August 28, 2023

 

Online platform for animal feed transactions launched in Vermont, US

 

 

The Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets of Vermont, the United States, launched Feed Finder, a new online portal for farmers around the US state's entire northeast to buy and sell feed for livestock.

 

"We heard over and over again from folks this concern around feed and I think there's a couple of components to this," said Trevor Lowell of the VT Agency of Agriculture. "There's the availability of feed at any given moment, which I think has been down from years past."

 

This summer's consistent rain has created a feed shortage in many parts of Vermont. That's where Feed Finder comes in, as it aims to connect farmers with one another.

 

"The hope is that… it's a really low friction platform," Lowell said. "You can sign up to register if you have feed for sale, (or) if you just want to see what people are offering."

 

Sitting on 3,000 farmable acres, the Newmont Farm in Bradford is an early adopter of the new system. They've started offering their silage corn and grass for sale on the site.

 

"We do have an excess at the moment," said Will Gladstone. "We had a reasonably good season last year. And it looks like we're going to have a good corn harvest this fall. We do have some excess that we've wanted to sell, mainly grass haylage.

 

"This portal should help get the word out of folks that we may not have thought about, or may not be aware that they're in need."

 

The online portal displays products including hay, alfalfa, corn, soy, silage and haylage. Farmers can include details like, for example, if it's organic or if it can be delivered, alongside other details such as the name, contact information and location of the producer.

 

"Its free registration is takes just a couple seconds," Lowell said. "And we'll continue to maintain it and monitor it."

 

The Agency of Agriculture is also trying to encourage parties from outside Vermont to list their feed on the portal.

- NBC