Advocates ask Vermont House committee to expand SNAP options and boost funding for farmer incentives and emergency food reserves

Hunger Free Vermont and food-system partners told the House Commerce & Economic Development Committee on Feb. 6 that lawmakers should adopt the SNAP Restaurant Meals Program for select beneficiaries and boost state funding for several food-security programs.

Ivy Enoch, SNAP policy and training lead at Hunger Free Vermont, asked legislators to "please pass legislation to instruct the state to opt into the SNAP restaurant meals program and appropriate $75,000 to cover restaurant startup costs and $100,000 for a staff position within DCF to administer the program." She also requested $500,000 in base funding to sustain NOFA Vermont’s Crop Cash Plus and FarmShare programs, $5,000,000 in base and one-time funding in the FY26 budget for the Vermont Food Bank’s disaster preparedness and distribution work, and an additional $2,000,000 in base general funding for home-delivered meals through the Area Agencies on Aging, with the option to draw down matching Global Commitment funds.

The requests are aimed at improving access and stabilizing supply. "3 Squares Vermont is our most effective anti hunger program," Enoch said, adding that the program "keeps about $13,000,000 in our state economy every single month" and that roughly 65,000 people (nearly 40,000 households) receive benefits. She described Vermont’s eligibility as set higher than the federal baseline—"in Vermont, people and families with incomes at or below a 85% of the federal poverty level can qualify"—and noted that, for a family of four, that income threshold equates to about $4,810 per month or roughly $57,000 annually.

Testimony described how proposed changes would target populations with barriers to food preparation or storage. Enoch said the federal SNAP restaurant meals option is limited to older adults, people with disabilities and people experiencing homelessness; Vermont has not yet adopted it. "No one in the state of Vermont right now can use their SNAP benefits at restaurants," she said, framing the proposal as an expansion specifically for those groups.

Retail and market managers described local impacts from incentive programs. Alan Reitz, director of public and government affairs for Hanover Co-op Food Stores, described a co-op program that offers an extra 10% on SNAP-eligible purchases for identified shoppers and said it has stretched more than $350,000 in customer benefits across co-op stores over eight years. Georgie Reubens, director of the Burlington Farmers Market, and other market representatives urged support for Crop Cash Plus, which doubles SNAP dollars for eligible foods at farmers markets and—when active—has significantly increased market sales for some vendors. Reubens said Crop Cash Plus had to be paused in 2024 for lack of funding and asked lawmakers to provide stable base funding so vendors and customers can rely on the program.

Small restaurants that participated in the Vermont Everyone Eats pandemic program also supported the restaurant-meals option. "Our experience working with Vermont Everyone Eats gave us a lot of excitement and enthusiasm to support the restaurant meals program being proposed today," said Tobin Porter Brown, owner of Front Seat Coffee in Hardwick, who said the program was 20–30% of monthly sales for a period during the pandemic and helped the business survive.

Committee members and staff noted this budget-area work will intersect with agricultural programs and with the Agency of Human Services’ Department for Children and Families (DCF) for program administration. A committee member said the budget requests "mostly is gonna go to ag," signaling that multiple committees and agencies will consider elements of the ask.

No formal committee action was taken during the hearing. Committee members thanked speakers and said the committee would continue to consider the budget requests as part of the broader FY26 process.

Why it matters: Advocates presented a mix of demand-side and supply-side measures—expanding where certain SNAP recipients can spend benefits, boosting incentive matches to increase purchase of Vermont-grown foods, and funding emergency food capacity—arguing the combination would both improve food access for vulnerable Vermonters and support local farms and retailers.