October 23, 2011

University Programs Raise Crop of New Farmers

University Programs Raise Crop of New Farmers 3

Caleb Kenna for The Chronicle

Susie Walsh Daloz, right, directs the U. of Vermont's organic-farming program, one of a few in the nation.

By Sara Lipka

Burlington, Vt.

On a soggy, raw October morning, in a far corner of the University of Vermont's Hort Farm, a dozen students gather by a picnic table and survey their three-quarter-acre plot. Since spring, as part of Vermont's first farmer-training program, they have cultivated crops where weed scientists used to run trials. Today is their last market harvest.

Sizing up their season, they guess at total revenue, which turns out to be $2,300. A few sigh. "If I was a for-profit farmer," one says, "I'd