1. TH E INTE RVALE C ENTE R
• By Katie O’Connor, Mark Weber & Jackie LeBlanc

2. BA CKG ROUND
• Began in 1988
• Manage 350 acres of land
• Mission:
Develop farm- and land-
based enterprises that
generate economic and
social opportunity while
protecting natural
resources.

3. F IN ANC I AL S

4. FAR MS P RO G R AM
• Founded 1990
• Leases land, equipment,
greenhouses, irrigation
and storage facilities to
small independent farms
• 12 farms produce 10% of
Burlington’s fresh
• Removes start-up barriers
produce on 120 acres of
that typically challenge land and contribute 60
new farmers: access to full-time, part-time and
seasonal jobs to the
training, land, capital and Burlington economy
markets; knowledge of
equipment operation and
maintenance; isolation

5. SU C C ES S ON FAR MS
• 2-year business planning
program to improve
farm viability through
one-on-one work with
selected farmers
throughout state “I’m always finding ways to be a better
• Seeks to enhance farmer, but the program helped me to
identify and improve on the weaknesses
profitability & social and that I would not pursue on my own, like !"
environmental bookkeeping and budgets. When you start )*+,&-"%.($%%
putting the pen to paper, everything looks
sustainability
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different.”
• Worked with 22 farms — James Elworthy, Liberty Farm
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6. INTE RVALE FO OD H U B
• Began in 2007
• Connects farmers to
markets to increase farm
profitability and local
food access
• June 2008: multi-farm
CSA program launched
• Addresses need to winter storage
• Offers local brokerage services
• Grew 85% in 2009,
• Partners with 24 farmers to reach 200
• CSA members and 16 local
businesses

7. INTE R VA LE C O N S E R VAT ION
N U R S E RY
• Began in 2002
• Grows native riparian trees and shrubs for
conservation projects statewide
• Collaborate with public and private
nonprofits organizations
• Offer info
workshops
• 25,000 “stems”
refurbishing and
estimated 37.5
acres

8. INTE RVALE LAND
STE WAR DSH I P
• Calkins Farmstead: 1860’s
farmhouse, community bard,
circa-1920 dairy barn, 1850 English
barn, corn crib
• Center for experiential
learning
• Includes link to donate money
or volunteer time

9. C OM M U N I T Y C O N N E CT ION S
• Gleaning project with
Vermont Foodbank to
provide over 30,000 pounds
of produce
• Abenaki traditional garden
• Burlington School food
Healthy City Youth project
2002-2009

10. C ON S U LT IN G A N D R E SEAR CH
• Technical assistance and resources
to organization seeking to replicate
programs: tours, speaking,
extended visits, travel to client sites,
hotline support, resource materials
• 2007 Producer Survey: “farmer
survey to determine the challenges
and opportunities available in
agricultural production and
marketing in Chittenden and the
five surrounding counties.”

11. T H E B OA R D
Edward Antczak CEDO, City of Burlington
Kalisa Barratt Attorney-at-Law
• 4-6 committees: some
are just board
Scott Buckingham Secretary/ Treasurer, High Rock Consulting
members, some are
Tom Hudspeth Environmental Studies, University of Vermont
combination with staff
Charles G. Lief Chair, The Hartland Group
and/or farmers
Clem Nilan City Market/Onion River Coop • Baseline expectations
Tom Nold Shelburne Farms of board members:
Nancy Owens Housing Vermont participate in one
Marissa Parisi Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger committee, attend
Greg Strong Spring Hill Solutions, LLC meetings; fundraising
Mary Sullivan Burlington Electric Department is expected but not
Thomas G. Walsh, Esq. Vice Chair, Walsh Law, LLC clearly-articulated in
Will Raap Gardener's Supply Company terms of amounts
• When an opening occurs, board members develop a roster of candidates,
looks for needs in creating a balanced group (both skills and fundraising
ability.) At 12 now, aiming for 14.
• Previously board was directed by ED but that is now changing through the
strategic planning process, board realizes they need to “step up”

12. Board of Directors
Charles G. Lief (chair) Will Raap Kalisa Barratt
Tom Nold (Shelburne Marissa Parisi (VT Mary Sullivan
Farms) Campaign) Tom Hudspeth
Thomas G. Walsh (vice) Edward Antczak Scott Buckingham
Nancy Owens Greg Strong Clem Nilan
Executive Director
Finance & Accounting Director of Consulting and
Manager Director of Land Stewardship
Programs
Conser vation Community Development
Food Hub Food Hub Success
Nursery Connections Coordinator
Manager Coordinator on Farms
Manager Coordinator
Manager
Conser vation
Program Nursery Field
Associate Technician

13. AD VO CATE AND SE RV E
Advocacy through
third party
relationships
The Compost
Dilemma
USDA Farm to Plate
Council on
Sustainable Burlington
Development Burlington School Food Project
Food Council

