At the end of July, we took a road trip to visit some of the Vermont Farms that we’re partnering with to feed Vermont schools this year. While Clare Barboza snapped some amazing photos for us, our Marketing Coordinator, Kristen Thompson, took the opportunity to ask the farmers (and co-op) about their work and why feeding Vermont kids with Vermont food is so important.
The Vermont Food Hub Collaborative L3C, dba Vermont Way Foods™ (VWF) has hired Matt Landi as Director of Brand and Business Development. Landi will launch the VWF brand and build demand through strategic market development. Landi will pursue opportunities to drive market growth that supports the brand’s mission of growing and distributing food the Vermont way in order to create a more sustainable and equitable food system for all Vermont farmers and food makers.
Landi brings with him more than 20 years of management experience in the food sector, a time spent wholly focused on working with purpose and mission-driven companies, and with a drive for supporting equitable and natural resource-conscious supply chains. Committed to the organic and natural foods trade, Landi has worked for a number of organic produce distributors and retailers alike, providing valuable strategic leadership and influence. Landi also has roots in Vermont, holding a B.A. in Political Science/Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont.
Prior to joining VWF, Landi’s time on the west coast included, most recently, as Vice President and General Manager of Awe Sum Organics in Santa Cruz, CA, and Director of Sales at Organically Grown Company in Portland, OR. Early in his career he also held a role locally with Onion River Cooperative in Burlington, VT. Other leadership endeavors that Landi focuses on are serving as chair of the Board of Directors for the Organic Materials Review Institute in Eugene, Oregon, and Co-Chair of the Sustainable Food Trade Action Council of the Organic Trade Association (OTA).
Landi said “I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve the food and agriculture sector over the last two decades from such a diversity of vantage points, from highly localized organic supply chains to organic trade on a global scale. I’m incredibly honored to be able to come back home to New England, which is where it all started for me, to go to work for farmers and producers across Vermont, joining forces with so many great folks that are already engaged in this work and have really led the way. The Vermont Way Foods™ tagline of “Food with a Compass” is one that speaks volumes to me and I hope translates well to eaters across the region!”
Get in touch with Matt Landi at (831) 818-0179 or matt@vermontwayfoods.com
The Vermont Food Hub Collaborative (VFHC) L3C was founded by a group of four VT-based nonprofit farm and food organizations (Intervale Center, Food Connects, The Center for an Agricultural Economy, and Green Mountain Farm-to-School) with the goal of operating a transactional network for effective and efficient food aggregation, logistics, and distribution. The VFHC has developed the Vermont Way Foods™ brand to create new market opportunities for Vermont producers in support of a robust and vibrant farm and food economy. Learn more at https://www.vermontwayfoods.com/.
As I was growing up I was always thrilled to be able to visit the farm, kick off my shoes, and run through the fields. I loved to pick fresh produce and eat it and help care for the animals. When I was an older child and we were able to move onto the farm, I enjoyed caring for the animals and helping with the gardening. I lived in different places after that but we would try to have a few animals and do what "farming" we could. When I was a young adult I was able to move back onto the Basin Farm and I started working on the farm full time. To me, farming is a great way to care for people. It is a great place to raise a family with good values.
We, at the Basin Farm, are a community of people who work together in everything that we do. We came across the Basin Farm in the early 1990s as we were looking for a local place where we could grow good food for our people. The Basin Farm was historically a dairy farm and was being used for growing feed corn. We went through the Organic certification process and began growing produce along with grains such as spelt and heirloom wheat.
Since our primary goal is in providing good food for our immediate community, it is very important to us to be able to store what we can through the months that we can not be growing it in the fields. This principle is what enables us to have storage crops such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, and beets all through the winter and into the spring. We save many of our own seeds so that they are locally adapted to our climate and to our specific growing challenges. Nearly all of the varieties that we grow are heirloom (not even organic hybrids) which is a challenging learning curve but is rewarding in the nutrient-dense crops and natural disease resistance that can be achieved.
We like to feed the soil through different forms of re-mineralization such as good compost and leaf compost, several different bio-active products sourced from the sea, along with diligent crop rotation and cover-cropping of various types. We strive to feed the plants what they need which will strengthen their immune system to ward off disease and even harmful pests and in turn, the food will be as good as possible for our own bodies.
Food Connects has helped us to have a place where we could sell some of our "excess" without having to do a lot of marketing. And we appreciate all of the support from the many retail outlets, co-ops, schools, restaurants, buying clubs, and individuals that have enjoyed our products.
by: David Langmaid