VHCB’s Vermont Farm & Forest Viability Program Awards over $370,000 to 11 Farms for Infrastructure and Water Quality Improvements
The Vermont Farm & Forest Viability Program, a program of the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board, awarded a total of $370,136 to eleven Vermont farms through its most recent round of Water Quality and Dairy Improvement Grants.
Seven farms in Franklin, Orleans, Rutland, and Washington counties were awarded $233,686 in Water Quality Grants. These grants leveraged $1.7 million in additional funding for capital improvement projects to reduce runoff and improve manure management and soil health. The Viability Program grants are matched by the farmers’ funds, bank loans, and grant funding from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets.
The Viability Program also awarded $136,450 in Dairy Improvement Grants to four farms in Chittenden, Franklin, Lamoille, and Washington counties. The grants will be combined with additional investments of over $250,000 and used to support infrastructure projects to improve cow health, farm efficiency, milk quality and water quality.
Water Quality Grant Awards:
Ken Leach & Joanne Chickering, Ken Leach Farm, North Rupert
$40,000 for a new barn for young and dry cows that will improve manure management
Marc & Tiffany Marquis, Marquis Organic Dairy Farm, Newport Center
$3,686 for materials needed to implement a new rotational grazing plan
Nate & Jessie Rogers, Rogers Farmstead, Berlin
$40,000 for constructing a composting bedded pack barn
Jacques & Roberta Royer, J&R Family Farm, North Troy
$40,000 for manure management infrastructure improvements
Jeremy & Jennie Russo, Southwind Farm, North Rupert
$40,000 for manure pit and barnyard improvements to eliminate runoff and groundwater contamination
Tracy & Glen Tupper, Tupper Farm, Brandon
$30,000 for exclusion fencing, barnyard and manure management improvements to reduce impacts on the Lemon Fair River
Mark & Cecile Vosburg, Vosburg Farm, Swanton
$40,000 for new manure storage infrastructure to eliminate groundwater contamination
Dairy Improvement Grant Awards:
Kirk & Katrina Lanphear, Lanphear Farm, Hyde Park
$40,000 for a cow tracking system to monitor cow health and proactively identify cows needing attention
Mark Magnan, Magnan Brothers Maquam Shore Dairy, St. Albans
$40,000 for a cow tracking system to monitor cow health and to replace milking technology
Rhonda Miller & Myles Goodrich, Molly Brook Farm, Cabot
$40,000 for a new roof for their milkhouse and to replace and relocate their bulk tank
Lorenzo Whitcomb, North Williston Cattle Company, Williston
$16,450 for purchasing a no-till cover crop drill