Written by Elizabeth M. Seyler PhD
On a cold evening in February, a jovial group of farmers, UVM Extension agents, legislators, consultants, and agency personnel filed into the Elks Lodge in St. Albans. Eighty-two people in all, they gathered not to discuss drought challenges or farming policy but to celebrate the work of a devoted group of farmers: the Franklin and Grand Isle Farmer’s Watershed Alliance (FWA). After a presentation, testimonials, and dinner, they laughed at the antics of comedian Rusty “the Logger” DeWees and cheered for the winner of the 2026 Golden Goose Award: Heather Darby, a farmer, FWA member, and UVM Extension Professor.
There was a lot to celebrate. Since 2006, the FWA has been supporting farmers, building relationships with policy makers and funders, and informing the public about agriculture and its influence on the environment. Its mission is “to value and support farmers by cultivating environmentally positive and economically viable solutions through education, research, and advocacy to better the soil, air, and waters of Vermont.” In the past 20 years, the FWA has become a widely respected voice representing farmers who steward our natural resources and whose livelihoods depend on them.
“We have a saying in the FWA: We’re not environmental activists, we’re active environmentalists,” says semi-retired Alburgh farmer Roger Rainville. He helped launch the FWA in 2005 and to establish it as a 501(c)5 in 2006, and he served as chair for the first ten years. The alliance now has more than 60 active members and a mailing list of 150, all of whom are invited to FWA events, such as the one this month.
The FWA Precision Ag Workshop is on Thursday, March 12, from 10 am to 2 pm at Scott Magnan’s Custom Service, 13 Hudson St, St Albans City. Attendees will learn about precision-generated record keeping, granular fertilizer application, yield data usage, and preventative maintenance. Registration is recommended, and the public is welcome.
The FWA’s activities and impacts are most impressive with a bit of history in mind. In the early 2000s, conflict regarding farming and water quality was roiling in Vermont. High phosphorus concentrations in Lake Champlain led to cyanobacteria blooms, also called blue-green algae, that sickened wildlife, killed pets, and prompted recreational beaches to close. Though nonpoint source pollution such as phosphorus comes from both developed areas and agricultural fields, Vermont communities, agencies, and the legislature began leaning hard on farmers to reduce their impacts.
Farmers in the Lake Champlain Basin had long been working to manage water on their fields. The region’s finely textured, heavy clay soil doesn’t drain well after spring thaws and heavy rainfall, limiting crop yields and making fields impassable. Farmers had been investing in numerous water management practices, including reshaping fields, planting buffers, and installing tile drainage—but no one was collecting data on their efficacy. Without locally generated data, legislators responding to public concern relied on research from elsewhere in the country to guide programs and policies.
That’s when the friction began. Farmers knew that some of the things they were being asked to do didn’t make sense in their fields, and they began to lose confidence and trust in the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets (VAAFM); the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS); and other agencies. They also felt vilified by the public, which didn’t seem to understand their stewardship efforts.
Rainville had an idea. He’d been following a group in the New York City Watershed and got in touch with them. “They brought farmers together to reduce phosphorus loading before they did any studies,” he recalls. “The farmers knew they needed to address water quality, and NYC backed them, funding their projects.”
With French-Canadian heritage and a farm bordering Canada, Rainville also looked north for inspiration. In Quėbec, the government was helping farmers install buffers—vegetation planted at the edges of fields to absorb, filter, and slow water drainage.
Rainville, Darby, and 14 other farmers decided to form a group to do similar work and to mend bridges between Vermont farmers and state agencies. “We wanted to be the go-between between agencies and farmers who were losing confidence in our agencies,” Rainville says.
Since then, the FWA has provided farmers with education, training, and technical assistance to implement practices that protect water. Members have also conducted on-farm projects, testified before the legislature, provided information to policy makers and regulatory agencies, and informed the public about farming and the environment.
