Rural Vermont Vermont Department of Agriculture, Food & Markets
Center for Rural Studies-UVM
Vermont Council on Rural Development
USDA-Vermont Rural Development
Vermont Forum on Sprawl
B Y   T H E   N U M B E R S
Adapted from Ag Statistics/Information on the Vermont Department of Agriculture, Food & Markets website
Vermont has 6,700 total farms, including 1,525 dairy farms.  Vermont agriculture was worth $508 million in total cash receipts in 2001, of which approximately $400 million was from sales of milk.  The state has approximately 152,000 dairy cows.  Vermont produces more than 2.6 billion pounds of milk annually and more than 100 million pounds of cheese.

In the past twenty years many small dairy farms have closed.  One solution was the Northeast Dairy Compact, established in 1997.  This was an arrangement among six New England states to set minimum prices paid to the farmer for beverage milk.  However congressional authorization for the Compact expired in September 2001.  Some farmers have gotten out of the dairy business, but remained in agriculture by diversifying.  For example, Bob and Lee Light (interview) had been dairy farmers in the Marshfield area for about 20 years until finally selling their cows in 1997.  They now produce beefalo, pork, poultry, hay and maple syrup and run a bed and breakfast at their Hollister Hill Farm.

Scenes from Hollister Hill Farm
Other rural scenes...

 

Copyright © 2002  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action