The Vermont Pasture Network Project

April 2001

A Collaborative Effort Among the UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture, The Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the Vermont Grass Farmers Association

Since 1996, the VT pasture project has been a model of successful collaboration between farmers and agencies. This collaboration has allowed us to reach a large number of farmers and agency personnel with a relatively small amount of funding, and has had a significant impact on promoting and supporting grass based agriculture in Vermont. Many other states are now looking at the "Vermont Model" as they begin to set up their own pasture programs.

Interest in and demand for more grazing information is growing, and is now coming from all types of livestock farmers. This has resulted in tremendous increases in attendance at the Vermont annual grazing conference, which is now the second largest farmer conference held each year in the state of Vermont!

(Attendance has increased from 176 to 380 during the past 5 years). In addition, attendance has increased at pasture walks and other pasture-related workshops held around the state.

Summary Of Direct Impacts of the Vermont Pasture Project

Since its start in 1996

The Pasture Network Project has provided technical grazing education and support to a large number of Vermont farmers and agency personnel. Since the project began, pasture network staff have worked closely with the Vermont Grass Farmers Association to be sure grazing education is meeting the needs of Vermont’s farmers by attending board of directors meetings, publishing a quarterly newsletter, writing articles and producing a monthly pasture calendar. Membership in the VGFA has increased to 215, but there are hundreds more farmers who participate in discussion groups, pasture walks and conferences.

• Farmers learned advanced grazing techniques from other farmers at discussion group meetings and pasture walks. 521 farmers attended 33 pasture walks, and 120 farmers attended over 250 discussion groups.
• 32 Agency personnel gained a better understanding of the challenges facing grazing farmers by attending discussion groups, pasture walks and site visits.
• Educational forums were offered for both beginner and advanced grazing farmers as well as agency personnel and farmer discussion group members. 280 farmers and agency personnel attended 16 workshops. The annual winter grazing conferences were attended by 176 people in 1997, 191 in 1998, 250 in 1999, 380 in 2000 and 350 in 2001, for a total of 1347.
• The VGFA Board of Directors is now the Vermont Grazing Lands Initiative Farmers’ Representative. The VGFA also received its IRS approval and tax ID number as a 501 (c ) (3) non-profit association. Membership in the VGFA has grown to over 200 farmers, and they are now contributing to the pasture project by paying the majority of the grazing conference costs.
• 16 site visits with NRCS personnel to assist farmers developing written grazing plans.
• Quarterly newsletter mailed to over 200 farmers and monthly calendar to over 400.
• Over 200 individual consultations by phone and email with agency personnel and farmers.
• 37 Articles and fact sheets written by project staff

Comments from farmers on the impact of the pasture project on their farms:

"in the past 3 years my discussion group has helped me change practically every farm practice"

"The project is of immense value to the family farms and local agriculture... as inspiration, encouragement, creative stimulus, ideas, community... working with one of Vermont’s most valuable resources... Grass!"

" through discussion groups and pasture walks, I’ve learned of viable opportunities that I may not have known about otherwise"

"A workshop of rearing calves on nurse cows inspired me to try that... just one example of many"

"discussion groups are where you really learn, farmers together figuring out to grow the most grass, getting cows bred back, raising young stock, drought – everything. And many of these folks are at our same level so their input and ideas are so valuable!"

"The conference reminds us to set goals for our farm and to be more versatile with animals and grass."

"my discussion group has improved my grazing management and how I integrate grazing and forage harvesting for winter use."

As we continue these successes of the VT pasture project, there are emerging challenges for the pasture project to face, including increased demand for assistance from farmers, increased demand for assistance from agency personnel, and the need for continued and sustained funding. This increased demand for services, from both farmers and agency personnel, is difficult to meet with the current pasture project, (one staff person at only 75% of full time). Furthermore, the funding is provided on a year to year basis, so the program is always run with concern about future sustainability.

Solutions to address these challenges can be found in several places.

• Train individuals within NRCS in management intensive grazing techniques so that they can write grazing plans and assist farmers with implementation. This will decrease their dependence on pasture project staff.
• Increase the amount of staff time and expertise in starting self sufficient farmer discussion groups. These groups, once established, run without the need of any outside assistance, and are the least cost and long term solution to getting technical information and support to farmers.
• Additional programming and outreach to help the increasingly large numbers of beginning farmers. This will allow many requests for basic information to be referred to other staff.
• Longer term funding for the pasture project in order to allow more long term planning with the collaborating farmers and agencies.

Vermont is looked at as an innovative leader in the field of pasture management, both because of the many bright and innovative graziers in the state, as well as agency support of pasture education and outreach. To be able to address the increasing demand for a wide range of pasture of information, the pasture project will need to evolve and expand. Making lasting changes to build sustainability in the agricultural community and in the supporting institutions is a process which requires constant effort and support for an extended period of time.

History of the Vermont Pasture Project

The funding for the pasture project comes from the USDA Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative. This federal money was appropriated for promoting grass based livestock production and has resulted in a unique collaboration of agencies and farmers in Vermont. The Pasture Network Project is a cooperative working agreement between the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture and the UVM Extension System and works closely with the Vermont Grass Farmers' Association.

Pasture Network staff also work collaboratively with other organizations such as the Vermont Beef Producers Association, the Vermont Sheep Breeders Association, NOFA Vermont and several other farmer organizations to make it possible to provide a significant amount of outreach and education for a relatively small amount of money. This has happened in part due to innovative learning and technology transfer methods such as farmer discussion groups, which rely on farmer to farmer learning.

Last Modified: January 18, 2006