As the sun drifts to its furthest south on the horizon and the light grows short and long at once, we look to what has come this past year, and what is coming ahead. For Rural VT, we are thinking of the gifts provided by those who have made this work possible over time, of the work and love and dedication of the farms and communities we are here to support, and we are moving into the new year with a new Course of Action, and an understanding that we must be strong in our commitments, generous with our solidarity, and agile and aware in the moment in order to shift our capacity and focus based on our communities’ emergent needs and goals. We look to our members, our local communities, our allied organizations locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, and we are guided by the constellation of our mission, vision, and the principles and values we embrace.

The new year will see a host of new and ongoing legislative efforts, events on farms and in communities celebrating and listening to people’s voices and ideas. There will be on farm workshops, work brigades, citizen advocacy trainings and opportunities to testify at the statehouse. You will hear from us on issues ranging from healthcare and childcare, to on-farm slaughter and poultry processing, to equitable cannabis regulations, to extreme weather recovery funding for farmers, to municipal regulation of agriculture, farmworker rights, civil rights, human rights, and support for the boycott divestment sanctions movement in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for self determination and food sovereignty. We will be organizing, educating, and activating locally, nationally, and internationally.

We want to hear from you - on the issues we are and aren’t working on. When we hear from the grassroots community, we know better how to be there for you as Rural Vermont and the values we are committed to. Tell us what you are concerned about, what your ideas for a better future are, what you are working on, what is happening on your farm and in your community, and together we can chart a path forward.

Support Rural Vermont’s Work Here…

Across four decades, Rural Vermont has stood with farmers, amplifying their voices as we advance our shared vision for a just and equitable world rooted in reverence for the earth and dignity for all. Our work has always been fueled by a community who cares deeply and gives wholeheartedly. We need our community's support today so we can continue standing with farmers in 2026 and beyond.

Read the Full Appeal Here…

Join us for a series of three webinar presentations by Vermont Legal Aid staff specifically centered on the needs of the farming community related to healthcare and taxation. Submit your questions in advance or bring them to each webinar to get the most out of this opportunity (questions can be submitted within the RSVP). A presentation from Vermont Legal Aid staff will be followed by an overview of opportunities for how to increase engagement or take action around healthcare. This series is co-hosted by NOFA-VT and Rural Vermont. An RSVP is required to receive the webinar link and information.

Learn More Here…
Recordings Here…

We want to let you know that as of Monday, November 17th, VT Congresswoman Balint has signed on to HR 5341, the Livestock Owned by Communities to Advance Local (LOCAL) Foods Act of 2025, completing our Vermont delegation's commitment to supporting not only our Vermont farmers and agrarian communities, but those across the nation. 

Read More Here…

Stand with farmworkers on Saturday, 11/15. Join the Milk with Dignity pickets of Hannaford Supermarket in Morrisville (10am-12pm), South Burlington (1-3pm), or Middlebury (4-6pm) – or come along for all three!

Read More Here…

Thanks to the generosity of our talented community, and in honor of Rural Vermont's 40th anniversary year, our Agrarian Art Auction is live! Between now and October 19th, the bidding is open on four special pieces that highlight farming in different seasons, styles, and mediums.

The auction is being held entirely online, but you can view the artwork in person at our 40th Anniversary Party at the Old Labor Hall in Barre from 4-7 pm on October 19th (info and RSVP here). The bidding will close at 6:30pm sharp that evening. You need not be present to win, but additional shipping charges will apply (unless picking up in Montpelier). All proceeds benefit Rural Vermont.

Check out the Art Auction Here…

This summer marked the third anniversary of the People’s Agroecology School of Vermont. The school is rooted in Rural Vermont’s 40-year legacy of radical farmer organizing. It follows in the lineage of the agroecological and political education developed by rural peoples’ movements across Latin America. This includes the Latin American Institutes of Agroecology (IALAs) that are spread throughout Central and South America.
Read More Here…

For four decades, Rural Vermont has been proudly amplifying farmer voices, fighting for a farm and food system that cares for farmers, the people they feed, the ecosystems they nurture, and the communities they support. We’re ending this milestone year with an epic 40th celebration on Sunday, October 19th from 4-7pm at the Old Labor Hall in Barre, and you’re invited! There will be a potluck, live band, cash bar, art-making, stories, and lots more. Join us for an evening of joy, reflection, and community — let’s make it the celebration of the year! Help us plan with your RSVP.

Read More Here…
RSVP Here …

The Vermont Supreme Court ruled on May 30, 2025, that farming is not exempt from all municipal regulation. Instead, the court interpreted the “ag exemption” in 24 V.S.A. § 4413(d)(1)(A) [the Municipal Zoning Statute] as a reference only to the policies and standards intended to reduce agricultural water pollution. The court concluded that municipalities may regulate all aspects of farming that do not relate to water quality, thereby setting a new precedent in stark contrast to the previous, statewide understanding that farming is exempt from municipal zoning regulations.  Rural Vermont, NOFA-VT, the Vermont Farm Bureau, the Vermont Association of Conservation Districts, and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets are collaborating to protect the agricultural exemptions. We are collecting signatures in support of changing the law to assert that food producers that the VT Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets determines to be farms and farming are exempt from municipal zoning and the Act 250 permit requirement. We are also gathering stories to demonstrate the importance of the farming exemptions from Municipal Zoning and Act 250 for the working lands community - please share any examples you have. 

