Vermont food‑security coalition presents Roadmap to 2035 and asks Legislature for new funding and programs

Becca Warren, a member of the Vermont Food Security Roadmap Coalition, told the Senate Agriculture Committee that the coalition’s Roadmap to 2035 frames statewide policy and spending choices to reduce hunger and strengthen farm resilience. “My name is Becca Warren. I live in Heartland. I’m a member of the aquatic center, and I represent the Vermont Food Security Roadmap Coalition,” she said.

The Roadmap, the presenters said, uses the United Nations framework for food security and sets three primary goals: give communities tools to support food security; ensure Vermont farms have resources to be resilient; and have government structures that ensure food security for all. “We will know we are food secure in Vermont when everybody in Vermont has the food they need all the time,” Warren said.

Why it matters: coalition members said food security is rising as a public‑policy priority because of persistent economic strain, higher local prices and wage stagnation, climate impacts on farms, and continuing demand for emergency food. Autumn Bowen, legislative policy lead at Hunger Free Vermont, summarized the economic drivers: “Food insecurity is a function of financial insecurity,” she said, citing state and national data showing an upward trend in households at risk of hunger.

Data and farm context presented - The Roadmap team reported more than 600 Vermonters and roughly 120 organizations were consulted during its public engagement process. - Autumn Bowen summarized trends: recent surveys show an…