DUMMERSTON — In the summers of 2009 and 2010, Strolling of the Heifers conducted successful summer programs that placed young people in six-week full-time internships on southeast Vermont farms. These programs benefited farmers and youth alike: they provided much-needed summertime help for farmers, and they provided the participating youth with an introduction to farming as a career, a paying summer position in a difficult jobs market, and coaching on employment skills, money management, and personal responsibility.
We're very pleased that this program will now become part of the Windham Regional Career Center's new agricultural curriculum [“A growing program,” The Commons, Feb. 2], and we hope that it can become a model for similar summer programs elsewhere.
We particularly want to congratulate WRCC and its director, David Coughlin, for taking the bold step to launch a full agricultural curriculum. WRCC will be only the second vocational/technical school in Vermont to have such a curriculum - an odd situation in a state where 18.8 percent of all employment is related to agriculture and food systems (7.3 percent directly on farms).
Gov. Peter Shumlin's administration has recognized the importance of jobs in the food and agriculture sector through its recently announced Farm to Plate Strategic Plan. The Brattleboro area is especially well-positioned to benefit from this initiative, because it is fortunate to have a wide range of successful food-related enterprises and organizations, including the newly-arrived Organic Trade Association, Grafton Village Cheese Co., the new Commonwealth Dairy plant, the Brattleboro Food Co-op, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Mocha Joe's, Vermont Bread Co., and Against The Grain, along with many farmers, restaurants, and other food ventures.
And this year, Strolling of the Heifers will celebrate its 10th annual parade and expo connecting people with healthy local food, and especially with the farmers and food producers who bring it to them.
WRCC's new agricultural program can only add to this rich mix of food and agricultural activities by encouraging local young people to enter agricultural careers, and by developing our next generation of farm professionals.