Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station

March 2003

Working Together to Meet Vermont's Challenges

UVM's commitment to sustaining Vermont's working landscape and building vital communities began in 1886 with the founding of the Experiment Station. For more than 100 years, University of Vermont faculty, staff, students, and volunteers have worked throughout Vermont in cooperation with citizens, and agricultural, health, and natural resources-based agencies and enterprises. We are proud to fulfill our mission and continue this tradition.

What are the Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station and University of Vermont Extension?

The Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station is a state/federal partnership that was created by State legislative action. The Station has the unique responsibility to serve the agricultural needs of Vermont through research. In FY 2002, 185 projects were conducted at the Station funded by both public and private sources. Station researchers are nationally and internationally recognized for their excellence. Areas of particular research prominence include:

  • assuring the profitability of major Vermont agricultural products including dairy, maple, and apples,
  • protecting the environment through water quality research and integrated pest management designed to reduce agricultural chemical usage,
  • promoting optimal health and nutrition in rural communities with special emphasis on effective treatment programs for weight control,
  • enhancing economic opportunities for Vermont small agricultural-based businesses and rural communities, and
  • developing an enhanced understanding of plant and animal genes and their functions.

    University of Vermont Extension is also a state/federal partnership. Established in 1912, Extension provides Vermonters with easy access to timely, research-based education and information. Extension faculty, staff, and trained volunteers help Vermonters identify problems, seek solutions, and make sound decisions concerning their families and homes, communities, farms or other businesses, and the natural environment. Extension personnel are committed to:

  • increasing agricultural business profitability;
  • supporting forest and farm stewardship and safety;
  • promoting economic development; and
  • teaching nutrition and food safety.

    Extension also engages Vermont youth through 4-H and other programs, provides home gardening information, teaches leadership and communication skills, and supports local water quality improvement programs. Education and information is provided a variety of ways. For example, approximately 116,000 contacts with individual Vermonters are made annually through workshops and consultations. Thousands more learn through media efforts, such as Across the Fence--the longest running farm and family television program in the U.S.--which reaches an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 viewers daily.

    Year in Review

    2002 will be remembered as the year of continued economic and security challenges on both the local and national level. According to the 2002 Vermonter Poll conducted by the UVM Center for Rural Studies, 22.5% of the respondents rated "economy and jobs" as the most pressing issue facing Vermont over the next 10 years. Other top concerns were education, sprawl and land use, the environment, taxes, and health care

    2002 also will be remembered as a year Vermont dairy farmers faced a major crisis while milk prices dropped to a level equal to those of more than a decade ago. UVM Extension and the Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station--working with other organizations and state and federal agencies--responded to this crisis by offering continued programming in agricultural business management, technical training, family communications, and farm labor relations. We advocated for a fair pricing policy for farmers while conducting research to help improve farm profitability. In the fall of 2002, Extension's Dairy Team reached more than 600 farms to assess how to help those most in need of educational, technical, and other assistance. The team will continue this effort.

    We are sincerely grateful that many farmers and other Vermonters from diverse backgrounds have committed to serving as our advisors. Our respect for and appreciation of our network of advisors (page __) is boundless. Advisors favorably reviewed our primary written communication tools stating that this Annual Report and the quarterly newsletter, Impact, aptly and clearly convey the relevance and importance of our research and extension efforts. Extension advisors met in October 2002 to discuss program goals and potential new needs in agriculture; natural resources; community and economic development; and nutrition, health, and food safety. Their valuable input and knowledgeable guidance will influence program planning and delivery decisions for 2003 and beyond.

    Our advisors and others have encouraged us to continue to sponsor integrated research and Extension projects. Two such projects were launched in 2002. One relates to implementing a phosphorus index as a practical tool to minimize adverse impacts on water quality using improved agricultural and other nutrient management practices. Extension faculty Bill Jokela and Jeff Carter team with Plant and Soil Sciences researcher Fred Magdoff on this effort. The second project aims to expand community and agricultural development through farmer markets and is led by Extension faculty members Mary Peabody and Ellen Rowe and researcher Jane Kolodinsky from the UVM Community Development and Applied Economics department.

    Highlights of 2002

  • The Watershed Alliance, a partnership among UVM Extension, UVM's School of Natural Resources and the Lake Champlain Sea Grant, worked with 10 middle and high schools in seven different watersheds. Students monitored and studied their local watershed and shared the results with their local community.

  • 4-H Growing Connections provided hands-on gardening and nutrition education for 426 youths across the state. While learning how food is grown, 4-H participants were taught healthy eating habits and about food availability in their own community. The program was delivered at 20 sites in 13 of Vermont's 14 counties.

  • The Dairy Profitability Enhancement Program's goal is to retain Vermont dairy farms by improving farm profitability based on achieving family goals. UVM Extension faculty help coordinate a professional team of veterinarians, nutritionists, lenders, creamery representatives, and others to help improve a farm's profitability. The program began as a pilot project with four farms in Rutland, Chittenden, Grand Isle, and Orleans counties. The program is funded in part by a grant through the Vermont Department of Agriculture.

