The White River Valley Herald

Working Lands Grant Funding Goes to Sawyers, VTC Meat Cutting

White Rock Farm, Vermont Tech Get $250K Apiece


Tim Angell cuts pine boards at his White Rock Farm sawmill along Route 14 in Royalton on Monday afternoon. White Rock is one of two local organizations that will benefit from a $250,000 federal matching grant to expand agricultural and land-based operations. (Herald / Tim Calabro)

Two White River Valley organizations— Vermont Technical College and White Rock Farm in South Randolph—are getting an influx of cash from the federal Working Lands program. Each one will be the beneficiary of a $250,000 matching grant to help operations in a way that helps other area agricultural- and land-related businesses.

In the case of White Rock Farm, that money will go toward a dramatic expansion of the sawmill operation on Route 14 in Royalton.

Tim Angell purchased the mill in 2005 and operates it with his family, but there has been a sawmill on the site for decades. He said that he hasn’t been able to find anything to definitively pinpoint when the mill started operation, but noted that it’s old enough that it once boasted a steam-powered mill. Angell said the current milling equipment dates to 1978 and was manufactured by a Barre company, but the technology is centuries old.

A bed carries a log along a two-rail track past a large circular saw blade, which, pass by pass, takes a fresh board off the log. The adjustments are made with a series of levers. It’s a very manual process, Angell said.

The grant money, he added, will help purchase a new mill with more automated controls that he hopes will help process lumber more efficiently.

Angell said he hadn’t yet picked a replacement mill and was still deciding between a new circular saw and band saw mill. Once he finds the right equipment, as expenses are incurred, he’ll submit them for reimbursement by the grant funding. There’s a two-year window for completion of the project, he added.

The White Rock Farm sawmill currently processes “a couple hundred thousand” board feet of lumber per year and Angell hopes he can bump that up to about 500,000 with the new mill.

“We saw out just about everything from raised-garden beds to post-and-beam structures,” Angell said.

“The demand is there, he noted. Most customers—especially homeowners and contractors—come from about a 30-mile radius. “We just can’t keep up, especially since COVID hit and lumber prices went through the roof.”

In the next couple months, Angell will also be applying for an Act 250 permit to build a new structure on the property to house the new mill just south of the current mill building. Potentially about three times larger than the current building, Angell said the new operation would likely include some sort of conveyor system to help move logs and lumber to and from the saw.

Currently Angell operates the mill full time with an employee three days a week. If production can increase as he hopes, he said it might be necessary to bring on a couple more employees.

Fifty years ago, he pointed out, there were five sawmills “within three miles of here.” Today, there are just a handful dotted around Central Vermont.

Angell added that the grant applications required that the project would be helpful for more businesses than just the applicant’s. Expanding the sawmill, he pointed out, benefits area loggers by providing another market for their logs, and also carpenters and contractors.

Meat Cutting Program

Vermont Technical College will be seeing an influx of cash too, in part from the Working Lands program and in part from a dedicated legislative appropriation to begin development of a meat-cutting program to train butchers and meat processors.

The legislature passed S.11 last week and the bill now awaits action from Gov. Phil Scott.

The bill began life in the Senate as an effort to stymy robocalls, but morphed into a multi-pronged plan for expanding the Vermont labor force. Among it’s efforts, it dedicates $387,000 to Vermont Technical College, which will combine with the $250,000 Working Lands grant to help “develop a skilled meat-cutter training and apprenticeship facility.”

According to VTC President Pat Moulton, the new meat processing facility “will be used by degree students as part of their curriculum as well as in short courses for interested people and customized training we will do for specific employers or groups of employers.”

The college is still in the process of creating the program’s curriculum, but Moulton indicated in an email to The Herald that the program will be based at the Randolph Center campus and will include a lot of hands-on coursework.

“Some programming will be embedded in the new Food Entrepreneurship degree when that is approved and ready to begin,” Moulton said. “We are investigating an industry recognized credential in this area.”

In addition, short courses will be offered through the college’s Continuing Education and Workforce Development Division available to students or anyone else interested.

“There is substantial interest for employer-specific training with companies like Shaw’s and other grocery stores who need skilled meat cutters and processors,” Moulton said.

“The entire food-supply chain is challenged by a lack of skilled meat cutters and processors in Vermont and the region. As we see greater movement to regional supply chains, these skills will be in even higher demand. This infrastructure will enable us to help mitigate some of that need.”

Moulton added that the college hopes to launch the new program in the fall of 2023, which is also when VTC is expected to be folded into the new Vermont State University.