FARM to plate — fresh whole foods & new markets

FARM TO PLATE has, since the time I started the program in 2009, led to a Renaissance in Vermont Agriculture: more farms, 6,400 more jobs in our food system, and over $100 million in additional revenues for Vermonters. 
The program has also helped bring more fresh, whole foods to more Vermonters—at stores ranging from mom & pop stores, to supermarkets, and coops to farmers markets—and in every school in the state. 

Growing and selling healthy food has also turned out to be healthy for our economy. That's the real “Vermont Way”—moving the economy and the environment forward together.

VERMONT RENEWABLE ENERGY STANDARD

The VERMONT RENEWABLE ENERGY STANDARD is helping move Vermont on the path to a clean energy future — one that replaces dirty fossil fuels that are driving climate change — to one that is good for public health (cleaner air) and the environment at large. 

At the same time, this transition to clean energy is enabling more Vermonters to produce clean electricity for their own use and to sell to their neighbors, keeping Vermont dollars in Vermont, rather then sending them out of state. 

And Vermont's clean energy economy has been good for jobs: over 19,000 Vermonters make all or some of the living in this work, and many jobs pay good wages. 

I'm proud to have led the development of this bill in the Vermont Senate. 

VERMONT clean water act 

The VERMONT CLEAN WATER ACT is helping Vermont turn around decades of practices that have damaged water throughout the state. The power of this act is its “Everybody In” approach, recognizing that, especially with the more intense rains associated with climate change, we have to manage water better in order to clean up our lakes and rivers, and to keep them clean. 

Vermonters value outdoor recreation, and it is also a foundation of our essential tourism industry. 

The state's clean water program, as passed in our 2019 budget, creates the most robust, best-funded program in the state's history. There is a great deal of work to be done, but we have begun — and, in this area too, as we do the work, we employ fellow Vermonters—creating both jobs and a healthier environment. 

I'm proud to have led the development of this bill in the Vermont Senate.