14. FA R M S IN VOLV ED
~ Adam’s Berry Farm
~ Mount Mansfield Creamery
~AH Mushrooms
~Old Stillhouse Farm
~Arethusa Farm
~Sugarworks
~Bella Farm
~Open Heart Farm
~Brotherly Farm
~Pitchfork Farm
~Champlain Orchards
~River Berry Farm
~Does’ Leap Farm
~Rockville Market Farm
~Dragonfly
~Screamin’ Ridge Farm
~Farm Between
~Stray Cat Farm
~Hazendale Farm
~Sugarsnap Farm
~Jericho Settlers Farm
~Valley Dream Farm
~Maple Wind Farm
~Willow Hill Farm
~Maplewood Organics

15. AD VO CATE AND SE RV E
This is something I don’t think we’ve done in the
past. But it is something that we have been talking
about, trying to decide if advocacy is part of the IC
activities. A lot of employees seem to advocate on
issues close to the IC in their personal life, through
other groups or organizations.
Our service programs are direct and relatively obvious. We
look to influencing policy through a number of venues. We
are active participants in the state sponsored strategic
planning work of Farm2Plate, offering up a great deal of
staff time to both participate and help facilitate. We
participate formally through my appointment to the
Council of Sustainable Agriculture chaired by the
Secretary of Agriculture
The Intervale succeeds greatly at serving businesses and the
community, and is satisfactory at advocacy. It works along side
many groups who are heavily involved with advocacy, and
creates change through the number of voters that they provide
service for. However, there is little to no real advocacy on
organization’s part directly.

16. M AK E M AR K ETS WOR K
๏ Consulting Triple Bottom Line:
๏ Conser vation 1. Profitability
Nursery
๏ Farm 2. Environmental
Incubator Sustainability
Program 3. Social responsibility
High premium on
financial sustainability
50/50 Plan
Why Buy Local? ๏ Community
Economy Supported Agriculture
Program
Small farms
๏ Food Hub
Health
Environment

17. M AK E M AR K ETS WOR K
“We definitely have a more pro-profit, corporate view here.
A lot of emphasis is paid to financial self-sufficiency for
programs which is something that is a first for me in my
nonprofit life. Our Intervale Food Hub (CSA and wholesale
activities) is a perfect example. Having said that, we do rely on
grants for a lot of programs, although there has been an effort
in the last year to expand our corporate outreach and find
corporate sponsors. I think that the IC’s attention towards
focusing on financially sustainable (and profitable programs) is
unique compare to other nonprofits I have worked for or
with.”
The work we do on food systems is very much about
building a parallel food system, alongside the existing
system that we should replace at some time.
The Intervale is very successful at making markets work.
They do market research; service markets for farmers,
businesses and consumers; work along side other
businesses to create change (i.e. Compost)

18. IN SP I R E E VANG E LI STS
“Thursdays at
the Intervale”
draws over
2,000 people
throughout the
summer
Community
Supported
Extensive Agriculture
recreation areas (CSA’s)

19. IN SP I R E E VANG E LI STS
We have a huge volunteer base and while we do see them
sometimes as free labor, we also realize that certain programs
wouldn’t be able to function with out them (Gleaning, for
example). We also see them, especially those at UVM and in
corporate volunteer programs, as great Intervale
ambassadors for our programs. The problem with volunteers
at the IC is that they mostly work in two program areas-
Conservation Nursery and Gleaning (although there we also
use them at our Abenaki garden and Thursdays at the
Intervale). So although they are great ambassadors for the
organizations, their understanding of the organization’s scope
is limited. As a result, many people only know about gleaning
and the Conservation Nursery, even though we have several
other programs.
Because of the physical nature of our place, where you can
see a lot of this work we tend to get a lot of visitors and we can
more easily paint a picture of what can work for people.
The Intervale does a great job getting their name out in
the community in a positive way, but do not do as well
with cohesive branding of their programs. The IC
could also tell their story better nationally to gain more
media attention and get national acclaim the way that the
Hardwick area has.

20. N U RT U R E NO N P R O F I T N E T WO R K S
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21. N U RT U R E NO N P R O F I T N E T WO R K S
We are huge advocates for partnerships which is
something I love about the Intervale. We don’t hoard our
expertise, and we don’t do things other could do better.
In gleaning we have a multitude of partnerships, both
formal and informal. I think this is one of the IC’s greatest
strengths.
Vermont, in many ways because of its small size both requires and
allows for robust collaborations. If we are to take local food
system models that have meaning for the world we have got to be
able to talk about them as Vermont regional models not the
Intervale model. This can be seen in many fields, not just food and
farming. The Intervale center is very much involved in a number of
collaborative networks and projects from the New Farmer Network
and NOFA-VT, to collaborative planning (Farm2Plate), to official
state councils (Sustainable Agriculture Council) to business /
economic development networks (Vermont Businesses for Social
Responsibility), to collaborations of regional food centers from
throughout the state. All of them are good in their own right but we
actively participate because they give real value for our work,
connection to the community, to influence and to funding.
The IC works well with local organizations to
further their cause. They don’t try to “do
everything”, but instead they focus on what they do
well, and support other organizations that
complement their mission in other ways.

