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Vermont clinics and farms push ‘Food Is Medicine’ programs, urge sustainable funding
Summary
Providers, farmers and program coordinators told a legislative committee on Jan. 28 that Vermont’s "Food Is Medicine" initiatives improve diet-related health outcomes, create reliable markets for farms and save money — but are held back by patchwork funding. Advocates urged development of lasting reimbursement mechanisms.
Tina Zook, government relations director, opened the session on Jan. 28 by framing "Food Is Medicine" as a clinical approach in which health-care providers prescribe fresh, locally grown food to help prevent, manage and treat chronic conditions.
"These efforts result in benefits not only to the patients but also to communities and to farm economies," she said, citing research that modeled savings when medically tailored nutrition is provided at scale.
Advocates and practitioners from across Vermont described how different local models — produce-prescription shares, clinic-based food pharmacies and winter pharmacy programs — plug directly into patient care while creating steady demand for farms. Grace Borach of the Vermont Youth Conservation Board described the HealthCare Share program, now in its 14th season, which provides CSA-style shares plus recipes and cooking classes for patients across several counties. Borach said programs purchased more than 405,000 (units) of food from 39 farms in 2024, a 162%…
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