By Scott Waterman, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets
The first Breakfast on the Farm event of 2019 took place at Maxwell’s Neighborhood Farm in Coventry June 22nd, and by all accounts was a great success! Over 1,000 visitors enjoyed a free Vermont pancake breakfast and toured educational stations across the farm. This is the fifth year of the event, which has grown substantially since the first free breakfast at Ferrisburgh’s Nea Tocht Farm in 2015. That year a single event was held and attracted 500 visitors. Breakfast on the Farm works to connect the general public with Vermont’s dairy community and families.
The Maxwell family milks 1,000 cows along with supporting sustainable technologies and practices, including a methane digester. The farm is also well known locally for growing vegetables. Maxwell’s Neighborhood Greens supplies produce to local schools and businesses from a greenhouse warmed by excess heat generated by the methane digester.
More than 100 volunteers assisted with all facets of the event, from flipping pancakes to addressing questions at one of the fourteen educational stations. The Maxwell family and their employees welcomed the visitors and joined in answering questions about their farm and modern dairy farming across Vermont.