It's fair season in Vermont. The annual celebration of farming is also a place where agriculture companies meet with their customers-dairy farmers. And in this time of low milk prices, many grain companies, equipment dealers and agricultural service businesses also have to change the way they do business.

About 300 farmers and their supporters packed the House chamber this week to testify about the future of farming in Vermont. Many had a simple message. They said small, diversified farms are the future. And they argued that the state needs to help farmers sell directly to consumers.

Just about everybody is feeling the pinch in this recession. But imagine if your paycheck was cut in half while your expenses stayed the same or even went up. That's what's happened to many dairy farmers. Milk prices have dropped 50 percent in the last few months.

Mark Breen, Jay Shafer and Andy Nash talk with VPR's Jane Lindholm about why the Northeast has been hit with such wet, cold weather this summer.

The University of Vermont and two private companies have developed a new device that they say might boost maple sap production as much as 90 percent. The small plastic spouts will allow sugarmakers to tap their trees earlier and keep the sap flowing longer into the season.

State regulators have stepped up the pressure on FairPoint Communications by opening a formal investigation into its ongoing service quality problems.

By the end of August, about 250 workers at the Ethan Allen Furniture factory in Beecher Falls will be out of work.  In this economy, and in this remote corner at the juncture of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Canada, the prospects for re-employment are especially slim.

The economic downturn that began in the fall deepened into a recession that some compare to the Great Depression. As VPR reported in a series in February, jobs were being cut, incomes were falling and the recession was Hitting Home. So now, six months later, what's changed?

In Bennington County, which has the third highest unemployment rate in Vermont, a company called Plasan North America is expanding.

A few displaced workers in the Northeaast Kingdom are doing what may seem like the impossible in these dark days. They're starting their own businesses. VPR's Charlotte Albright recently met one of them in St. Johnsbury.  

As part of our series on the economy, VPR's Steve Zind visited one longtime family auto dealership worried about staying in business.

Today, we begin a series that shows just how real the economic downturn is and how it affects everyday people. VPR's Ross Sneyd examines how the recession that began on Wall Street has spread to Main Street.

Some businesses are bucking the economic downturn, choosing to expand despite the uncertainties. VPR's Ross Sneyd caught up with a couple of business owners that are banking on an economic rebound.

For the first time in Vermont history, the Legislature has successfully overridden a governor's veto of the state budget.

Many gay and lesbian couples will hold small, low key ceremonies when they gain the legal right to marry this week.

For only the seventh time in Vermont history, the Legislature has overruled a gubernatorial veto. That override now means Vermont is the fourth state to allow gays and lesbians couples to marry. And it's the first state to do so without being prompted by a court order.

Supporters of the bill say they're very disappointed, while opponents were elated.

Democratic leaders say the budget proposed by Governor Jim Douglas could increase the burden on local taxpayers. They're also concerned that the cuts fall hardest on human services programs.

Phillips returned home today after a high seas ordeal as a hostage to Somali pirates.

If his neighbors in Underhill were unaware of what Richard Phillips does for work, they know now.

300 Vermont National Guard soldiers left for training in Indiana over the weekend. For them and the twelve hundred army guard members who'll follow, it's the final training stop before they deploy to Afghanistan early next year. 

One of the first same-sex couples in the state to officially tie the knot did so at the stroke of midnight, and VPR's Sarah Ashworth was there, and shares their story.