VSJF Sustainable Agriculture Grants & Projects
NOFA-VT Community Supported Agriculture Network
In 1999, Enid Wonnacott, Executive Director of NOFA-VT, was struggling to answer some tough questions. She knew that farmers received their greatest returns selling directly to customers, but how do you get consumers to buy locally? How do you make it matter enough?
NOFA-VT approached VSJF for funding to expand the number of community supported agriculture (CSA) farms in the state. CSA farms are supported by members who buy shares and in return receive fresh, local food throughout the year. “The VSJF was the first organization that I have ever received funding from that was able to look strategically at NOFA-VT and say ‘you play an important role in CSA development in Vermont, let’s look at how we can work together to increase the number of CSAs,’” recalled Wonnacott. “The VSJF sees the forest and the trees and uses that perspective to play an important networking role so that we move together, as a state, to sustain our land and people resources.”
VSJF funding was used to provide technical assistance, educational events, and marketing to farmers considering becoming a CSA. Today, 57 CSAs provide mutually supportive relationships between Vermont farmers and their communities.
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Photo credit: All images in the banner courtesy of the Intervale.
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