“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
– Benjamin Franklin
On the heels of the exciting announcement of Sodexo’s $500,000 gift to UVM’s Food System Initiative and Food Systems Graduate Program (read more here), we look forward to the ideas that will come from those dollars.
I’m writing this post at the Vermont Farm to Plate Network Gathering, which is the annual culmination of an idea factory network that generates tangible results. I can’t help but reflect on how Vermont First’s origin story is closely linked to the dynamic forward-thinking of this robust network. Three years ago, this network partnered with Sodexo to put together a statewide forum geared towards training Vermont producers in scaling up to sell to a company like Sodexo. The relationships built as a result of that creative collaboration laid the groundwork for what has become a Sodexo investment in the state of Vermont, Vermont First.
Let’s see where this batch of ideas to be spearheaded at UVM takes us.