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ES 401A Spring 2002

Why Buy Local?

Middining System

Lessons and Stories

PROFILES

Local Farms

Local Food Processors

Local Food Distributors

LINKS

Vermont Butter & Cheese Company

Located in: Websterville, Vermont

Supplies Middlebury College with: specialty cow- and goat's-milk cheeses Middlebury College buys these specialty cheeses through Black River Produce, a local distributor in Proctersville, Vermont.

Contributing goat farm to Vermont Butter and Cheese Co.

Since their first Chevre (goat's milk cheese) was made in 1984, VT Butter & Cheese has developed a network of family farms to supply them with fresh, high-quality goats' milk in response to the demand for goat cheese by local chefs. Since then, their business has expanded to include cows' milk cheese, cultured cream, and butter.

Raising goats is a growing industry in Vermont. In each hand-crafted batch of cheese or butter, local ingredients are combined in the old-world craft of cheese making. Workers at VT Butter & Cheese see their product as a marriage between land and labor.

Allison Hooper and Robert Reese, owners of VT Butter & Cheese, started the business in 1984. Of agriculture in Vermont, Allison Hooper says, "When you're looking at ways to maintain a working landscape, I think we've been a good example of one way to do it."