Root Words

Localizing the Regional Food System | rootwords

Root Words returns with a special five-part series to take a closer look at the growing effort to localize our food system. Localized food systems are gaining regional and national attention for the benefits that go beyond food production and consumption. Rural and urban communities across the United States and the world are building local food networks for greater resilience, stronger local economies, better health, and social well being.

Vermont Farmers Food Center is a food hub that’s creating an alternative to the existing food system by rooting food production and access in a particular place. In this series we’re going to explore how a focus on local food builds relationships with people and the environment, and we’ll discuss how a local food center can contribute to the regional and global impact that localization may have on our economic and environmental sustainability. 

Localizing the regional food system is the Vermont Farmers Food Center’s stated mission. In our first episode in this special series, we are taking a deeper dive into why localizing the food system is important and why it’s so important now.

The Cambridge English Dictionary defines localization as, “the process of organizing a business or industry so that its main activities happen in local areas rather than nationally or internationally.” Today’s guests will help us understand why localization is needed now and how it creates change to the existing nationalized food system. 

A localized food system, built at the community level that balances the strengths and needs of the community creates more economic autonomy, empowered civic participation, and community well-being.  On the next episode of Root Words we’ll explore a local alternative to global consolidation, the community food web. 

This episode was produced by Stephen Abatiell and Julia Anderson. 

Special thanks to Steve Gorelick, Shane Rogers, and Ellen Kahler. 

To learn more, check out Steve Gorelick’s films and books at Local Futures, www.localfutures.org/ 

Root Words is produced in the heart of Rutland County Vermont and is made possible by generous support from listeners like you.  You can support Root Words by visiting us Online

Food Hub Mini Series Trailer | rootwords

Root Words is coming back with a special 5-part mini series this October.  We’ll talk with some folks that have dedicated themselves to rejuvenating the food system and community infrastructure as we dig a little deeper into why local food hubs, like Vermont Farmers Food Center in Rutland, Vermont, are so important to the future of our communities.

Rural and urban communities across the United States and the world are building local food webs for greater resilience, stronger local economies, better health, and social well being.

We hope you enjoy this upcoming mini series from Root Words.

Root Words is produced in the heart of Rutland County Vermont and is made possible by generous support from listeners like you.  You can support Root Words by visiting us Online

Forestry for the Climate | rootwords

The green mountains are a forested landscape and many folks interact with forests for work and recreation.  While about 6.5% of Vemont’s land area is human development, around 78% of the state is forested.  Human activities and forests play different roles in the natural cycling of carbon.  During photosynthesis Vermont forests take in about 45% of the state’s annual carbon emissions.  

As atmospheric carbon builds up and creates uncertain conditions for Vermont’s future landscape, some folks are working to elevate the forest’s role in the carbon cycle, with the hope that more Vermonters will not just see our forests as peaceful sanctuaries, wildlife habitat, and timber resource, but as a key element in mitigating some of the worst effects of climate change.  

For this episode I visited Tim Stout on his family land on a rainy summer morning in Shrewsbury.  Tim’s family has owned this mountainside property for generations, and he’s managed the forest with intention for decades.  

Vermont’s Use Value Appraisal program (widely known as current use) provides a tax benefit by enabling eligible private landowners who practice long-term forestry or agriculture to have their land appraised based on the property’s value of production of wood or food rather than its residential or commercial development value. As of January 2021, there were nearly 16,000 forestland parcels enrolled, more than half of Vermont’s total privately-owned forestland.

Carbon credit markets are an emerging resource for private landowners.  In these markets a carbon credit is equal to the equivalent of one metric ton of CO2.  Tim is enrolled in the Family Forest Carbon Program.  Developed by the American Forest Foundation and The Nature Conservancy, the Family Forest Carbon Program enables family forest owners to access carbon markets and earn income from their land.  

The American Forest Foundation sells verified carbon credits to companies and pays landowners to implement new carbon-minded management practices. 

Tim’s passion to create a more resilient forest and a better future for his grandchildren has connected him to his neighbors, academic experts, and to the land he stewards.  

This episode was produced by Stephen Abatiell.

Special thanks to Tim Stout and Northam Forest Carbon. 

To learn more about Tim’s work to connect landowners with climate conscious management resources visit northamforestcarbon.com  To find your county forester or learn more about Vermont’s Use Value Appraisal program visit fpr.vermont.gov. 

Root Words is produced in the heart of Rutland County Vermont and is made possible by generous support from listeners like you.  You can support Root Words by visiting us Online

Universal School Meals- VT Legislative Update | rootwords

At the start of this year’s legislative session in Vermont we took a closer look at the campaign to make school meals universal.  It’s one of the really important food access issues that the state house took on this year and with the legislative session coming to a close we’ve decided to check back in with Teddy Waszazak, Hunger Free Vermont’s Universal School Meals campaign manager, for an update on what’s coming out of the legislature this session.  

We spoke with Teddy and school nutrition director Harley Sterling at length on this topic in Episode 19: Universal School Meals, and if you haven’t heard that episode it’s worth going back and giving it a listen before listening to this episode.  

This episode was produced by Stephen Abatiell.

Special thanks to Teddy Waszazak and Hunger Free Vermont. 

To learn more about Hunger Free Vermont’s work to support equitable access to nutrition visit www.hungerfreevt.org. 

Root Words is produced in the heart of Rutland County Vermont and is made possible by generous support from listeners like you.  You can support Root Words by visiting us Online

A Morning at the Farmer’s Market (Rebroadcast) | rootwords

In this episode we go shopping, and explore some of the differences between shopping at the farmer's market and the supermarket, and of course we meet some farmers along the way. 

This episode was produced by Stephen Abatiell.

Special thanks to Greg Cox, Katie Stickney, NOFA-VT, Dr. David Conner, WEXP, and the Saltash Serenaders.

Root Words is produced in the heart of Rutland County Vermont and is made possible by generous support from listeners like you.  You can support Root Words by visiting us Online