Vermont advocates urge $500,000 level funding for Farm to School and Local Foods Incentive

Advocates, students, school food directors and local producers asked the state’s Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry on Friday to restore and hold steady funding for two programs that channel Vermont-grown food into school cafeterias.

Kayla, the farm-to-institution program director at the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, told the committee the Farm to School and Early Childhood Grants program and the Local Foods Incentive together help schools build procurement capacity and keep food dollars in-state. "We are here today to ask for level funding of two critical programs in FY '27, the Farm to School and Early Childhood Grants program and the Local Foods Incentive, both at $500,000," she said. She added that the programs help connect classroom learning, cafeteria meals and community food systems, and noted local purchasing in schools had grown from about 5% to 14% statewide over the past decade.

The network’s request comes as Vermont continues five years of universal school…