Story and photos by: Quentin Melson, Public Affairs Specialist, NRCS-VT 

Vermont Small Family Farmer Laura Burch at the SVTFarm in Rutland, Vermont. 

Small family farmer Laura Burch is continuing a farming legacy of several generations to feed her local community in Rutland County, Vermont. Just like her farmer parents, Laura continues to take care of the land and give back to her neighbors, only this time she uses the latest conservation practices with technical assistance and resources from a variety of partners including the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Vermont Association of Conservation Districts (VACD), the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, the Vermont Land Trust,  the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, and the Vermont Farm Fund.

A Legacy of Farming

Shortly after she was born, Laura’s father purchased a dairy farm in upstate New York. She remembers waking up at early hours to milk cows and perform other chores associated with living life on a farm. Although life on the family farm was hard, she felt a sense of purpose in helping to create something tangible that she could share with others.

“I was a farmer’s kid growing up,” said Laura. “We grew up on a dairy farm where we worked everyday. Although I enjoyed it, after a while, I wanted to try something new, so I left and took a job working for the county. After a few years of that, I started a family, and I wanted to switch to a career that would allow me to spend time with them as well as feed the local community locally grown food,” said Laura. 

Return to the Land

In 2019, she left her county job, purchased a 25-acre Rutland County farm that was built in 1796, and called it the “SVTFarm” to reflect its location in Southern Vermont. 

Over the last five years, both through her own hard work and dedication, and through the USDA’s commitment to ensure that small family farmers can stay in business for generations to come,  Laura has been able to utilize NRCS programs and resources to transform a small, commercial Vermont farm from a simple corn and hay operation into a diverse plant and livestock homestead using holistic agricultural management practices and NRCS-recommended conservation techniques that improve wildlife and pollinator habitat on the property. 

Vermont Small Family Farmer Laura Burch discusses conservation plans with NRCS-VT staff at the SVTFarm in Rutland, Vermont. 

“The NRCS programs I was able to secure early on really helped our operation greatly,” said Laura. “We were able to not only implement many effective conservation practices but also increase farm productivity.”

The first NRCS program Laura implemented was NRCS’ flagship conservation program – the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). EQIP is a conservation program that helps farmers integrate conservation into working lands. Through EQIP, she was able to install a high tunnel system to cover and protect her crops from the sun, wind, excessive rainfall, and cold weather. 

“Since the farm is so small, I knew I would need to add a vegetable component to my farm,” said Laura. “Installing a high tunnel system not only protects my crops but also extends the growing season in an environmentally safe manner.”

Vermont Small Family Farmer Laura Burch's recently installed high tunnel system at the SVTFarm in Rutland, Vermont. 

With help from the high tunnel system, Laura has been able to successfully plant Swiss chard, peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant to feed the local community locally grown vegetables. The results have not only been productive, but profitable as well.

“The high tunnel has increased my farm’s profitability by many folds,” said Laura. “By having an extended growing season, I can have the first tomatoes at the market, the earliest tulips in the spring, and fresh produce in the winter.”

EQIP funding also helped her to establish an area of pollinator habitat on her farm. Pollinator plants she planted include elderberry, ninebark, and chokeberry. 

On the livestock side of her operation, NRCS has helped her create an updated grazing plan for her Normande cattle and cross-bred sheep through Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) funding. RCPP is a partner-driven approach to conservation that funds solutions to natural resource challenges on agricultural land.

“I knew my livestock would benefit from a regenerative, rotational grazing system,” said Laura. “NRCS land managers were able to recommend water flow design changes that brought nutrients closer to plants and help me diversify my forage base by interseeding the pasture area with grasses, legumes, and forbs.”

On the borders of her property, with NRCS Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) funding and technical assistance (CSP helps farmers build on existing conservation efforts while strengthening farming operations), she was able to implement edge feathering. Edge feathering is a wildlife habitat management practice that involves cutting certain trees adjacent to farmland to produce a well-protected “soft” edge that provides shelter for wildlife and increases plant diversity.

Vermont Small Family Farmer Laura Burch discusses edge feathering with NRCS-VT staff at the SVTFarm in Rutland, Vermont. 

“NRCS foresters, in particular, were very helpful in edge feathering the borders of my property,” said Laura. “With their knowledge, I was able to choose the right trees to cut to create a dense, woody cover of interlocking branches at ground level that created cover and nesting habitats for local animals.”

USDA offers a variety of risk management, disaster assistance, loan, and conservation programs to help producers weather ups and downs in the market and recover from natural disasters as well as invest in improvements to their operations. Learn about additional programs.