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About us

Mission

Our mission is to strengthen community food systems. Founded in 1988, the Intervale Center manages a 360-acre campus of farmland, trails and open space along the Winooski River in Burlington, VT. Our influence radiates out from this beloved place as we work across Vermont to enhance farm viability and land sustainability, and more broadly as we serve as a model for food and farming organizations throughout the world.

For 30 years, we’ve led a community food revolution. We’ve pioneered game-changing initiatives like community-supported agriculture (CSA), large-scale composting, food hubs and farm incubators. We continue to innovate so that more good food is available for anyone who wants it.

Click here to read our 30th Anniversary Impact Report!

Vision

At the Intervale Center, we believe in the power of good food. We envision food systems that support joyful, vibrant communities. Farms and food businesses thrive, natural resources are healthy and protected, and people are nourished and happy. The Intervale Center – our people, programs and place – is the living embodiment of this vision. Our work is guided by three high-level organizational goals:

farms

To enhance the viability of farming

land

To promote the sustainable use and stewardship of agricultural lands

people

To ensure community engagement in the food system

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HISTORY

In 1986, Will Raap, founder of Gardener’s Supply Company, spearheaded an Intervale clean-up effort to restore the Intervale – 700 acres of bottomland within the city limits of Burlington, Vermont – to its agricultural roots and feed Burlington.

Thanks to more than 20 years of extraordinary work by the Intervale Center (initially named the Intervale Foundation) and those who farm here, the Intervale has been transformed into a nationally recognized center for sustainable agriculture.

In the 1980s, the Intervale was a dangerous and unwelcoming place for visitors. Agricultural fields had been abandoned, and people were using the Intervale as an informal dumping ground for tires, furniture and other garbage. Will Raap and many other dedicated community members removed garbage and debris, rebuilt depleted soils through composting and started gardening and farming, and through their actions, began to transform the Intervale from an informal dump to a beautiful agricultural and recreational resource for Burlington.

Today, visitors find in the Intervale a unique and innovative community built around growing, eating and celebrating locally grown food. At the Intervale Center, they find a mature nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening community food systems by enhancing farm viability, promoting the sustainable use of agricultural lands and engaging people in the food system.

The Intervale itself has a long history of agricultural productivity. Native Americans farmed here a millennium ago. Since the 1700s, Vermonters have operated dairies and grown flowers and food here. The Intervale Center and the farmers who steward the Intervale today recognize that we are a part of this rich and diverse history of Intervale stewards, and we work to sustainably care for this place with this history – and these people – in our hearts.

A timeline history of the intervale

3000 Bc: small bands of Native Americans harvest game and seasonal forage crops

1500 AD: Larger native settlements thrive as agriculture provides a more reliable food source

1609: Samuel de Champlain documents extensive cornfields at the mouths of the major rivers on the lake's east side – almost certainly including the Winooski

1772: Ethan, Ira, Heman, and Zimri Allen form the Onion River Land Company to sell Intervale land

1787: Ethan Allen builds a homestead

1861: Central Vermont Railroad lays track in the Intervale

1900: Calkins, Arns and LaCasse families operate dairy farms

1927: Intervale experiences epic flooding

1944: Municipal dump opens; operates through the 1970s

1950: McKenzie family operates a pig farm

1977: First segment of Vermont 127 is built through the Intervale

1983: Will Raap founds Gardener's Supply Company

1987: Burlington rezones the Intervale to exclude industrial and residential growth

1988: Intervale Center (then known as Intervale Foundation) is established.

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Our People

Staff

Sara Armstrong-Donegan, Development Coordinator

Hannah Baxter, Gleaning and Food Access Manager

Stacy Burnstein, Community Agriculture Specialist

Annalise Carington, Riparian Restoration & Monitoring Specialist

Kevin Channell, Farm Business Specialist

Maddie Cotter, Intervale Conservation Nursery Production & Volunteer Coordinator

Keith Drinkwine, Purchasing and Quality Assurance Manager

Patrick Dunseith, Land Manager

Mandy Fischer, Development Director

Jonathan Guy, Finance Director

Mike Ingalls, Intervale Conservation Nursery Manager

Nikki Lennart, Farm Business Specialist

Travis Marcotte, Executive Director

Abby Portman, Community Relations Coordinator

Reid, Sales and Marketing Manager

Sam Smith, Farm Business Director

Mandy St. Hilaire, Intervale Conservation Nursery Director of Sales

Brian Teed, Intervale Food Hub Operations Coordinator

Shana Trombley, Donor Relations Manager

Taran Wise, Food Hub Operations Associate

Carolyn Zeller, Administrative Coordinator

Board

The Intervale Center has a dedicated, all volunteer Board of Directors. They work closely with our Executive Director on policy and governance issues. They are also our organization’s most important advocates and champions.

Jonathan Abodeely
Peter Asch Owner, Twincraft Skincare Vice Chair
Cynthia Belliveau Dean of UVM Distance and Continuing Education
Kathy Beyer Housing Vermont Chair
Katelyn Ellermann Associate General Counsel, VT Department of Environmental Conservation
Allison Gibson Honey Road Restaurant
Leslie Halperin Partner, Resilient Philanthropy
Margaret Leddy American Flatbread & Zero Gravity Treasurer
Noelle MacKay Chief Operating Officer, Regulatory Assistance Project
R.W. “Eli” Moulton III, Esq. Moulton Law Group
Joe Perrotto, New Vitality Secretary
Thomas G. Walsh Judge
Leslie McCrorey Wells, Pizzeria Verità, Trattoria Delia and Sotto Enoteca
Allison Hope City Market

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Intervale Farms

Since 1988, the Intervale Center has reclaimed over 350 acres of historic agricultural land for vegetable, flower, herb and other food production. The Center leases land to nine small to medium-sized local organic farms that operate independently of the non-profit. This amazing community of farmers, made up of both mentor farms and incubator farms, provides Burlington area residents with around $1.4 million worth of local products every year.