  • UVM researchers Don Foss, Nancy Hayden, Culley Hussion, and Buddy Tigor received grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other sources to build a Constructed Wetlands Center at the UVM Spear Street farm for research, education and outreach. The constructed wetland will serve as a fully functional treatment system for barnyard runoff and milk house waste at the dairy farm. The facility will also serve as a constructed wetland demonstration facility for the innovative application of constructed wetlands technology in a northern climate.

  • The development of an environmentally friendly wood varnish took one step closer to becoming a reality as UVM researcher Mingruo Guo starts research trials on the industrial use of the finish. Guo is exploring the use of whey proteins from cheese whey as a primary binding material to develop water-based environmentally safe wood finish products, an attractive alternative to the chemical solvent-based products on the market today. This whey-based wood varnish could assist both dairy and wood products industries by adding value to their commodities.

  • Extension faculty member Bill McMaster facilitated the Nulhegan Visioning Event to help Essex County residents explore economic development, education, recreation, and land use issues and possible initiatives prompted by new ownership of the Champion Lands. He continues to work with the Nulhegan Gateway Association and other members of their economic development committee to draft grant proposals while examining the county's natural resource base and creative ways to add value to the wood products' industry. Other partners include the Brighton Community Forum, the town of Cannan, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, and the Vermont Community Foundation.

  • Among many program offerings supported by the Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Land Link Vermont continued to help to connect new farmers to farm land that current farmers have decided not to work in the future. More than 2,500 acres of farm land will remain in agricultural use because of the program.

  • The Northeast Center for Food Entrepreneurship, a joint project for the University of Vermont and Cornell University, provides comprehensive assistance to beginning and established food entrepreneurs thus promoting the economic development of rural communities. The Center offers services, outreach, and research development opportunities in four critical areas: business and product process development, product safety, process/product technology transfer, and product commercialization. Twenty-four workshops and conferences relevant to specialty food production were offered in the Northeast in 2002 with 768 people attending; 57% of the workshop participants operated a food business, with 80% of them reporting the business as a primary or secondary source of income.

  • Researcher (and dean) Rachel Johnson received national attention as she released data that helped dispel myths surrounding the appropriateness of flavored milk in children's diets. Johnson demonstrated that flavored milk is a nutritionally superior beverage choice over other popular non-milk options such as soft drinks and other nutrient-void sugar-sweetened beverages.

    FY-2002 Funding:
    State-Federal Partnership

    The Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station and University of Vermont Extension carry out their work with a supportive state and federal partnership. State support augments both Extension and research efforts by matching federal funding from the USDA. These critical funds assist faculty in seeking other competitive funds and partnerships.

    In fiscal year 2002, 33.1% of the Station's expenditures was supported by the State and 21.4% was supported by federal Hatch (including multi-state research) funds. The remaining VT-AES expenditures were supported by competitive grants and contracts earned by Station researchers; faculty associated with the VT-AES worked on close to $3 million in competitive grants and contracts in 2002. Collectively these funds were instrumental in supporting 185 research projects conducted by VT-AES faculty with assistance from UVM staff and students during fiscal year 2002.

    The single largest support (41.5%) for University of Vermont Extension is determined by the State appropriation to UVM. For each dollar the Vermont legislature appropriates to the University, UVM Extension receives approximately 12 cents of direct support for Extension work. In addition, UVM Extension faculty, staff, and volunteers were engaged in more than $1 million in grants and contracts.

    Challenges Ahead

    As we close one year and begin another, our hope is that Vermont can continue to be the model of partnerships and a community of people willing to help one another. Each of us has seen issues that become so polarized that communication is ineffective and solutions seem impossible. The economic and security challenges are still with us. The Vermont dairy farmer is still concerned about how to pay basic expenses with a milk check that hasn't kept up with inflation. We need to work together creatively, honestly, and frugally--as we have over the years--to ensure that future Vermonters can flourish in this wonderful place.

    We applaud the growing awareness and adaptation of the Vermont K-12 Standards related to Understanding Place and to Sustainability. These two standards provide Vermont students with a foundation of understanding the relationship between their local environment and community heritage and how to become personally involved in community efforts related to ecology and economics. The Division of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Extension is proud to be a part of the partnership, Education for Sustainability, which helped encourage the development and implementation of these standards and is committed to help to improve the current standard related to natural resources in the future.

    University of Vermont 4-H's motto is "making the best better." Vermont is the best place to live. With your wisdom, hard work, and support, we look forward to helping to build an even better future. We sincerely thank our political leaders for their support as we carry out our work.

    --Rachel Johnson, Director
    Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station

    --Lawrence Forcier, Director
    University of Vermont Extension