USDA cuts Local Food for Schools and Child Care funding; Vermont agency pauses CSA grant and weighs options

USDA termination removed $1.2 million Vermont had planned to use to buy locally produced food for schools and early childhood programs, agency staff and local food-hub managers told the House Agriculture Committee on March 20.

The loss comes after Vermont was awarded $1,222,000 through a USDA cooperative agreement for the program commonly called LFSCC — $944,000 designated for schools and $277,000 allocated for early childhood programs, Kayla Strom, Farm to School program manager at the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT), told the committee.

The funding mattered because it had been designed to subsidize purchases of local, unprocessed or minimally processed food for distribution to schools and child care sites participating in federal meal programs. "This is a huge loss," Strom said, describing how the first round of the program had helped 147 farms access school markets and enabled 66 farms to make their first-ever sale to schools.

Why it matters: Nutritious local food in schools and early childhood programs creates direct markets for small farms and expands food access for children. Testimony from food-hub staff and early childhood coordinators described both immediate revenue losses for producers and the longer-term risk to nascent distribution arrangements and educational partnerships that connect families to local producers.

What happened and what the state has done so far

- USDA action: On March 7, 2025, the USDA announced it would terminate the LFSCC cooperative agreement that had provided Vermont with roughly $1.2 million for local purchasing, Strom and others said. Committee witnesses said they had not received a clear public explanation for the termination.

- State response: Gina Cicero, farm institution program manager at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM), said the agency had earlier paused its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) grant for 2025 because staff capacity had been dedicated to standing up the new LFSCC program. "We took that $50,000 that we had previously allocated to the CSA grant and moved it to the Vision grant," Cicero said, adding the Vision grant is currently open for applications and that the CSA grant in its prior form is not available for 2025.

- Local planning and disruption: Becca Perrin, account manager for Green Mountain Farm Direct (a program of Green Mountain Farm to School), said food hubs and some farms had begun logistical and seasonal planning in anticipation of the award. "We were in the early planning stages of the LFSCC program," Perrin said. "Farms rely on these dollars in advance, which is why the LFSCC program was so exciting." Perrin and Strom described how LFS funding had enabled pilot deliveries and first-time sales relationships between small producers and school food authorities.

Scale and examples cited by witnesses

- First-round results: Strom told the committee the USDA's first-round Local Food for Schools funding (LFS) — a 2022 cooperative agreement of $333,763 to VAAFM — helped 147 farms reach schools in Vermont: 90 farms from Vermont and 57 from neighboring states; 66 made their first sales to schools. Forty-four school food authorities placed orders through four food hubs (Green Mountain Farm Direct, Food Connects, Acorn, and Vermont Farmers Food Center).

- Reported impacts: Perrin and Strom cited farm and processor gains under the initial program: Just Cuts (a vegetable processing program at the Center for an Agricultural Economy) increased K–12 sales from 11 to 40 accounts; Pitchfork Pickle reported a large increase in school sales (Perrin said a 92% increase for her hub; Strom cited a 1,000% increase in a different example). Testimony included first-person statements from school directors and farmers describing menu changes and revenue: "We were given $8,000 last school year thanks to LFS, and we were able to purchase local meats and vegetables," Steve Davis, nutrition director at Colchester School District, said in a submitted comment relayed by Strom.

Effects on early childhood programs and community food access

- Eligible early childhood programs: Cynthia Green, Farm to Early Childhood Partnership coordinator at Shelburne Farms and Vermont FEED, said the 277,000 earmarked for early childhood under LFSCC would have served early childhood programs participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). VAAFM and witnesses said about 250–300 early childhood programs would have been eligible; only roughly one-third of Vermont's 900 early childhood programs participate in CACFP.

- Ancillary grant impacts: Green said VAAFM's pause of the CSA grant and the federal termination together eliminated multiple, small revenue streams for early childhood nutrition work. She said that in 2024 the CSA grant awarded roughly $45,000 to early childhood programs; the agency had planned $50,000 for 2025 before reallocating it to the Vision grant.

What the committee discussed as possible next steps

- Backfill suggestions: Representatives on the committee raised whether state Act 76 funds (a Vermont child care legislation funded in part by a payroll tax) could be repurposed, even temporarily, to support local purchasing. Cicero and witnesses said Act 76 includes nutrition-service line items and that using that pot would be legally possible but complex because Act 76 also supports workforce stabilization and slot expansion.

- Ongoing calculation: Witnesses said they were still calculating the precise dollar shortfall and the near-term needs. "At this point, we're still figuring that out," Perrin said when asked if a backfill number was available.

Discussion vs. formal decisions

- Discussion: Testimony and committee questions centered on the impact of the USDA cut, how LFS and LFPA had worked in Vermont, and possible state-level responses.

- Direction/administrative decisions: VAAFM announced it paused the CSA grant for 2025 and moved $50,000 into the Vision grant. The agency said it is evaluating whether to restore the CSA grant in 2026 and exploring options to support early childhood and school purchasing in light of the federal termination.

- Formal action: The committee did not record a formal vote or motion during this hearing on this subject.

What remains uncertain

Witnesses repeatedly emphasized a lack of clear federal communication about why the USDA ended the cooperative agreement. Carrie Sailor, government affairs officer (Vermont Foodbank), told the committee that USDA staffing changes in the Northeast Regional Office made it difficult to obtain timely answers about program changes and that many details remain unclear.

Bottom line

Committee testimony made clear that the abrupt USDA termination of LFSCC threatened both short-term revenue for Vermont farms and the longer-term, nascent relationships among producers, food hubs, schools and early childhood programs. State agency staff said they have taken interim administrative steps — pausing the CSA grant for 2025 and shifting $50,000 to a Vision grant — and that options for state backfill or alternative funding sources are under discussion.

The committee will receive further updates from state and community partners as they calculate the financial impact and explore legislative or administrative remedies.