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PROJECT PROFILE:
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Mark Fischer stands by his award-winning cheeses at Woodcock Farm.
VHCB's Farm Viability Program helped the Fischers to develop business
and marketing plans and to purchase equipment to expand their production.
VHCB photo
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Mark and Gari Fischer of Woodcock Farm in Weston had been making sheep’s milk cheese for eight years. They were ready to take the next step—to produce more and grow the business. In 2005, with assistance from the Farm Viability Program, the Fischers developed a business and marketing plan. Working with UVM Extension Service staff under contract to the Viability program, they confirmed that new types of cheese under the Woodcock label would attract a strong market. Viability consultants then helped them project revenue and expenses for a facility upgrade that would allow them to manufacture those new product lines—primarily pasteurized fresh cheeses—as opposed to raw milk aged cheeses.
A year later VHCB awarded the Fischers a Farm Viability Program implementation grant funded by the Argosy Foundation. This allowed them to purchase the equipment needed to expand their production and produce the pasteurized cheese. The award was matched by personal savings and a loan. A second implementation grant, in 2007, funded five days of technical assistance provided by a French cheese-making specialist from UVM. The workshops at the Fischer farm were open to other cheese makers as well.
- by Ethan Parke
A Farm Viability Program Implementation grant allowed for a
UVM specialist to come to the Fischers farm and offer a cheese
making workshop for Vermont cheese makers.
Mark Fischer photo
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