Regenerative Agriculture & AgroForestry - Ecovation Hub (RAAF)

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* 1. On a scale from 1 (MOST favorite choice) to 14 (LEAST favorite choice), please rank which project you'd most like us to highlight at the Ecovation Milestone event on October 18th. The deadline for completing this poll is Wednesday, Oct. 12th. Click to learn more about some of these efforts. (We are using this poll to asses which of these projects hold the most potential for generating jobs and economic opportunity in the region of Cheshire, Franklin, Windham and Bennington Counties.)

Notes: You can rank the options below either by giving each option a number, or by grabbing the option by clicking on the left side of its bar and dragging it up or down.

We encourage people to read the comments at the bottom before taking the poll.

Food Connects' Food Hub, Windham Farm and Food, aggregates and delivers local food from 30 vendors to over 50 buyers in the Brattleboro and Keene areas.

Food Connects is piloting a Central New England Food Hub Network, which aims to increase wholesale local food sales in Central New England, roughly defined as within ~60 miles/ 1.5 hour driving time of Brattleboro, and includes a focus on Keene, Benn

Agro/Eco-Tourism: one business case under development is Daniel Hartigan's Farm Tours. Other ideas for this area are being contemplated by the RAAF Working Group and champions are being sought

Intensive Rotational Grazing (livestock practice that builds topsoil and increases herd health)

Hazelnut & Chestnut Production (Daniel Hartigan’s business case) - Establish demonstration plantings of neo-hybrid hazels and chestnuts with superior and native genetics. Teach farmers and enthusiasts in the region.

Shiitake & other mushroom and/or mycelium cultivation & services

Tools & Equipment Sales & Service (Alex' idea: small-scale farm equipment appropriate to New England's diversified small farms)

Wildlife Management Services (Alex's business case for wildlife biodiversity enhancement and control of opportunistic species)

Agriculture & Solar -- dual use (Tatiana Schreiber)

Medicinal Forest Herbs (goldenseal, ginseng, etc.; business case from Michelle Connair)

Cannabis (Hempfully Green, Good Body Products)

Tapalou Guilds (permaculture farm in Guilford)

AgroForestry Services, including courses for landowners, foresters and entrepreneurs (business case with Tad Montgomery, Dave Jacke, Steve Gabriel and/or others.)

Super Fresh from the Field and Forest (online network to connect growers/wildcrafters with a broad market, business case - Tad Montgomery)

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* 2. Idea(s) not included above?

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* 3. Please share any comments/questions below:

View other survey participants' comments here. You can edit your answers above anytime before you hit the "Done" button below.

COMMENTS:

The first two items in the list appear too similar to my eyes. The second an expansion of the first?

That Alex's tool plan should include having some cooperatively shared and owned farm equipment.

Also that the Hempfully Green is promoting a green building method with hemp called hempcrete, to house a business that focuses on various healing modalities and items, healthy foods, drinks and hemp products.

Nursery production locally, and massive promotion and planting campaigns (by: gov't, business, nonprofit) of native food and medicinal plants (Elderberry, American groundnut, etc.) Goal: slow invasives and preserve "edge" ecosystems.

Mobile goat or sheep flocks for invasive plant and brush management. Example: The Goat Girls from W. Mass.

I think we should include examples of successful operations that are using ecological practices, including agroforestry and regenerative methods, providing pollinator and other ecosystem services, as well as enabling satisfying livelihoods for the farmers... one or more of the eliminated examples such as The Farm Between or D'Acres should be included as models, despite being outside our immediate region.

In response to the last comment, Tapalou Guilds Farm in Guilford, VT could be considered an example of a farm that is modeling the type of regenerative agriculture, permaculture and agroforestry practices that you mention, and it's in our region: http://tapalouguilds.wixsite.com/mysite -- Tad

The following ideas came out of the RAAF Coordinators' team. We refrained from including them in the poll in order to keep the poll options as small and manageable a number as possible, and because either they are not in the Ecovation Hub region or we did not see an easy way that they could help to create jobs and businesses here. Still, they inspire us: • Scott Farm and Orchard's ecological management techniques, Brattleboro • Ben Falk, Whole Systems Design, duck and rice cultivation, regenerative farming • The Farm Between, Jeffersonville, VT • Hawthorne Valley Biodynamic Farm and Education Center, Harlemville, NY • D-Acres Permaculture Farm and Education Center, Dorchester, NH • Cherry Rail Farm, swine & lumber & shiitakes, Brattleboro -- Tad Montgomery

From: Alex Wilson To: the RAAF Coordinators Team Hi (everybody), I think one of the challenges we are facing is that we haven’t really discussed the criteria by which we should be ranking the business opportunities. We may all have different criteria and weightings in mind. For me the major criteria are as follows: 1. Will this business opportunity create new jobs? 2. Will this business opportunity serve our broader mission-related goals, which include issues like contributing to a goal of producing a higher percentage of our food locally and improving ecosystem and soil health. 3. Does the business opportunity have a reasonable chance of success? This may be tied to the local champion of the idea. A project like the hemp building materials, for example, has a very active local supporter, which would be in that project’s favor. If we each have criteria in our minds, we may also have a sense of weighting—how important is each cri