Read the Letter and Sign On Here…
Read our Blog on this Ruling Here…

Rural Vermont remains a force because of our Community’s support!

Forty years ago, Rural Vermont was born out of a need to respond locally to the national farm crisis. Vermont farmers found it necessary to organize, educate, and advocate on behalf of their own and their communities’ interests. No one else was doing it, no one else was going to do it, and no one else really could. This was the beginning of what we now know organizationally as Rural Vermont.

As we continue to amplify the most pressing needs of the agricultural community and contribute to the broader movement to preserve our human rights and dignity, we know it is equally important to cultivate joy and connection at every opportunity! Let’s Keep Building Farmer Power with $40+ in honor of 40 years!

Donate here, see our Mid-Year Progress Report here, and read our full appeal for your support here!

The legislative session is slowly wrapping up for 2025 with June 16 being the target date for adjournment at the moment. At the beginning of June, we learned about a recent appeals decision from the Vermont Supreme Court which will have an enormous effect on farms, the agricultural community, food security and food sovereignty in Vermont.  This critical decision overturns long standing precedent by reversing how many, if not all, municipalities had understood these statutes to date - that farms are exempt from municipal zoning as they are exempt from Act 250. This ruling deeply concerns us, and we are organizing and acting to the best of our ability to affect it now-  please be in touch if you want to engage.  Specifically, the VT Supreme court ruled that neither 24 V.S.A. § 4413 (d)(1)(A) which references farms that need to comply with the RAP’s, nor 7 V.S.A. § 869 (f)(2) related to outdoor licensed cannabis cultivators, prevents municipalities from regulating farms. Instead, the court interpreted the law as only precluding municipal regulation of agricultural water quality.

Read More Here…

The Vermont Supreme Court issued a ruling on May 30, 2025, determining that farming and outdoor cannabis cultivation are not exempt from all municipal regulation, but that the reference to the Required Agricultural Practices in 24 V.S.A. § 4413(d)(1)(A) [the Municipal Zoning Statute] refers to the policies and standards intended to reduce agricultural water pollution only. The court concluded that municipalities may regulate all other aspects of farming and cannabis cultivation, thereby setting a new precedent in stark contrast to the general statewide belief that farming is exempt from municipal zoning regulations. 

Read More Here…

As we reflect on 2024, we are proud to share the progress and impact made possible through our partners, members, and supporters. Our 2024 Impact Report highlights Rural Vermont’s achievements, challenges, and milestones that continue to define our work. We invite you to explore the stories, successes, and data that illustrate how, along with you, we are making a lasting difference in our rural agrarian communities.

Read the 2024 Impact Report Here…

The 2025 Legislative Session is currently scheduled to wrap up on May 23rd with little to no committee activity projected for the last week of the session. This update is focused on priority issues and action items - your support matters! Read the 5/8 Legislative Update to see where things stand with Cottage Foods, Right to Farm, Cannabis, and much, much more.

Read More Here…

H.321, the miscellaneous cannabis bill, is currently in the Senate Committee on Economic Development.  Rural VT and the VT Cannabis Equity Coalition, the Land Access and Opportunity Board, VT NORML, and the Lt. Governor John Rogers have all come to common ground on a list of priorities and suggested statutory language as an amendment to the bill.

Our proposals have the support of membership based organizations collectively representing thousands of VT residents, we have more direct stakeholders of every license type supporting all of our priorities and language than any other proposal, we have more organizations and businesses behind us than any other proposal (more than 70 based on the sign-on to our original proposals), and we have the CCB’s very own surveying of Tier 1 producers and its mandated reports attesting to many of the priorities we have.  We understand our priorities and recommended statutory language to objectively have more support and more hands in crafting them than any other proposals that have been put forward.

Read More Here…

On April 17, we mark the International Day of Peasant Struggles, an annual action day that brings rural communities together around the world to honor the ongoing struggle and resistance of agrarian workers everywhere in their pursuit of justice, dignity, and food sovereignty. 

In Vermont, we commemorate this day during a week where we have witnessed Palestinian man Mohsen Mahdawi detained in Colchester during a scheduled citizenship interview, despite his decade long status as a lawful U.S. permanent resident, an arrest that Vermont federal delegation Sanders, Welch, and Balint have called “immoral, inhumane, and illegal.” This detention occurred as protesters gathered to condemn the arrest and detention of Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk from Turkey, who was taken into custody by US Homeland Security agents in plain clothes and brought to Vermont before landing in an ICE detention center in Louisiana. 

