Vermont Farm to Plate program reports $11.5B food-system output, flags $165M infrastructure need

Jake Claro, Farm to Plate network director at the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, told the Senate Agriculture Committee on Jan. 31 that Vermont’s Farm to Plate Investment Program is established in statute (Title 10, subsection 330) and has become the state’s food system plan.

The plan, Claro said, underpins roughly $11.5 billion in annual food-system economic activity in Vermont and supports about 63,500 jobs statewide; he told the committee his office’s analysis shows the sector has grown since tracking began and accounts for roughly one-fifth of the state’s employment. Claro also told members the network has calculated an immediate infrastructure investment need of about $165 million across five priority industries, with an estimated $130 million expected to come from private sources and additional needs for storage and distribution facilities.

The Farm to Plate program was created by the Legislature in 2009 and reauthorized in 2019. The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) administers the program and coordinates the Farm to Plate network, a statewide coalition of more than 300 members. Ellen Hayward, executive director of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, joined Claro at the hearing and said the network’s work pairs a statutory strategic plan with…