The goal of the council is to implement collaborative approaches to create food security through systemic changes. For the 2000 legislative session, the council is planning on raising the issue again. Strengthened Vermont policy to control factory farm development Protected the consumers right to know and farmers right to sell rBGH-free dairy products Stalled construction of a sludge composting plant and state plans to weaken standards for land application of sludge and launched an organizing drive to create a citizens economic development initiative in Orleans County. Rural Vermont is working to win economic justice for Vermont's dairy farmers and New England consumers. Vermont's lenient agricultural regulations are an invitation to agribusiness interests to exploit Vermont's agricultural resources.
Factory farms displace family farms, destroy the environment, and drain rural economies.
Rural Vermont is campaigning for policy changes that would close the existing factory farm loophole and create real economic opportunity for family farm agriculture in Vermont. Still many communities are turning to land application of sludge as the cheapest disposal method putting Vermont farmers and rural communities at significant risk. Rural Vermont has launched a campaign to stop the land application of toxic sludge on Vermont farm land and in Vermont's rural communities.