As harvest season unfolds across Vermont, farmers are gathering the results of months of work and planning for the seasons ahead. At the Vermont Participatory Action Research Team (V-PART), those farmers are doing more than harvesting crops. They're helping shape the research that supports a more sustainable and resilient food system.
Based at the Institute for Agroecology at the University of Vermont, V-PART brings farmers, researchers, and community members together to identify real-world challenges and co-develop practical solutions. Rather than conducting research on farms, the team works alongside growers from the earliest stages of a project, ensuring that research questions reflect farmers' priorities and lead to meaningful action.
Co-founded by Dr. Victor Izzo in 2014, V-PART uses participatory action research to advance sustainable agriculture and integrated pest management across the Northeast. By combining scientific rigor with farmer expertise, the program produces research that is relevant, actionable, and rooted in the communities it serves.
"The V-PART team has been incredibly responsive," Andy Jones said. Jones has managed the Intervale Community Farm since 1993. "One of the things that's been really rewarding is that they're not necessarily coming to us and saying, 'hey, we need to find out the answers to these questions, are you interested in them?' They're asking us, what are your priorities?"
