Senate committee hears requests to opt Vermont into SNAP restaurant meals program, restore farmer-market incentives and boost food-security funding

Senators on the Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs committee heard testimony Feb. 6 from advocates, retailers and restaurateurs asking the state to expand and stabilize programs tied to 3 Squares Vermont (SNAP). Witnesses asked the Legislature to opt the state into the federal SNAP restaurant meals option and to fund several state-level food-security programs and emergency food capacity.

The request presented by Ivy Enoch of Hunger Free Vermont asked lawmakers “to pass legislation to instruct the state to opt into the SNAP restaurant meals program and appropriate $75,000 to cover restaurant start up costs and $100,000 for a staff position within DCF to administer the program.” Enoch also asked lawmakers to “support $500,000 in funding to strengthen Vermont farms and food security by sustaining two proven programs run by NOFA Vermont, and that’s Crop Cash Plus and FarmShare,” to provide “$5,000,000 in base and one‑time funding in the FY26 budget for the Vermont Food Bank” for disaster preparedness and distribution, and to include “an additional $2,000,000 in base general funding for home-delivered meals for older and disabled Vermonters.”

Why it matters: SNAP (known in Vermont as 3 Squares Vermont) provides monthly benefits used by roughly 65,000 people in the state, and program dollars move through…