The state of Vermont had committed to double local food production over 10 years, as a way to boost economic development, increase jobs, and increase access to healthy food. The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) had gathered input from hundreds of Vermonters to create a Farm to Plate Strategic Plan that defined the sub-goals and strategies to achieve the overall goal. Recognizing that no single farm, business, non-profit organization or state agency could achieve the goals alone, VSJF decided to launch a state-wide Farm to Plate Network to coordinate joint action on the plan. New Directions Collaborative teamed with Curtis Ogden of Interaction Institute for Social Change to help VSJF refine a network governance structure and provide training and facilitation for the network launch.

We helped design and facilitate a 150 person conference to launch the Farm to Plate Network, which included a kick-off speeches by the Governor and other state agency and Vermont’s Congressional leaders. We provided training in what makes an effective network and how people need to show up to work effectively in this collaborative way. Much of the rest of the two-day event offered people representing multiple sectors of food production, aggregation/distribution, access, consumer education, and workforce development to engage in deeper conversations about how to coordinate and align their work on common goals.  Throughout the gathering, the design and how we facilitated aimed to model the power of networks and build on the depth of experience in network approaches that participants brought to the gathering.