Billings Farm & Museum Partners With Keep Local Farms Initiative

Woodstock, VT... Billings Farm & Museum has joined forces with local dairy farmers to launch the Keep Local Farms initiative. Billings is the first museum and major attraction in the state to participate in the program and the first partner in New England to match consumer contributions to Keep Local Farms.

Throughout the 2010 season, Billings Farm & Museum will contribute twenty-five cents of the retail price from ice cream sales to the dairy initiative and match the contribution of its museum visitors – generating $5,000 annually for the program.

On Tuesday, May 18, at 1:00 p.m., Billings will officially launch its participation in Keep Local Farms with a brief ceremony with state and local officials. BFM Members are invited! The invitation includes free admission to the Farm & Museum for the afternoon and a complimentary ice cream.

"Keep Local Farms is one way for businesses and consumers to help support our dairy economy," says Diane Bothfeld, Vermont's Deputy Secretary of Agriculture. "The goals of this initiative are to promote the benefits that dairy farms bring the local community and economy, generate a stable income to dairy farmers, and secure the farmlands of today for future generations. We certainly appreciate Billings Farm & Museum's recognition of the important contributions Vermont dairy farmers make to our state."