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.”
Senator Leahy said he remembers quite well one of his first conversations about this project with Andrew Meyer, who has started two successful businesses in Hardwick, Vermont Soy and Vermont Natural Coatings. He asked Mr. Meyer how it will work.
Mr. Meyer shrugged and said, “It’ll work.”
The senator said he thanked Mr. Meyer for his in-depth description of his plan.
Bill Davies of Orleans spoke for the board of Northern Enterprises, a nonprofit that ran the original center in Fairfax, which Senator Leahy helped get started in the first place. Northern Enterprises put together more than $3-million in federal and state money to build the new facility. According to a press release from Senator Leahy, the grants included: a $500,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Business Enterprise grant; a $1.5-million Economic Development Administration American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant; an $800,000 Vermont Community Development Program grant to the town of Hardwick; $450,000 secured separately for this project by Senator Leahy; and state grants obtained by state Senator Vince Illuzzi of Derby and others.
Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Ross acted as moderator and introduced the other speakers.
“We’re in Hardwick for a reason. It has to do with some great entrepreneurs,” he said. “Projects like this don’t happen because of money alone.”Barry and KC Wright show off a new product based on a traditional farmers’ drink called switchel. Ms. Wright said her sister, Susan Alexander, owns the Vermont Switchel Company, which is based in Cabot. The recipe is modified from one used by the Alexander and Perron families back in the days of haying with horses. Ingredients include fresh ginger, water, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, and molasses. “Its thirst quenching character cannot be matched by modern sports drinks,” says a promotional card. Photo by Bethany M. Dunbar
Hardwick Selectmen Chairman Marcus Brown said it used to be that anyone making a speech in Hardwick would start out with a Hardwick joke. He said he’s glad that’s no longer the case.
“Agriculture is defined as an art or a science or a business of raising crops,” he said, but really it’s a passion. Mr. Brown said his father was a dairy farmer in the same spot for 40 years because of his passion for what he was doing, and he sees the same passion in the new farmers coming along.
“This is not Wall Street. There are not millions of dollars to be made here,” he said. But there are thriving businesses within a stone’s throw of the venture center, he said, and they are proving that it can be done.
“Individual successes lead to community success,” he said. “Welcome to Hardwick.”
Tom Stearns of High Mowing Seeds, the board president of the Center for an Agricultural Economy, said for too many years farming was something people pushed their children away from. Now, he said, “in Vermont, everything seems possible.”
He added that it’s not just the Hardwick food venture center; it’s the Vermont Food Venture Center and open to all.
The center is available to rent for an hour, a day or a week.
“There’s a lot that’s going to happen here. So hold onto your hats.”
Other speakers included Jenny Nelson of Senator Bernie Sanders’ office, Tricia Coates from Congressman Peter Welch’s office, and , and Matthew Suchodolski of the of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Mr. Andrew Meyer chats with Senator Leahy under the watchful eye of Monty Fischer, executive director of the Center for an Agricultural Economy. Photo by Joseph GresserSuchodolski said when he received a report on this project while sitting in an office in Philadelphia all he could think of was, “What a great concept.”
He said from that vantage point, Vermont seems like a “mythic, intriguing and fascinating place.”
He congratulated the farmers and entrepreneurs for everything they have accomplished so far.
“It’s keeping Vermont on the economic map, and keeping Vermont on the economic map on its own terms,” he said.
After the speeches, people toured the new kitchens. Operations manager George Keener and production assistant Connor Gorham said among the help available are two food scientists and packaging experts.Senator Leahy eyes samples of smoked fish from Per’s Smoked, one of the food businesses helped by the new center. Lynette Courtney keeps an eye out for more customers while Për Courtney greets Marcelle Leahy. Photo by Joseph Gresser
“They’ll get down to the molecular level,” said Mr. Keener. He said one woman was having trouble with a cheesecake recipe that wasn’t turning out the consistency she had hoped. One of the food scientists said a five-degree difference in the baking temperature would make a huge improvement, and it did.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development State Director Molly Lambert hails the opening of the venture center. Hers was one of several agencies that provided funding for the project. Photo by Joseph Gresser
George Keener, operations manager at the venture center, shows off one of three production kitchens during a tour of the facility. Photo by Joseph Gresser
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