VSJF Sustainable Agriculture Grants & Projects
Vermont Quality Meats
In 1999, a group of Vermont farmers producing sheep, goats, pigs, veal calves, deer and game birds saw the need for a closer partnership between Vermont’s meat producers and high end restaurants in Boston and New York and Fresh Network chefs in Vermont. They understood that the real value they could provide was the Vermont brand, the quality of their products and consistent service. They decided to form a cooperative and came to the VSJF for financial support. In funding Vermont Quality Meats, VSJF saw its investment as a way to increase the income of livestock producers in Vermont. VSJF’s grants helped VQM form the cooperative, develop a business plan, perform market analysis and fund operations in the early years. As a result, VQM was able to leverage an additional $213,000 in funding partners like the John Merck Fund, Last Chance Fund (of the Vermont Community Foundation), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Since 2000, VQM sales have grown at a rate of ~20% per year and now exceed $1.0 million in annual sales (as of 2007). As with any fast growing organization, VQM is not without growing pains. But they can point to many successes since 2000. Today VQM has 30 member-producers, they’ve spread ~$5 million in revenue across the Vermont economy and the cooperative itself has created 6 new jobs. Additionally, their efforts to aggregate and direct market Vermont meat supports the continued existence of Vermont slaughterhouses.
Photo credit: All images in the banner courtesy of the Intervale.
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