Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets Community Accreditation for Produce Safety (CAPS) is a program that helps Vermont produce farmers plan for, adopt, and document best practices that promote produce safety.
The program helps farms write a food safety plan. By documenting their plan’s implementation, farms can choose to earn an annual accreditation from the Vermont Vegetable and Berry Grower Association (VVBGA). Farms may also choose to enroll in CAPS-Plus, which adds a third-party on-farm audit, required by some wholesale buyers.
CAPS is a voluntary program coordinated by University of Vermont (UVM) Extension that is available to all VVBGA member farms. CAPS content, procedures, and policies are guided by an advisory board of farmers and agricultural service providers.
CAPS is about as user-friendly as a produce safety program can be! Since it began ten years ago, it has been designed and modified based on grower input.
Any VVBGA member farm can use the CAPS template on the VVBGA website to write a produce safety plan for free. Accreditation, which includes a review of your plan and related documents, costs only $100, and scholarships are available. Farms can sign up for accreditation in the spring.
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Cultivating Biodiversity and Resilience
Join NOFA-VT on September 16 to tour Cedar Mountain Farm, a micro-dairy and no-till market garden in Hartland. Learn from the farmers how restoring the carbon cycle and biodiversity are key to increasing farm and community resilience.
For over thirty years, Stephen Leslie and Kerry Gawalt have applied soil health principles to support biodiversity and mitigate the impacts of heat, drought, and heavy rainfall. Specific resilience-building efforts include developing silvopasture and alley cropping systems, installation of a gravity hillside pasture water pipeline project, and fostering native riparian pockets.
Register today
Resource Navigation Assistance
Are you overwhelmed by the different grant opportunities available to farm and food businesses? Or are you unsure if your project is eligible for a specific funding opportunity? We can help!
The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets has an Agriculture Resource Navigator on staff to help businesses identify funding opportunities, determine project eligibility, assess business readiness, and connect with advising and technical assistance services.
For resource navigation support, email [email protected] or call (802) 261-7395.
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Marketing Workshops for Wood Products Businesses
Are you a wood products business looking to create or fine-tune your story? Are you looking for a competitive edge with your marketing that captures the story behind your product?
“Telling Your Forest Story” is an online workshop series offered by the Northern Forest Center that is designed to help you better understand and incorporate your wood-origin story into your business philosophy and marketing messaging.
Learn more and apply
ACORN’s Tour de Farms
Join the Addison County Relocalization Netowk (ACORN) for its 17th annual Tour de Farms on September 20 in the Champlain Valley. This lovely 40-mile bike ride has farm stops along the way where you can meet the wonderful people who produce the food and goods you value.
This ride is ACORN’s largest fundraiser and benefits the ACORN Food Hub and its Farmacy: Food is Medicine program, both of which increase access to local food and strengthen small farm viability.
Register now
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Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets
116 State St. Montpelier, VT 05620
https://agriculture.vermont.gov
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