Krupp: New Local Solutions

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(Host) It’s hard to keep with all the new farm and food initiatives
taking place in the Green Mountains. Commentator Ron Krupp describes
three new sustainable models in Burlington, Berlin and Newport.

(Krupp)
Two miles from the urban core of Burlington, the Intervale Food Hub
markets and distributes local vegetables, blueberries, maple syrup,
breads, apples, cider, eggs, salmon, meats and cheeses. The goal of the
Hub is to provide the greater Burlington community with convenient
access to high quality foods while returning a fair price to farmers.
And the Hub offers convenient, year-round delivery service.

Many
of the vegetables come from right there in the Intervale. Dairy
products are produced at Mount Mansfield Dairy in Stowe and berries come
from River Berry Farm in Fairfax. The wild salmon comes from Anthony
Naples of Moretown who spends the summer fishing in Alaska. The CSA or
Community Supported Food model of purchasing shares is used as the
vehicle for online ordering and payment.

Travis Marcotte, the
director of the Intervale Center told me the Hub is growing by about 25
percent a year. Most deliveries are made to individuals and some to
companies like Gardener’s Supply, Dealer.com, and the Burlington School
District and City Hall.

Greg Georgakis has a business called
Farmers To You based in Berlin. Farmers To You makes weekly food
deliveries of Vermont vegetables, cheeses, meats, bread and milk to more
than 375 families in Boston – expanding the link between Vermont
farmers to consumers in the city. The bread that comes from Red Hen
Bakery in Middlesex is baked the same day it arrives in Boston. A day
after orders are made online, Farmers To You collects the food from
Vermont farmers and processors and takes it to the main food warehouse
in Berlin.

Julie Wormser of Boston says the food is fresher and
connects her to farmers who grow the food. She’d rather get apples from
Vermont than organic apples from Chili. Farmers To You was started two
and a half years ago by Georgakis. Unlike the CSA model, consumers pick
what they want online from a variety of Vermont products. The prices are
comparable to those at food cooperatives.

Meghan Stotko of
Newport displays and sells local food from a large white truck called
The Lunchbox, a project of Green Mountain Farm-to-School. The mobile
market truck and commercial kitchen is adorned with an artistic
billboard along with loaves of bread, baskets of potatoes, bunches of
red kale, stacks of winter squash and farmers’ cheese. The project began
in Newport in September and plans to have market days in Irasburg,
North Troy, and Island Pond. The idea is that if you bring food to
people where they are, at a price they can afford, they’ll choose to buy
healthy food products.

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