Vermont growers and bakers urge more grain-processing infrastructure, cite gap left by local mill closure

MONTPELIER, Vt. — At a Feb. 26 hearing convened by the Working Lands Enterprise Initiative, bakery owners, farmers and University of Vermont Extension staff told state officials that Vermont’s small but growing food-grade grain sector needs more shared infrastructure — cleaning, drying, storage and processing — before it can reliably supply regional bakeries and value-added food makers.

The session brought four presenters: Randy George, owner of Red Hen Baking in Middlesex; Heather Darby of the University of Vermont Extension and a founding member of the Northern Grain Growers Collaborative; Seth Johnson of MorningStar Farm in Glover; and Todd Hardy, president of the Northern Grain Growers Collaborative and project lead for the Champlain Valley Grain Center. Elizabeth Sippel, program manager for the Working Lands Enterprise Initiative, opened the hearing and described four grants the program has made to support the sector.

Why it matters: Presenters said demand exists among Vermont and regional bakeries for locally grown, food-grade grain, but multiple missing pieces in the supply chain — local cleaning capacity, accessible milling, coordinated distribution and market data — prevent farmers and processors from scaling. Without centralized services, farmers struggle to find buyers, and bakers face sudden supply disruptions when a nearby processor closes.

Presenters described a chain of recent investments and shortfalls. Sippel said Working Lands has made four targeted investments: a FY2021 supply-chain-impact grant of $75,000 (with a $75,000 match) to a bakehouse in Middlebury Springs to add processing capacity; a FY2022 business enhancement grant of $25,000 (with a…