Roger Allbee Discusses 250 Years of Vermont Agriculture on Common Sense Radio

Roger Allbee, former Vermont Commissioner of Agriculture and author of Turning the Soil: 250 Years of Vermont Agriculture, joins Bill to discuss what we can learn from this book about the history of Vermont agriculture, that will be helpful to us in understanding and addressing the issues of today and in the future. Also, the importance of Vermont’s working lands, and the people who work them, to Vermont’s economy, culture, and environment.

What did you learn in writing your book, Turning the Soil: 250 Years of Vermont Agriculture, that surprised you?  What other stories and lessons in the book are important for us to know?

How would you describe Vermont agriculture as our State and Nation were founded 250 years ago?  When were the phases of substantial change in Vermont agriculture?  And what were the factors that led to these phases of change?  Migration patterns and Population change.  Technological Advance, including those that affect farm productivity, those that affect value added manufacturing, and those that affect transportation of both ag inputs and products.  Infrastructure improvements — such as railroads and the effect of the milk trains to Boston; ved highways;  and the worldwide web, and its effect on marketing globally.  The effect of the Civil War, and the opening of fertile lands in the Midwest.  Changes in the nature of energy and its cost — oxen, to draft horses, to tractors and trucks with internal combustion engines. And energy for value added processing and manufacturing — hydro power, to electricity.

Improved conservation practices — how have they changed over the years, and why?

How the composition of crops grown changed over the years?  Before tractors, how much land was in hay crops, and much is in hay today?  Was there a time when much more of our land was in wheat and barley and similar crops?

In the early days, Vermont was sheep country.  Merino sheet.  What is the story about the Vermont native who eventually became an ambassador from the United State to Spain?  Was the Merino more known for its wool, or for its mutton, or both?  What made its wool so superior?  How much of Vermont was cleared of trees to make sheep pasture?  Did Vermont’s sheep industry form the foundation for the wool fabric industry, concentrated in Winooski and Burlington?  When did sheep production start to give way to milk production?

As land formerly in pasture reverted to woods, what was the effect on wildlife populations, and diversity?

How has the closing of value added processing of dairy products, particularly in Franklin County, affected our dairy industry?

What was the role of the bulk tank requirement in the consolidation of dairy farms?  How many dairy farms were there before the regulation (15,000?) and how many now (approaching 400)?  What has happened to the number of dairy cows over that period?  And the production of fluid milk over the same period?

What role do Co-ops play in creating value added markets for Vermont;s dairies?  Cheese, yogurt, ice cream, butter?

How about the diversification into craft cheeses and organic dairies?  What are the criteria for being organic?

What is the history of agricultural price supports and crop insurance, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)?

Is the availability of water, sometimes too much so, an advantage, in the years ahead, that Vermont agriculture has over agriculture in the western states, particularly Arizona and California?

What should we know about the history of tariff policy and agriculture?  What tariffs does Canada impose upon Vermont products, particularly dairy products/