The Center for an Agricultural Economy

06/12/2026

🌈 A Resilient Future ✨
We live in a time when responding to crises can feel constant. In that urgency, it’s easy to lose sight of what we’ve already made possible—together.

⛅ This spring, as we mark the first anniversary of our Food Hub operations, we are celebrating more than a milestone.

🎉 We are celebrating what your support has helped build, and we hope our work continues to resonate with you. Please consider making a gift to help carry this work forward.

🌿 Fuel the Values that Guide Our Work: Joy, Equity, Resilience, Collaboration, and Interdependence.

☀️ INTERDEPENDENCE 🙌
The future of agriculture is built on shared infrastructure and interdependence. The success of operating the Vermont Food Venture Center and the Food Hub shows that access to equipment and services remains one of the greatest needs for farms and food businesses. Shared resources help producers succeed—together.

💫 But this work—and this progress—depends on you.
Will you make a gift today to help us continue building this future in 2026?

👉 Donate Today: caevt.org/donate

The Center for an Agricultural Economy supports rural communities and working landscapes by building a more interconnected local food system.



Photo by Kelly Bogel Stokes: Farm Connex trucks at the Food Hub in Hardwick.

06/11/2026

🚜 Lamoille Farm to School Gathering 🎒
CAE took part in a recent gathering at People's Academy to celebrate Farm to School work happening in the greater Lamoille Area. As part of a series of gatherings around the state supported by the Vermont Farm to School & Early Childhood Network with funding from the Vermont Agency of Education, this gathering was designed to strengthen connections, celebrate successes, and grow a robust farm to school community. Lamoille South Supervisory Union, Salvation Farms, and Center for an Agricultural Economy collaborated with the Network to host this event, and the evening included campus garden tours, a panel of farm to school practitioners and partners, hands on activities, and delicious local food. CAE's Place-Based Education Coordinator, Reeve Basom, and Food Hub Account Manager, Lotty Roozekrans, were there to represent CAE's farm to school work across classroom, cafeteria, and community.

Lamoille South Supervisory Union
Salvation Farms
VTeducation

The Center for an Agricultural Economy supports rural communities and working landscapes by building a more interconnected local food system.



Photos 1-2 by Reeve Basom. Photos 3-4 by Lotty Roozekrans

06/09/2026

🚚 On the Road with Farm Connex and Green Mountain Farm Direct! 🚜
Lotty, CAE Food Hub Account Manager, and Emma, Green Mountain Farm Direct Food Hub Account Manager, teamed up last week and hit the road to visit K-12 schools, grocers, restaurants, and general stores throughout Lamoille County and Mad River Valley that we deliver to.

Farm Connex handles logistics, transportation, and storage, while Green Mountain Farm-to-School provides a sales platform and sales management. We work together to get local products to you!

Big thanks to all the buyers who chatted with us about our services and sourcing local, and for all that you do to support our local food economy: We appreciate YOU!

We had a great time visiting these buyers who buy from Green Mountain Farm-to-School and/or get deliveries through Farm Connex:

Lamoille South Supervisory Union
Copley Hospital
Wolfpeach
Woodstock Farmers' Market (Waterbury)
Woodstock Village Market
5th Quarter VT
Harwood Unified Union School District
Stowe Village Market
Commodities Natural Market
Elmore Store VT

Farm Connex is a local food logistics and transportation partner that helps with all aspects of self-distribution and storage. We service locations in the first and last mile of Vermont, connecting our producers to a larger base of regional consumers.
Logistics. Transportation. Storage.



Photos by Lotty Roozekrans
Photo 1. Lotty and Emma in front of 5th Quarter Butcher + Provisions
Photo 2. Lamoille South Supervisory Union is a Local Food Champion: their local food purchasing was 15% in 2025/2026 and will be up to 19% in 2026/2027!
Photo 3. Vermont Way Foods' "Cheese with Dignity" available at the Elmore Store!

06/08/2026

☀️ Monday Meals at Atkins are back this summer, STARTING TODAY, June 8th! 🍔

The Center for an Agricultural Economy is once again hosting free community meals at Atkins Field every Monday, 5 - 6:30pm, June 8th through August 10th. Please join us and feel free to bring something to share. CAE staff will grill hot dogs, hamburgers, and veggie burgers.

Monday Community Meals
Atkins Field
100 Granite Street, Hardwick
Mondays, June 8th - August 10th
5pm - 6:30pm

Big thanks to McKenzie Country Classics and Jasper Hill Farm for donating!

Jasper Hill Farm
McKenzie Deli

Community Connections are collaborations and services designed and led with partners and neighbors. These programs help build collective, local resilience through community organizing, shared learning, and food justice.
Shared learning, food justice, & love.



Photo: A beautiful buffet line is in front of community members enjoying a Monday Meal at Atkins Field during summer 2025 | Reeve Basom

06/05/2026

Come meet Katt the carrot and take a photo in the local food Photo Booth! We’re at the until 6pm today, Friday! Stop by for tons of great vendors, local veggies, dinner, and community!

06/05/2026

🌈 A Resilient Future ✨
We live in a time when responding to crises can feel constant. In that urgency, it’s easy to lose sight of what we’ve already made possible—together.

⛅ This spring, as we mark the first anniversary of our Food Hub operations, we are celebrating more than a milestone.