For many years, the FWA received state funding to complete on-farm projects. “The key to success was getting the politicians on board,” Rainville recalls. “That was one of our greatest achievements.” More than 40 FWA projects improved water quality and documented that progress. The group helped farmers install laneways, fence off waterways, create clean water diversions, and improve mortality composting. On more than 14,000 acres of hay ground they implemented the practice of soil aeration, which pokes holes in soil before manure application to improve soil condition and reduce runoff. Farmers continue to use aerators to benefit their farms and the environment.
Through these projects, the FWA built trust and connected with farmers who had previously been hesitant to work with the VAAFM, USDA-NRCS, and other agencies to address water quality. In about 2011, the FWA assisted with the administering a program that has become the VAAFM’s Farm Agronomic Practices (FAP) Program, which pays farmers to cover crop.
“FWA has a very passionate board of farmers who care deeply about their community,” says Kate Wettergreen, agricultural programs manager for the Franklin County Natural Resources Conservation District (NRCD). “Both currently and throughout the history of the organization, they have led by example, implementing strategies on their farms to improve water quality while bringing their neighbors along with them.”
“Twenty years of FWA is so huge because of the fights farmers have fought just to do better by the environment,” says Darby. “Farmers have wanted to understand the impacts of their water management practices so they could make informed decisions and so that regulations were based on reliable data.”
Over the years, the FWA inspired the formation of two similar groups: the Champlain Valley Farmer Coalition and the Connecticut River Watershed Farmers Alliance. Each conducts its own research and supports local action, but “there has been lots of communication among the three watershed groups,” says current FWA board chair Scott Magnan. For example, “We’ve collaborated on legislative bills to make sure we’re on the same page and take a uniform approach,” he said. Kate Longfield, executive director of the Champlain Valley coalition, recently launched monthly meetings to support communication and collaboration among the groups.
The FWA’s on-farm projects have dwindled over time as funding has become available to farmers directly for water quality projects. But the group remains focused on being a voice for farmers in the water quality world, such as in the debate about managing nonpoint source pollution from confined animal feed operations (CAFOs). The national model applies to farms in the Midwest with 5,000 cows but not to farms in Vermont, Magnan explains. “Here, the bigger bang for the buck is in field management, especially with higher rainfall,” he notes.
The NRCD’s Wettergreen appreciates FWA farmers’ input. “They are…always well informed on the current challenges and happenings in the farming community and share that knowledge. Our organizations have very similar goals in a lot of ways, and collaborating with them has benefited all of us.”
The FWA’s current work also focuses on education and outreach, particularly in precision agriculture. “It’s the next step in managing nutrients. It’s the most refined tool we have,” Magnan says. The FWA aims to help reduce knowledge gaps in the farming community regarding technology such as yield monitors, flow meters, and calibration of manure spreaders. “The more knowledge out there, the higher the rate of success,” Magnan adds.
With funding from the VAAFM’s Agricultural Clean Water Initiative Program (AgCWIP), last year the FWA hired a part-time program coordinator and a full-time precision agriculture specialist who makes technical service visits, helps farmers with nutrient management plans and grant reporting, and conducts research on precision technology. In 2025 alone, the FWA consulted with more than 15 Vermont farmers and visited 35 farms.
But according to one late FWA member, no one has yet addressed a flighty yet intractable source of nonpoint source pollution: geese. Dick Longway was a farmer and avid hunter who, at most meetings, mentioned how many geese were out in the corn fields and how much they were pooping. “Why pick on just the cows?” he’d ask, recalls Jeff Sanders, a farmer, longtime FWA member, and UVM Extension agronomy specialist. After Dick died in his sleep one night, the FWA established the Golden Goose Award in his honor for people who’ve done a lot to help agriculture. It’s fitting that Darby was this year’s winner. She helped launch the FWA, is its secretary/treasurer, and is the longest-serving board member.
“I feel so loved by the people we work so hard for,” Darby said of receiving the award.
To learn more about the FWA, visit farmerswatershedalliance.com or email info@farmerswatershedalliance.com.