Every year, Hillary Hoffman gathers handfuls of timothy hay to help fill her children's Easter baskets. This year, she's bought bales and bales of it from a certified organic farmer and she's been packing it in boxes with open windows so prospective buyers can touch and smell it.

Sweet potatoes, home grown trout and unique maple products.

With mud season under way throughout Vermont, farmers are eagerly preparing for outdoor field plantings. Kara Fitzgerald, co-owner of Evening Song Farm in Cuttingsville, says managing erosion is a key part of running a commercial farm.

VPR Newscast: Wednesday, March 27, 2013, 5:50 p.m.

Newscast: Tuesday, March 26, 2013, 5:50 p.m.

Newscast: Monday, March 25, 2013, 5:50 p.m.

The Vermont Department of Labor says federal budget cuts are being made to emergency unemployment benefits.

Newscast: Friday, March 22, 2013, 5:50 p.m.

A key House committee has given preliminary approval to a tax package that would raise roughly $26 million, putting it on a collision course with the governor because it includes provisions he opposes.

Federal regulators want more information about Entergy Corp.'s finances after the company dramatically dropped the value of its Vermont Yankee plant.

The state Senate has advanced a bill that would toughen environmental review of an oil pipeline if its use changes.

Federal regulators want more information about Entergy Corporation's finances after the company dropped the value of its Vermont Yankee plant by more than two-thirds.

Newscast: Thursday, March 21, 2013, 5:50 p.m.

When an old dairy farm in Shoreham became the hub for a trendy new whiskey company several years ago, many were excited by the idea of new jobs and economic development. But two things may get in the company's way: mold and the state's definition of a farm.

Newscast: Tuesday, March 19, 2013, 5:50 p.m.

Newscast: Monday, March 18, 2013, 5:50 p.m.

Vermont's unemployment rate dropped in January. The Department of Labor says the rate of 4.7 percent is down two-tenths of a point.

Newscast: Friday, March 15, 2013, 5:50 p.m.

Newscast: Thursday, March 14, 2013, 5:50 p.m.

Newscast: Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 5:50 p.m.

Legislation that would allow child care providers to unionize has been derailed in the Vermont Senate.

The House Transportation Committee is set to approve a plan that would restructure the way the state taxes gasoline. The new plan would help raise revenue to draw down millions of federal transportation dollars.

Newscast: Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 5:50 p.m.

The state of Vermont is announcing today it will cover 75 percent of the cost of buying out homes that FEMA has deemed ineligible for a federal buy-out.

The increasing number of Vermont specialty food producers - many of them farmers - is creating a demand for facilities where they can make their products. A new business in Chittenden County is the latest food processing center to come on line - and there are more in the planning stages.