Bob and Barb are Vermont farmers with a passion for growing and sharing one staple, nutrient-dense crop with their community: potatoes. They also partner with Vermont Foodbank to make sure their local potatoes are available to neighbors experiencing hunger.
Bob has been farming potatoes for more than 50 years—nearly as long as he’s been married. He and his wife, Barb, have been on the land they now own in Williamstown for around 40 of those years.
Bob went to school for engineering, and later became a math teacher, but his love for potato farming was sparked when a neighbor approached him about growing a shared crop in the ‘70s.
Before the next season came around, Bob had bought his first planter for $25.
“Everybody knows who I am around here,” says Bob, who loves being known for his role in his community—a value passed down by his grandfather. “‘They’re gonna know who you are, and what a good man you are. That’s important,’” he recalls his grandfather saying. Over the years, he and Barb have developed creative ways to connect their community to their farm, including a pick-your-own local potatoes day, complete with French fries made on site by their daughter-in-law, Ana. The farm’s employees have donated Chappelle’s Vermont Potatoes directly to the local food shelf in town.
Bob and Barb also participate in Vermonters Feeding Vermonters, a Foodbank program that purchases high-quality, local food directly from Vermont farmers to share with neighbors facing hunger. (Bob recently testified at the Vermont State House about his experience with the program.) Sharing potatoes through Vermonters Feeding Vermonters—a partnership that you help support—has been meaningful in more ways than one.
“It comes down to, I’m reaching neighbors that can’t afford to buy my potatoes. Really, that’s important to me,” says Bob. “I just feel good about our potatoes getting into everybody’s hands.” He recalls the impact it had on him one time when a mother and child shared a letter of gratitude for Chappelle’s potatoes that they’d gotten from the Foodbank.
At the same time, the program has been an important support for their farm; the purchasing contract with Vermont Foodbank has helped create stability during some difficult seasons.
Being able to count on large orders, at a fair price, provides financial security for farmers. “The Foodbank contract…it came at the right time,” Bob says.
From planting to harvest, farming local potatoes is a long cycle with an uncertain payoff; some growing seasons bring abundance, and others scarcity.
Spring, the season of renewal, is a time for careful planning and preparation. In a typical spring, Bob is busy deciding where different varieties will be planted on the farm’s 60 acres, which they keep in rotation, as well as ordering fertilizer and fixing machinery. The farm also sells seed potatoes; they prepare and distribute the orders in 50-lb bags throughout Vermont and into neighboring states.
Bob and Barb are people who keep their community fed, and who also know personally what it’s like for money to be tight during the seasons of scarcity. As small farmers in Vermont who raised two kids, Bob says, “At several points, we would have qualified for SNAP [3SquaresVT] benefits, or for food assistance, or free health care.”
Despite the hard work, unpredictable seasons, and small margins associated with growing a commodity crop as a small farmer, it’s clear that many growing cycles later, the spark that ignited Bob’s passion—or his “dream” as he calls it—is still alive. “I do get excited [about digging the first potatoes],” he says. “I love it. I love everything about it.” Throughout the years, Barb’s partnership has been essential in bringing this dream to life. “I couldn’t do it without her,” says Bob. In the end, Bob says, the goal has been to live simply, with an appreciation for Mother Nature, and to leave something behind for their children and those who are yet to come.
Thanks to donors like you, the Foodbank is able to purchase local food from Chappelle’s Vermont Potatoes, and other farms, to distribute to people facing hunger. Together, we’re making sure locally grown food is available to everyone in our communities, while supporting hardworking Vermont farmers.
It seems spring has finally arrived, and our spring edition of Kernels is here with it. Spring in Vermont is a time of renewal. New life begins under the melting snow, and paths of green appear on south-facing hills. Gentler days are ahead.
3SquaresVT (SNAP) provides help with groceries to about 61,000 people in Vermont. An estimated 60% of people who are eligible are not enrolled. Could you be one of them?
Food insecurity is a solvable problem. While the bulk of the Foodbank’s work is distributing nourishing food every day, the team is also working at addressing hunger by advocating for policies that can ultimately end hunger.
