Center for Agricultural Economy highlights Yellow Barn food hub, distribution and farmer support

John Ramsey, executive director of the Center for Agricultural Economy, updated a legislative committee Thursday on the Center’s newly completed Yellow Barn food hub, distribution operations and programs to help beginning and transitioning farmers access markets.

Ramsey told the committee the Yellow Barn project — a Cabot retail center paired with a 25,000-square-foot warehousing food hub completed in October — included a half-acre solar array on the roof and will route more than $20 million in food and agricultural products annually through the facility. "One of our major accomplishments this past year was the completion of the Yellow Barn project," Ramsey said, adding the solar installation was finished in late October.

The Center operates aggregation, cross-docking and last-mile services to connect small and mid-sized Vermont producers with larger distributors and institutional buyers. Ramsey said the organization worked with about 105 farms last year, moved "over $12,000,000 in products" through its operations and serves roughly 400 locations weekly, including rural stores, schools, hospitals and college cafeterias. "We go to a little over 400 locations throughout Vermont," he said.

Ramsey described the Center’s role as filling first-mile gaps so producers who cannot accommodate a large distributor’s route still reach those markets. He cited partnerships with distributors and buyers such as UNFI, Performance Food Group and Black River Produce as examples of how the Center picks up product at farms and makes it available to broader supply chains.

The Center also purchases imperfect or oversized produce that would not meet retail grade — Ramsey said the organization bought about 180,000 pounds of produce from growers last year — and processes that product at the Vermont Food Venture Center into ready-to-use items for institutions. "We're chopping it, putting it in a product," he said, describing how imperfect produce is turned into diced cuts and frozen products destined for schools and colleges.

Commercial kitchen access and free technical assistance are central to the Center’s strategy to reduce barriers for food-business entrepreneurs. Ramsey said roughly 17–18 businesses use the Vermont Food Venture Center to test products, learn labeling and sanitation practices, and scale production. The Center also operates a revolving loan fund and provided a loan through that fund to an entrepreneur who is now opening a small commercial kitchen.

On capital financing, Ramsey said the Center incurred about $14.1 million in construction costs for the hub and raised nearly all of that through grants; he said one federal grant was lost and the Center replaced that funding with local fundraising and a $200,000 private loan made at 4% for nine years to complete the solar project. He said the solar array should cover roughly 80% of the building’s electrical needs and materially reduce utility costs for the facility.

Ramsey warned of short-term cash-flow risks tied to federal reimbursement timing. He told the committee the Center currently had more than $150,000 in reimbursable federal funds that would be owed if claims were submitted today and said a federal shutdown or delays in reimbursements could create operational strain.

The Center’s revolving loan program, Ramsey said, provided more than $900,000 in direct support last year through low-interest loans and grants, serving roughly 39 farms (loans cap at $30,000 and are typically at 3% interest). He gave multiple examples of loan recipients, including farms that used funds for equipment, heifer facilities and emergency roof repairs after heavy snow.

On food-access work, Ramsey said the Center’s Produce for Pantries program spent about $63,000 last winter to buy 34,000 pounds of local produce for food pantries; he said 80% of those funds went directly to farmers, 10% to staff time and 10% to logistics. The Center also ran 72 community meal events that provided roughly 4,500 servings, and Ramsey described a small project with Jasper Hill to bottle surplus milk for pantries.

Ramsey described operational constraints and priorities: the Center leases five refrigerated box trucks (24–26 ft, double-zone) and runs a multiday weekly schedule of pickups and deliveries; it employs about 38 people; and it is investing in improved back-office systems and integrated software to manage high transaction volumes. "The thing that we would benefit from the most right now are better systems, better tech, software systems," he said.

Committee members praised the Center’s work and signaled continued support. The committee paused for a five-minute break before moving on to a contract item and an update on bill S 60.

Ending: Ramsey offered to provide more information and follow-up materials to the committee; members asked staff to consider the Center’s funding needs and systemic constraints as they review related budget and policy items.