EARLY PROGRAMS

The Intervale Center has implemented many impactful programs throughout our time as a nonprofit, beginning with our earliest initiative to restore the Intervale’s soil for farming. Each of our early projects has paved the way for the programs and enterprises that are strengthening our community food system today.

FARM INCUBATION

Launched in 1990, the Intervale Center’s Farm Incubator was one of the oldest such programs in the United States. The program aimed to address common challenges that beginning farmers face, including access to land, equipment, capital, and mentorship. In addition to leasing Intervale land, equipment, and storage facilities to small independent farmers, the Intervale Center offered formal farm business expertise and a supportive community of new farmers. In 2018, the Intervale Center ended its formal incubator program to focus on farm viability work and provide business planning and land access support to new and seasoned farmers across the state. The Intervale Center continues to lease land to seven organic farms here at the Intervale.

INTERVALE COMPOST

The Intervale Compost Project began in 1987 as a restoration initiative to improve the soil health of the Intervale. By 1993, the project quickly grew to accept food scraps from community members, and then began selling excess material in bulk and bags under the brand Intervale Compost Products. The lucrative enterprise continued to expand, even working with large organizations such as Ben & Jerry’s to compost their waste. With this rapid expansion came a reclassification of this agricultural project into a commercial enterprise, followed by requirements to obtain an Act 250 permit.

New permit requirements posed challenges to the program, and in 2008 the Intervale Center Board of Directors voted to discontinue compost operations at the Intervale, redirecting the Intervale Center’s focus to a mission of strengthening food systems statewide. The enterprise was obtained by the Chittenden Solid Waste District and moved to Williston, where Green Mountain Compost continues to carry out the Intervale Compost Project’s original mission to divert food and yard waste from landfills to processes that benefit the agricultural landscape.

HEALTHY CITY

Established in 2002, the Healthy City Program at the Intervale provided job training for at-risk youth while increasing food access in the Burlington area. The program offered summer employment to youth ages 13 to 16 at the Healthy City Youth Farm, where produce was grown for distribution to community members and Burlington schools. The acclaimed program was a recipient of the Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Award for grassroots organizations “working to transform their communities through healthy food access and social and economic justice.” The farm also marked the beginning of the Intervale Center’s Gleaning & Food Access program, which is a key food access initiative in the Burlington community today. In 2013, Healthy City was taken over by the Burlington School Food Project to serve a wider scope of youth in the area.