🎉 We are celebrating what your support has helped build, and we hope our work continues to resonate with you. Please consider making a gift to help carry this work forward.

🌿 Fuel the Values that Guide Our Work: Joy, Equity, Resilience, Collaboration, and Interdependence.

☀️ COLLABORATION 🙌
In the immediate aftermath of the temporary pause in SNAP food benefits in 2025, CAE and community partners came together to produce quarts of soups to distribute through area pantries, helping ensure federal decisions had as little impact on our neighbors as possible. This effort demonstrates the power of collaboration - and reminds us that real change begins with strong relationships.

💫 But this work—and this progress—depends on you.
Will you make a gift today to help us continue building this future in 2026?

👉 Donate Today: caevt.org/donate

The Center for an Agricultural Economy supports rural communities and working landscapes by building a more interconnected local food system.



Photo by Kelly Bogel Stokes: Community members gather to make soup to fill the gap in SNAP benefits in the Community Room at the Food Hub in Hardwick.

06/04/2026

🌮 Granite Street Historic District Taco Gathering
Join us for a Granite Street Historic District taco gathering and neighborhood conversation.

Wednesday, June 10, 5:30-7:30pm
Parker Ladd Community Room
Jeudevine Memorial Library

The project team from SLR International will be sharing and discussing possible flood mitigation ideas for the neighborhood as part of the ongoing Granite Street Historic District planning work. This will be an informal opportunity to hear concepts, ask questions, talk with neighbors, and continue the conversations that have been growing over the past several months.

Enjoy a free meal of Caja Taqueria tacos with your neighbors.

The presentation will explore ideas, opportunities, and next steps for flood resiliency in the Granite St District neighborhood.

Please consider bringing a dessert to share.

Questions? Contact the Town Manager’s Office at 472-6120

Brought to you by CAE, the Town of Hardwick, and the residents of the Hardwick Granite Street Historic District.

Atkins Field is 15 acres of field, forest, wetland, and gardens, maintained for public use by CAE. This gathering place features a pavilion, community orchard, trails, bicycle pump track, historic granite industry relics, and open space for recreation. It is the home of the Hardwick Farmers Market and hosts a variety of community events.
15 acres of fields, forests, & gardens for community gathering.



Photo: The bridge over Cooper Brook, rebuilt in 2023 | Bethany M. Dunbar

06/03/2026

🍅 Join us THIS FRIDAY, June 5th at the Hardwick Farmers Market!

📸 CAE Photo Booth: take a photo with carrots, cows, acorns, mixers, and more! We’ll have information about CAE’s programs, stickers and swag, and a free photobooth. Take photos with our beautiful “magic carrot” illustration and hold elements from the photos. From clouds and birds to mixers and shovels, bring a fun scene to life.

🌱 Seed Planting Activities for Kids: Reeve Basom, CAE's Place-Based Education Coordinator, will be offering two different seed planting activities for kids. The first is planting Abenaki Rose Corn in the community garden as part of our Three Sisters Garden. There will also be an opportunity for kiddos to pick their own seeds & plant them in small pots to bring home & watch grow!

Visit the Hardwick Farmers Market every Friday from May 22nd - October 9th, rain or shine. 3:00pm-6:00pm at Atkins Field in Hardwick (100 Granite Street).

The Hardwick Farmers Market (HFM) and the Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE) collaborate to support local agriculture. As individual organizations we support farmers, the community, and local economy; by partnering together we maximize and multiply positive impacts to uplift the entire local food system.



Photo 1: A visitor talks to CAE staff at the Hardwick Farmers Market | Kent Shaw
Photo 2: A kids activity at the Hardwick Farmers Market with CAE's Place-Based Education Coordinator | Kelly Bogel Stokes

06/03/2026

🧀 Cheese with Dignity is now available in stores!

Every bite supports farms that meet the Milk with Dignity standards, helping ensure better wages, safe conditions, and respect across the dairy supply chain. Read the Seven Days Feature, Migrant Justice and Vermont Way Foods Launch Organic Cheese, to learn more about the project: https://loom.ly/bzUg0nc

You can find the cheese (delivered by our Farm Connex team 🚛) at these local stores: Commodities Market (Stowe), the Morrisville Co-op, Rail City Market (St. Albans), Plainfield Co-op, and The Genny (Craftsbury & Albany).

Milk with Dignity cheese is a unique collaboration with Vermont Way Foods (itself a collaboration of four Food Hubs, including CAE), NOFA Vermont, and Migrant Justice in which the Migrant Justice Milk with Dignity program has approved the milk sourced from Champlain Creamery in Middlebury as well as the rest of the process.

NOFA-VT
Food Connects
Migrant Justice / Justicia Migrante

Farm Connex is a local food logistics and transportation partner that helps with all aspects of self-distribution and storage. We service locations in the first and last mile of Vermont, connecting our producers to a larger base of regional consumers.
Logistics. Transportation. Storage.
We go where you grow.



Photo: Vermont Way Foods Organic Farmers Cheese | CAE Staff

The advocacy org for immigrant dairy workers has partnered with nonprofits to create the first food product under the Milk With Dignity program.

06/02/2026

🔨 Atkins Field Hoop House Repairs

Our facilities team has been hard at work this spring replacing the lumber on the Atkins Field hoop house and making some much needed repairs.

Special thanks to Josh and Michael for their hard work!