Center for an Agricultural Economy tells Senate committee it needs funding, labor and storage to scale Vermont food system

John Ramsey, executive director of the Center for an Agricultural Economy, told the Vermont Senate Agriculture Committee on Tuesday, Jan. 28, that his Hardwick-based nonprofit has expanded to a staff of about 40 and runs statewide programs that include small business loans, refrigerated aggregation and value‑added food processing, but that the organization needs stable grant support and more workers to keep services running.

Ramsey said the center operates a microloan product called the Vermont Farm Fund (emergency loans, business-builder loans and new-producer loans typically in the $15,000–$30,000 range), a distribution service called Farm Connects that uses refrigerated trucks to aggregate and fulfill orders, and a commercial kitchen and incubator called the Vermont Food Venture Center. "We bring product back to our warehouse, and we do all of their fulfillment and distribution," Ramsey said of the aggregation work. He added that the center purchases roughly $200,000 of Vermont‑grown produce a year and processes product into more than 400,000 servings served in schools, hospitals and colleges.

Why this matters: Ramsey told senators the center plugs gaps for small and mid‑scale farms that lack access to refrigerated storage, fulfillment infrastructure and stable markets. The center's services, he said, both create market access for farms and supply local institutions, while also subsidizing trucking and…