For Farmers

Welcome Farmers!

This is a great time to be farming, and the Upper Valley is a great place to farm! Thriving farms are critical to vital communities, so we support farmers and farm success in many ways, including marketing assistance, land and capital access, strengthening our regional food system, and increasing community connection to our working lands. Read below and get in touch to see how we can increase farm success and community resilience.

FIND LOCAL FOOD AND FARMS

Search The Vital Guide for farmers markets, farm stands, community-supported agriculture, restaurants, and food access sites.

Search the Guide

What’s Available for Farmers

Climate Farmer Stories: Innovative Marketing for Resilient Upper Valley Farms

The Climate Farmer Stories project promotes farmers’ role in community resilience. Participating farmers receive a $3,000 marketing grant and collaborate with fellow farmers as they change the story about farming and climate change in the Upper Valley.

This FREE, USDA-funded program aims to boost farmers’ sales and improve public understanding about farming as a climate solution. Farmers will receive marketing materials that feature their farms and training about how to incorporate climate concerns into their marketing. The training will take place in November 2022, after the fall harvest!

Applications closed April 15, 2022.

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The Farmer And Rancher Stress Assistance Network is a national program aimed toward connecting people who work in farming and ranching across the country to stress assistance programs. Both Vermont and New Hampshire have their own state chapters of this national program.

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Farming & Climate Change

Upper Valley farmers are critical as we respond to and prepare for climate change. Farms strengthen natural resources, bolster our self-sufficiency, and improve social and environmental resilience.

Find resources for implementing climate-smart practices and marketing tools for sharing the story of how agriculture is key to addressing climate change.

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Be Listed in The Vital Guide – and Join Local First!

Is your farm or food business listed in The Vital Guide? Don’t delay – add it today! And then take the added step of joining Local First, our network of locally owned businesses of all sorts. Farms are the ultimate local business – and yet are often left out of the conversation about the local economy. Be a voice in that discussion, and join other businesses of all types in making our region’s economy more locally oriented and resilient.

Be Listed in the Guide Join Local First

Farmer Resources

There are abundant valuable resources for aspiring farmers and seasoned business owners available including business and financial planning assistance, production techniques, marketing ideas, and much more.

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Recipes for Local Food

Eat Upper Valley Foods all year long with these recipes, cooking tips, and techniques. Our Recipe Library focuses on foods that are grown here, and can browsed as a whole or searched through based on a particular ingredient.

Upper Valley farmers: We encourage you to copy and paste these recipes and techniques into your farm newsletters, websites, social media posts, or other communication to customers. Please retain attributions for recipes and photos to respect copyright, whether from Vital Communities or others.

See Recipes