As you know, this season has been truly difficult for farms and communities across the state. A late hard frost, record flooding, and persistently erratic and wet conditions made clear that extreme weather is having an enormous impact on our state’s farm, food, and community resilience.

And yet, we also saw an incredible outpouring of support for those most impacted. We are deeply grateful for the way the community showed up to support farmers in their time of need. You helped make it possible for farmers to respond and recover from this year’s challenging weather.

Thanks to your generosity, we’ve raised over $1.5 million for NOFA’s Farmer Emergency Fund. We’ve already awarded over 165 farms throughout Vermont, with more on the way as applications continue to come in.

In the spirit of community, transparency, and gratitude for all that we accomplished this year, and all we have left to do, we relished the opportunity to gather with you for this online community meeting on Wednesday, November 15th. It was a time to share info with you about where the money went, what we're seeing from our work on the ground, and our plans for this fund in the coming months.

Executive Director Grace Oedel would also love to add the following edit:
"We did have 1 application out of 190 that came in early that did not receive funding because it did not meet eligibility. Forgive me for forgetting about this one when I said all were funded. Just wanted to be transparent!"