The Vermont Farm Show is back, and it’s moving to April
Produce on display at the Champlain Valley Exposition. Photo: Patrick from Merrimack, NH, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Vermont Farm Show, which ran for decades as the state’s big winter gathering for dairy farmers and sugarmakers before shutting down during the pandemic, is coming back. The first show in seven years is set for April 16 and 17, 2027, at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction.
It won’t look quite like the old one. The new organizer, the nonprofit Vermont Farm Show Foundation, says the relaunch will bring “farmers, producers, industry, and the public” together, with interactive exhibits, workshops and family activities alongside the trade show, according to an announcement published by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets.
“It was determined that yes, Vermont wants a farm show. This is important,” Kim Stinson, the foundation’s director, told VTDigger. “Our agriculture is a cornerstone of our state’s identity, so here we are.”
The show dates to the 1930s. It outgrew its original home in Barre and moved to the Champlain Valley Expo in 2012, where it filled even more exhibit space as Vermont farming diversified. It drew farmers and vendors from Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and beyond, and doubled as the place where farm groups and agricultural associations held their annual meetings. It stopped in 2021.
Since then, the show’s trustees have been figuring out what it should be. In 2024 the board started a public engagement process, asking farmers, businesses and the public what they wanted. The organization also changed its tax status and was granted 501(c)(3) nonprofit status this year.
April, not January
The biggest practical change is the calendar. The old show was a January fixture, which meant farmers drove in on winter roads, sometimes in serious weather. Stinson said feedback during the engagement process pushed the board toward a spring date, which should make it easier for people coming from farther away, and the longer days help.
Spring also opens the door to things a January show couldn’t do. Stinson said the 2027 show will include hands-on exhibits, workshops and panels, products to sample and buy, equipment demonstrations and possibly an outdoor component.
The foundation is also pitching the event to people who don’t farm but whose work depends on it: mechanics, electricians, truck drivers, grocery workers. “There’s so much connection in every aspect of the Vermont economy that connects back to agriculture,” Stinson said. “It almost looks like a giant food web.”
Who’s coming
Two of the state’s main farm organizations have already said they’ll be there. Amanda Ryan, director of operations for the Vermont Farm Bureau, called the old show one of the “most important gatherings” of the year and said the farm community felt its loss. The bureau plans to exhibit in 2027. Ryan said she’s “curious what the reboot looks like.”
Lindsey Brand, marketing and communications director for the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, said many NOFA-VT members are excited, and staff and members will attend.
That combination is worth noting. The old show was rooted in conventional dairy and maple, while NOFA-VT represents the organic and diversified farms that have grown as a share of Vermont agriculture over the past two decades. A show that draws both, plus the general public, is closer to what Vermont farming actually looks like now than the January trade show was by the end.
The timing also lands during a rough stretch for many farms. Dairy operations have kept consolidating, the 2023 and 2024 floods hit low-lying fields hard, and federal cuts to farm and nutrition programs have added uncertainty. A place to swap notes, meet buyers and see new equipment carries real value in that kind of year.
The foundation also wants to do more than one weekend. “Instead of just having an annual show once a year, we’re really looking at the year-round aspect of, what can the Vermont Farm Show Foundation do to support agriculture year-round?” Stinson said. It hasn’t announced specific year-round programs yet.
Ticket prices and a full schedule haven’t been released. Businesses interested in exhibiting or sponsoring can reach the foundation at vermontfarmshow@gmail.com, and updates will be posted on the Farm Show’s website and Facebook page.
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