22. M A STE R ADAP TAT ION
Although I have only been here a short while, I think we could do better on this. I think
the Board and management team are in the process of creating a new strategic plan,
which will help clarify the most appropriate mission, vision and goals for the org. We are
currently in the process of adapting so it’s difficult to say how it will turn out in the end.
The IC has certainly walked down its share of dead ends. But this is an essential
ingredient in innovations. If you are only willing to do what is likely to work, you won’t
stray far from a baseline. Compost was the original innovation and precedes the
organization. It was crafted as a remediation project to restore degraded farmland in the
Intervale and put more organic material back into the soils. The project was rotated around the
Intervale to restored different fields. Starting in the late 1980s it was on the cusp of community
composting projects. It tested a variety of techniques and technologies. It moved from
remediation to a community service to a full blown solid waste management
projects. It developed from a service to an enterprise. At some point it became less mission-
centric...At another point it became a financial liability, and then a regulatory liability...When I
came to the organization, it was already recognized that we needed to divest ourselves of the
project. The problem was how to do it in a manner that allowed for continuity of service and
preserved the jobs of the five employees working there...The Health City program was another
such innovation. As a youth empowerment program through farm and food experience it was
a great project with excellent results. But it was also very much a program of the heart – one
person’s vision, not an organizational vision or core strategy. It was all grant dependent. It was
not mission central. Again we determined that the program needed to have a
different home for it to prosper, and we built a partnership with another
organization... Many times recognizing what you do not do is just as important
as recognizing and emphasizing what you do. Our biggest innovations focus on
our work in supporting farms and farming. We very much work with a collaborative
model.
Glenn’s “visionary” approach is very geared toward the art of adaptation. He sees the
whole Intervale as an experiment, full of “interesting but fun challenges.” Looking to a
different direction to scale up, expanding to new locations (“mini-Vales.”) Lessons of
Intervale Compost lead to a more cautionary approach.

23. SHAR E LEADE RSH I P
I like how we run by a management team- the ED,
Director of Programs, Finance person, and Director of
Consulting and Land Stewardship. I think it is great because
decisions are made collectively, making them better
decisions overall.
I am not sure I can speak to my own charisma (or lack thereof). I have
been working on a broader shared management structure with three
other managers to try and create more of a two level flatter organization to
spread out information flow, access to decision level discussion and
strategic planning. Through network building I am a strong advocate of
collaborative networks both of “like” and “unlike” organizations. Eight
organizations (regional food centers in Vermont) got together last year for an
extended joint working session over 6 months to look at building a common
network identity. These included nascent projects as well as well established
and long term organizations; staffed and unstaffed organizations. It was a
struggle to spread out leadership and that discussion is still continuing as a
joint conversation going forward. I have a strong belief that future viable
organizations will be network-centric.
Our work internally is to try and define the work that we do as professional,
as career building, and as something that one could see as a long term effort.
This is a bit difficult to do given the uncertain economics of it all.
Very collaborative approach to decision-making: best example is land
committee which decides on tenants, which includes staff, board members
and farmers. Sara expressed that she would like more central direction.
Glenn seems to be dragging his feet on the Food Processing Center –
perhaps better consensus and clearer direction is needed.

24. R EC OMM ENDAT ION S
Advocate and Serve: Begin to focus on Make Markets Work: Continue their
advocacy to expand on a more national/ successful approach to the markets, and
global change toward local food and influence greater change through example.
community sustainability
Inspire Evangelists: The Intervale does a Nurture Nonprofit Networks:The IC works
great job getting their name out in the well with local organizations to further their
community in a positive way, but do not do as cause. They don’t try to “do everything”, but
well with cohesive branding of their programs. instead they focus on what they do well, and
The IC could also tell their story better support other organizations that complement
nationally to gain more media attention and get their mission in other ways.
national acclaim the way that the Hardwick area
has.
Share Leadership: Very collaborative
Master the Art of Adaptation: Glenn’s approach to decision-making: best example is
“visionary” approach is very geared toward land committee which decides on tenants,
the art of adaptation. He sees the whole which includes staff, board members and
Intervale as an experiment, full of “interesting farmers. Sara expressed that she would like
but fun challenges.” Looking to a different more central direction. Glenn seems to be
direction to scale up, expanding to new dragging his feet on the Food Processing
locations (“mini-Vales.”) Lessons of Intervale Center – perhaps better consensus and clearer
Compost lead to a more cautionary approach. direction is needed.