Vermont Farm Women’s Fund Deadline

The application deadline for the next round of Vermont Farm Women’s Fund awards is tonight (Jan. 24) at midnight. For more information and to access the online application form, go to: http://www.uvm.edu/~vfwf/?Page=applications.html.

The Vermont Farm Women’s Fund is now accepting proposals for its next round of grants to help women farmers improve their businesses or become more involved in agricultural policy development. Awards are capped at $750.

In addition, VFWF offers Scholarship Initiative awards of up to $150 to enable farm women to attend agricultural and business management classes, conferences, and other training. Priority is given to Vermont women who own or work on a farm and who earn a majority of their income from agriculture-related activities.

To apply online for any of the grants, visit the VFWF web site at www.uvm.edu/~vfwf. Click on the “Application Forms” link.

Since 2008, when VFWF first began offering grants and scholarships, more than $14,000 has been awarded to Vermont women farmers. Recipients have used the funding to help research and develop new products, conduct feasibility studies, and attend workshops, conferences, and classes to learn more about marketing, business management, and value-added production.

VFWF was established by Vermont author and photographer Peter Miller, who donates a percentage of his Vermont Farm Women book sales to the fund. Additional funding comes from the John Merck Fund, the Vermont Community Foundation, Key Bank Foundation, Vermont Country Store, National Life of Vermont, Washington Electric Cooperative, TD Charitable Foundation, Northfield Savings Bank, and many individual donors, including farm women. UVM Extension and WagN provide in-kind support.

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Looking for Farmland?

USDA has launched a website to link retiring farmers with expiring CRP contracts to beginning farmers interested in bringing the land into production.

Through the Transition Incentives Program (TIP Net), producers with land for sale or lease are introduced to qualified farmers who want to buy or rent land for their operations. You can access TIP Net through FSA’s website at www.fsa.usda.gov

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NPR Takes a Look at The Largest Minority in Agriculture: Women

NPR’s weekend edition interviewed two livestock farmers in its Weekend Edition story “Women Farmers Grow Strong.” The farmers were from Arkansas and Nebraska, but the themes they brought to the conversation are the same as in the Northeast: women farmers’ flexibility and entrepreneurship; their devotion to humanely raising animals, producing healthy food, and feeding their families and their communities. It’s worth a few minutes to take a listen. Then let us know what you think.

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