Vermont food bank asks legislature for $5 million to formalize disaster response and buy local food

The Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry Committee heard from a food bank representative asking the Legislature for $5 million to formalize the nonprofit's role in disaster response and expand purchases of Vermont-grown food.

John, a food bank representative, told the committee the request is split into three parts: $1.75 million for "responsive readiness" to stage water and ready-to-eat meals at the food bank's distribution centers; $2 million for a "Vermonters Feeding Vermonters" program to buy Vermont-grown products (associated with H.167); and $1.25 million for operating costs and grants to roughly 225 network partners including food shelves, meal sites and senior centers.

The request matters because the food bank already plays an informal role in emergencies and seeks a formal agreement with Vermont Emergency Management (VEM) to clarify when and how it would be called on. "The food bank's been providing the service to the state for many, many years, you know, kind of like dating, and now we want you to put a ring on it," John said.

Committee members pressed for details on past funding and program mechanics. John said the $5 million ask "is not in the governor's budget," and that the food bank has relied largely on donors, occasional federal support through Feeding America, and one-time federal relief funds (CARES Act and ARPA) in recent years. He said a small recurring appropriation of about $84,000 per year routed through the Agency of Education has supported transportation for roughly two decades, but that amount is insufficient for the new program.

John described the responsive-readiness portion as funding to reserve pallet space at the food bank's distribution centers in Barre, Rutland and Brattleboro for bottled water and ready-to-eat foods, plus contingencies for trucks, leased drivers and overtime. He said staged product would be rotated through normal distribution before use-by dates.

On the Vermonters Feeding Vermonters proposal tied to H.167, John said the food bank's priority is making Vermont-grown and Vermont-raised food available to people who otherwise could not afford it; the organization is flexible about legal framing (it could be structured as a farm subsidy if that eases legal concerns). He said the food bank also wants the ability to make grants to partners to enable direct purchasing from Vermont farms.

The food bank described reliance on some large out-of-state and Canadian producers for year-round produce supply. John said the organization purchased "2,700,000" (units not specified in testimony) from a Canadian grower, Western Harvest, to obtain mixed, year-round produce loads. He warned that announced tariffs (not yet in force during the hearing) could add roughly $130,000 to the food bank's costs should a 25% tariff be applied.

Committee members raised program-design questions including how the purchased food is distributed, metrics to track whether the funds reduce food insecurity, and whether the $5 million is a fixed target. John said the food bank can work with lesser amounts but prefers base funding to sustain a long-term agreement with VEM. He also cited a Feeding America analysis the food bank used that estimated an $80 million annual "meal gap" to substantially reduce food insecurity statewide.

No vote or formal committee action occurred at the hearing. Committee leadership said they will try to schedule the Agency of Agriculture to testify on H.167 and related miscellaneous agriculture bills and noted National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) staff were invited to discuss available data at a later session.

The hearing included questions from Representative Boss, Representative Burks, Representative O'Brien and Representative Nelson; no formal motion or legislative decision on the $5 million request was recorded.

The committee will take up additional testimony and may revisit the request after hearing from the Agency of Agriculture and other witnesses.