure such as business planning and technical assistance.
Senator Leahy said people in Vermont are starting vibrant new farms instead of closing down old ones.
“The Senate Ag Committee’s going to hear about you — all of you,” he said. “You don’t need speeches, but I wanted to be here because I wanted to say thank you to all of you for making me proud to be a Vermonter. And by Jeezum Crow we can do things.”
A considerable number of people who participated actively — and expensively — in the hearing process which ended with the grant of a Certificate of Public Good to Green Mountain Power’s industrial wind project on Lowell Mountain found themselves frustrated and deeply disillusioned by the outcome. They moved on to direct action, and quickly found themselves at odds with the law.
These stories and photographs document their progress, between late September and early December 2012, toward a direct confrontation atop the mountain they are seeking to protect, a confrontation that led to their arrest.
It’s true — the Northeast Kingdom is not a university. But if you have lived here, or visited often, it’s likely you learned something or at least have a good story about it. Where are you now? What are you up to? Share your news by sending notes to me:
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Mike Mason
My name is Mike Mason. I grew up in Barton, VT, and graduated from Lake Region Union High School in 1990. After taking a six-and-a-half-year hiatus from the news business I am once again working in television. I am an investigative reporter for the Fox affiliate in Fort Myers, Florida, WFTX. After graduating high school I obtained a partial scholarship to attend college in Miami and have stayed in Florida ever since. I began working in television again about six months ago and was just nominated for another Emmy. The awards will be announced next month. Although I've found many of my old friends on Facebook I still wonder where others have ended up. My personal e-mail is
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Pete Johnson leads a tour of the new Pete’s Greens storage and processing facility in Craftsbury Saturday morning. The new place replaces an old barn that burned in January. Here Mr. Johnson shows off trays of sunflower sprouts growing under lights. He said the greens help him get his root crops into grocers’ vegetable coolers. Photo by Joseph Gresser
Update - Published on December 14, 2011
COVENTRY — Pete’s Greens and the town of Coventry submitted their application for a Community Development Planning Grant to the state Department of Commerce and Community Development Tuesday. If successful, the grant will provide $30,000 to fund marketing studies for proposed greenhouses that would be located at the Coventry landfill operated by a subsidiary of Casella Waste Management.
A total of eight acres of glass greenhouses would have controlled climates using excess heat from generators, owned by Washington Electric Cooperative, that burn methane captured from the landfill.
Amy Skelton of Pete’s Greens said Tuesday that figures for potential profits from the project in the final application were significantly lower than those contained in the summary approved by Coventry Selectmen, who under state rules, must be the actual grant applicants.
The original summary said the greenhouse complex could generate annual net revenue of $1-million after four years, but Ms. Skelton said Pete’s re-examined those figures and came to the conclusion that, based on actual experience, profits were likely to be half that amount, or $500,000 annually.
Ms. Skelton said the revised figure was included in the final grant application.
COVENTRY — Pete’s Greens and Casella Waste Management have shaken hands on a deal that could allow the grower to build eight acres of greenhouses at the company’s Coventry landfill. The greenhouses would be warmed with excess heat from nearby Washington Electric Cooperative (WEC) generators, fueled by methane gas captured from the landfill.
If a feasibility study is favorable, the project could quadruple the grower’s vegetable production and result in the creation of 20 to 30 jobs, according to a Community Development Planning Grant application.
Coventry selectmen agreed to apply for the grant after a sparsely attended public hearing held Friday, December 2. The grant application asks the state Department of Commerce and Community Development for $30,000 to pay for a market feasibility study and business plan for the project. The Northeastern Vermont Development Association (NVDA) would administer the grant if the application is successful.
