Farms Key to Intervale's Goals of Connecting Communities
and Securing Economic Growth

by Ellie Hurley

It is no surprise that one of the best examples of a complete food system can be found in Burlington, VT. A city always known for its progressive policies and people, The Intervale Center, which covers 265 acres of land, is proof that with community investment all the pieces of a successful local food system fall directly into place.

The Intervale Center's mission is to develop farm- and land-based enterprises that generate economic and social opportunity while protecting natural resources.
 
They saw what many of us see each day in our communities: unhealthy eating with take out dinners and on the go breakfasts, and kids sitting inside with a video game instead of playing outside. Intervale wanted to reverse this cycle and saw that through a series of goals that involve growing viable farms; preserving productive agricultural land; increasing access to local, organic food; and composting, a system could be created in Burlington that would improve the community on multiple levels.

Intervale's programs, as described by Jenn McGowan, the Healthy City Director are about "creating a healthy food system." Besides Healthy Cities, Intervale also runs a composting program, Calkins Farmstead, agricultural development services, the Food Enterprise Center, and a conservation nurture. It was the varied programs and Intervale's ability to bring them together to create a local food system that led WHY to select them as one of 2007 Harry Chapin Self Reliance Award Winners. The Harry Chapin Self Reliance award is given to outstanding grassroots organizations in the United States that have moved beyond charity to creating change in their communities. Organizations selected as HCSRA winners are judged outstanding for their innovative and creative approaches to fighting domestic hunger and poverty by empowering people and building self-reliance.

Healthy Cities, the program for which the award was used, works to provide job and life skills training for youth ages 13-16 who are defined as "at risk' by the national standard. The kids, who voluntarily apply for the program, spend their summer working on the farm at Intervale learning to grow food and talking about healthy food systems. The idea is that these kids will bring their knowledge home with them and help alleviate the need for healthy food that is seen in many low-income communities. Through the program the youth participate in running a farm and selling food at a market they also glean produce from area farmers and distribute it at local non-profits that feed families in need. They also participate in the Burlington School Food Project in an effort to bring local produce to school cafeterias. "We work really hard with the schools to try and get healthy food in them," says McGowan.

What is so great about Healthy Cities is not just that it brings the community together in a variety of ways, but that it keeps the youth involved in Intervale long after they have left the program. Currently a former Healthy Cities participant is working for the Compost Project, where each year they turn 20,000 tons of organic waste into compost products that they sell. This is the sixth season of healthy cities and McGowan says "people know us now, and they really count on us." Based on the popularity and success of the program, McGowan's big goal is to start and spring and a fall program.

WHY staff member Tristan Quinn Thibodeau recently returned from a site visit at Intervale and was impressed with how comprehensive the programs were. "So many elements of the center were seemingly disconnected yet worked in concert," said Quinn-Thibodeau. An element he was impressed with was its Incubator farm program that aims to alleviate the barriers to starting a farm. Each incubator farm is set up on the Intervale Centers land and matched with a mentor farm. The goal is that in three years they will be financially stable and become and Enterprise Farm … eventually moving to the role of Mentor for a new Incubator Farm. It's a program that creates local business, local food, and stimulates local economy.

From youth to elderly, from farms to low-income urban communities, Intervale's programs are inclusive of them all. "The whole of what we're trying to do here," says McGowan, "is make Intervale accessible to everyone and let people know that sustainable food is not an elitist food movement."