Vermont Public Radio

Vermont Public Radio ~ (Host) The House has given its strong support to legislation that's designed to provide opportunities to strengthen the state's agricultural sector.

The legislation allocates just over $2 million to help launch new businesses and to create a manufacturing and processing infrastructure to support those ventures.

VPR's Bob Kinzel has more:

(Kinzel) Backers of the bill said the legislation is needed if Vermont is going to maintain a working landscape for decades to come.

03-05-2012 ~ Tuesday is Town Meeting Day, when many Vermonters value debating local issues and interacting with their local government in person. But, as VPR's Kirk Carapezza reports, many voters increasingly expect their towns to take advantage of the digital world as well. Click HERE to read or listen to the story on the VPR website.

(Host) Turning milk into cheese, apples into cider and trees into furniture are some of the key ways to keeping Vermont's working landscape vital in the future. That's the idea behind a bill introduced on Wednesday by a group of lawmakers and it's a plan that's strongly supported by the Vermont Working Landscape Partnership. The bill calls for an initial appropriation of $3 million to finance new loans and grants to small entrepreneurs who are trying to add value to raw materials harvested in Vermont.

Virtual year-round farmers' markets are gaining popularity around the state. About a dozen Vermont communities have begun using a web tool - yourfarmstand.com - that connects farm vendors and customers. Next month, Stowe will be the newest town to join the trend. Lamoille Economic Development Corporation Director John Mandeville is coordinating the effort in Stowe and Morrisville. Read the article HERE.