Vermont food system produced about $11.5 billion in 2022; dairy remains dominant

Jake Claro, Farm to Plate director at the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, told the Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry session that the 2022 data show the food system generated roughly $11.5 billion in economic output across production, processing, distribution and retail. “This gives you a sense of the breakdown of, you know, $11,500,000,000 of economic output that’s happening across the food system in Vermont,” Claro said.

The presentation said production and processing account for about $4.3 billion of that total; farm-gate sales were listed at roughly $1 billion and food manufacturing at about $3 billion. Wholesaling activities were reported near $3.6 billion, with retail and food service contributing a further roughly $3.5 billion. The data…