Dave Pratt, owner of Ranch Management Consultants and teacher of the renowned Ranching For Profit School, is coming to Vermont on two separate occasions (Don't be thrown off by the rancher terminology - Dave's work at its core is designed for pasture-based livestock producers in any region). Dave will be running a day-long workshop "The Three Secrets for Increasing Profit" on October 16 from 9:30am-3:30pm at Green Mountain Girls Farm in Northfield. Register for the workshop here. In 2019, Dave will be back in Vermont in Burlington from Feb 3-9th running the full Ranching For Profit School. Both the workshop and school are designed for livestock farms of all scales and stages of development, and participants will leave with insights and tools they can apply immediately to simplify their business, improve their land, and increase profitability.

The Production and Processing Working Group has spearheaded the effort to bring Dave and the Ranching For Profit School to Vermont as part of a larger initiative to strengthen Vermont's grass-fed beef industry. Additional grass-fed beef resources can be found in the resources section of the Farm to Plate website.

The Farmland Access and Stewardship Working Group came together at the end of August - its first meeting under new Chair Graham Unangst-Rufenacht of Rural Vermont. After hearing updates from the Farmland Access Task Force, especially around Vermont Land Link, the group discussed potential approaches to working on the topics of solar siting, agroforestry, and succession "sticking points". Cris Coffin of Land for Good also presented an update on the Farm Bill, including key differences between the House and Senate bills. While much has changed since the Working Group meeting, and the previous Farm Bill expired on September 30th without a replacement, some of the key concerns remain the same - for example, the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program is one of the "orphan programs" that is now without funding.   Stay up to date with the latest Farm Bill developments at American Farmland Trust.