Also this week, agrarians gathered for a Farmer Day of Action outside of USDA offices in Middlebury to speak about the impact of USDA program cuts, tariffs, and the immigration stresses on themselves as farmers and farmworkers. 

There is a continued need to stand up for ourselves, our friends, neighbors, and demand justice, dignity, and safety for our communities during a dangerous time where our constitutional rights are at stake. We encourage our network to show solidarity and for each individual to take mindful steps within your reach. Our work here in Vermont is part of and connected to an unwavering global fight for farmer and farmworker rights, and against genocides, wars, violations of people's sovereignty, constitutional rights, and the corporate control and domination over our food system. 

Rural Vermont stands with Vermont farmers and farmworkers, alongside La Via Campesina, the international movement of peasants, youth, women, men, and diversities, migrants, rural and landless agrarian workers, fisherfolk, and indigenous peoples, who come together in unity with hope, connection, and unwavering determination to confront the multifaceted crises agrarian communities face here at home and around the world.

Read More Here…

The Vermont Cannabis Equity Coalition (VCEC) is a coalition of Vermont not-for-profit, member based organizations representing thousands of Vermonters: the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, Rural Vermont, Vermont Growers Association, Green Mountain Patients’ Alliance, and the Northeast Organic Farmers Association of Vermont. We share a vision for a cannabis economy in Vermont which is racially just, economically equitable, agriculturally accessible, and environmentally sound.

This is an opportunity for you to indicate your support for the recommendations of the VT Cannabis Equity Coalition - all of which have been deeply informed by our work with a variety of affected constituencies over time.  Please read our recommendations in more detail here. More broadly, these recommendations include: 1) industry and community reinvestment, 2) direct sales for small producers, 3) treating cannabis like farming, 4) complete and cost-free cannabis expungement, 5) public consumption wherever lit tobacco is allowed, 6) increasing home-grow allowances, 7) positioning the administration of eligible conditions and oversight of the medical cannabis program under the Cannabis Control Board by re-establishing the Symptom Relief Oversight Committee.

If you are in support, please take the opportunity to sign the letter to Vermont State Senators and Representatives.

Read More Here…

This Legislative Crossover Update provides a comprehensive overview of current bills that are relevant to the agricultural community (our legislative team monitored 38 bills this year!). Check out the Table of Contents to learn about the bills that are of most interest to you. There are two sections in this legislative update: bills that made the “crossover” deadline and remain active this legislative session, and bills that did not make the deadline to complete the legislative process in this year. There are a number of House bills related to agriculture that were introduced late this session that could move next year. Because of the two year legislative biennium, bills that didn’t move this year still have a chance to pass in the 2026 session.

Read More Here…

We hope you can join us! Vermont’s ability to feed itself relies on thriving community scale farms working together towards food sovereignty and community resilience. We hope Join us Saturday, April 12 from 10-3pm at the Sharon Food Justice Garden for a tree digging work brigade! The Sharon Food Justice Garden was established as a collaborative project between the Regeneration Corps, the Sharon Academy and the Sharon Food Pantry to increase local food security while creating a teaching garden for local youth and community members. 

Work brigades are a popular education tool used around the world to strengthen communities and build trust and solidarity through collective labor, connection, mutual aid, and knowledge sharing. Agroecological education will be provided by special guest Buzz Ferver, founder/owner of Perfect Circle Farm in Berlin VT and a long time naturalist who has been growing and propagating trees for over 45 years. Come learn about the Vermont People’s Agroecology School, the Sharon Food Justice Garden, and agroecology as a social, political, and ecological movement building tools to grow community resilience and food sovereignty.     

Learn More Here…

H. 401 is a bill that seeks to affect VT's "cottage food" laws, which regulate non-licensed home kitchen-based food manufacturers and bakeries. This bill would raise the "cottage food" gross income caps (which are a threshold for licensure for non-licensed home kitchen-based food manufacturers and bakeries) from $10,000 and $6,500 respectively, to $30,000 gross sales for both. In comparison, according to the Institute for Justice, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and New York do not have an annual sales cap at all. In Wyoming, the annual sales cap is $250K for cottage foods.

Rural Vermont has created a survey that seeks to: inform our advocacy on H.401 and other legislation that may affect cottage foods producers and eaters; grow our understanding of the types and scales of cottage food and value-added businesses in VT; to assess people’s experiences with the cottage food laws, and tiered value-added products regulations in VT; to provide some basic information for people about current laws and regulations; to get proposals and feedback on particular options for improving the laws, regulations, and technical support; and to support organizing people who would like to participate in advocacy and more discussion about how to amend the laws.  There is space in this survey for participants to explicitly note if they are interested in testifying on H.401 in the State House.

*Individuals' identifying information from this survey will be kept private, and information gathered and presented will be done in such a way as to preserve the anonymity of respondents to the best of our ability.

Take the Survey Here…