The Vermont Food Security Coalition laid out a multi-part 2026 policy slate to the legislative committee, asking the state to shore up food assistance administration, expand navigator capacity for benefits enrollment, and boost grants and funds for child nutrition and farm resilience.

“Food security for everyone in Vermont is the destination that we're focused on as a coalition,” said Becca Warren, manager of the Vermont Food Security Coalition, during a presentation that outlined the group’s Roadmap to 2035 and a set of budget requests for the coming fiscal year.

Why it matters: presenters warned that a recent federal budget reconciliation change they referred to as HR1 reduces federal administrative support for SNAP (3SquaresVT), shifting the federal/state administrative split from roughly 50/50 to 25/75. To prevent disruption in enrollment and preserve Vermont’s low payment error rate, the coalition recommended an immediate state appropriation of $6,300,000 for SNAP administration for the coming fiscal year and planning for $8,400,000 in fiscal 2027 when federal and state fiscal calendars align.

The coalition also requested $5,750,000 to expand capacity for trained benefit assisters who would help Vermonters enroll in and maintain eligibility for both SNAP and Medicaid. Warren said the sum was developed by surveying roughly 15 service-providing organizations and aggregating the staffing and training costs they reported. “A big part of H.R.1 is just what we might call additional paperwork requirements,” Warren said, adding that assisters reduce paperwork-related errors and help eligible people stay enrolled.

Amy Schallenberger, who spoke for coalition partners, said the cohort includes about 15 organizations such as adult day centers, parent-child centers and community action agencies (not food pantries), each of which would train staff for SNAP and Medicaid assistance. “There’s about 15 service providing organizations that participated in really saying, yes, we commit to both SNAP and Medicaid,” she said.

Child nutrition: the coalition asked for $183,000 to the Agency of Education’s child nutrition programs to shore up administrative capacity among fiscal sponsors so more family child care homes can participate in the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and draw down federal reimbursements. Amy clarified that CACFP is separate from the childcare payroll-tax-funded subsidy program and that fiscal sponsors inspect sites and process reimbursements; she named three sponsoring organizations currently covering the state and said two sponsors left in 2024 because of financial strain.

Food-bank and emergency response funding: the coalition requested $2,000,000 to support the Vermont Food Bank’s network of food shelves and meal sites and an additional $1,000,000 to build ‘ready response’ emergency capacity so the food bank can deliver food aid during localized crises, such as water-system outages.

Farm and land supports: the slate included several agriculture-focused asks. The coalition requested full funding for Vermonters Feeding Vermonters (a $1,500,000 BAA ask for the remainder of FY26 and $2,000,000 for FY27), $500,000 to fully fund NOFA Vermont’s Crop Cash/Crop Cash Plus and FarmShare programs, and a $20,000,000 request to seed a longer-term Farm Security Fund intended to help farms adapt to changing weather realities. On the Working Lands Enterprise Fund, the coalition backed an increase of base funding to $1,500,000 and a supplemental $3,500,000 for FY27 to clear backlogs and meet demand; Jake Atlero noted historical demand data, saying the average gap between funds requested and awarded over the last four fiscal years is about $3,400,000.

Land Access and Opportunity Board: Warren asked the committee to fund the Land Access and Opportunity Board’s FY27 operations and to support reinstating $1,000,000 in the Budget Adjustment Act for the board’s grant programs; she said the governor’s recommendation includes reinstatement of that BAA amount.

Process and next steps: presenters provided that many of the figures were derived from provider cost estimates, sponsor-identified administrative needs, and historical award/request gaps; coalition members offered to return with more detailed briefings and distribution estimates. Committee members asked about preserving Vermont’s low SNAP payment error rate and whether up-front investments could avoid higher downstream costs, and presenters said they would supply additional detail on implementation and funding mechanisms.

The presentation concluded with coalition background: the Food Security Roadmap was released in 2024, the coalition’s membership has formalized over two years, and working groups meet regularly during the legislative session. The committee thanked presenters and indicated the items would be considered as part of ongoing budget work.