Sustainable Farms

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Created on Friday, 06 May 2016 14:14
Written by Alex Pinkham

Sustainable FarmAround the NEK- In the quest for making Vermont a greener place, two farms are working to make their operations as sustainable as possible. Jasper Hill Farm and Pete's Greens Organic Farm are working with VT 99 Meats to bring in more business to the area and also help to keep the earth as heath as they can. To do this they are working building a pig herd to feed the waste of the two farms and then the meat goes to VT 99 to be made into fresh sausage and other meat products.

"We put the pigs in pastured land. After that we do vegetable cropping or hay cropping," VT 99 Project Manager Evan Bendixson, said. "We use those vegetables. [We] sell the veggies and what isn't sold we sell it back to the pigs or we do hay cropping and use that hay to send it back to Jasper Hill cows."

The hope is, with having pigs roaming the land, they will help the keep the land healthy. One of the ways they would be doing that is by helping to manure that fields for the farmers. This would insure that nutrients were being put back into the land. Also they are hoping to cut down on the waste of the two farms and make a system that is more of a cycle.

"Basically building a more productive system where we utilize waste by products form the businesses but also reclaim and replenish the land at the same time. Pigs serve both those purposes," Bendixson said.

At this time the herd is about 250 pigs strong according to Bendixson. Bendixson's hope is for the number to only increase.