Welcome, Dana!

In December 2023, the Vermont Farm to School & Early Childhood Network hired its first dedicated Network Coordinator, Dana Hudson. As a longtime farm to school champion, Dana will bring her expertise to our membership, fostering learning, collaboration, and innovation that advances our common goal.

Meet Dana:

"I am honored to be joining the Network as your new Network Coordinator. I have only been on the job for a few weeks, but I’m already so impressed with all the wonderful work underway in our lovely state.

Joining at this point feels full circle for me. I was lucky to be part of the first meetings of this Network, including the systems mapping work that helped set our collective direction ten years ago. By adopting a collaborative model that relied on lifting each other up, our Network has become a shining beacon of what collaborative work can do for a movement. We've achieved some pretty amazing milestones in the past 10 years—nice work, my friends!

There is still loads of work to do (don’t worry, I brought my muck boots and work gloves!), and I'm thrilled to be able to support this group to take the next steps towards our newly refined goal: 

By 2030, every educational community in Vermont connects classrooms, cafeterias, and communities with equitable access to integrated food system education, community-based learning, and 30% local food purchasing that promotes climate resilience and social justice.

I come back to farm to school work after taking a three-year hiatus to farm with my husband. I was raised on a family farm and have since been a lifelong gardener and homesteader. Covid afforded me time and space to explore running our own small farm. Today, my husband has taken on much of the daily operations of our farm, which allows me to return to my passion of farm to school.

My early career was spent working with Vermont FEED in its first years, then helping to build the National Farm to School Network and serving as the Regional Lead for the Northeast Collaborative. My experiences working at the community, state, and national level, have taught me that farm to school is about cooperation, meeting multiple objectives, and relationships. I can’t wait to serve the network with these principles in mind."