Agency seeks law change to let Vermont Farm to School program contract technical service providers

Abby Butler, representing the Agency of Agriculture, told the Agriculture Committee on Feb. 6 that a technical correction to housekeeping bill S.323 would permit the Vermont Farm to School and Early Childhood Program to enter contracts with technical service providers in addition to issuing competitive grants.

Butler said the change would allow the program to “contract with those technical service providers” to gain more control over timelines, deliverables and pay rates while maintaining competitive grants for schools. “We don't currently have language in the Farm to School Act to provide contracts,” she said, adding that contracting would be used selectively for targeted trainings, statewide promotional materials and capacity-building work.

The proposal follows a program overview in which Butler said that since 2007 the program has awarded more than 350 competitive grants totaling nearly $3 million and has reached about 121,000 students across roughly 163 schools and early childhood settings. She offered the committee an impact report and invited Gina Clipperow, the program manager, to provide a longer presentation if members wanted further detail.

Butler described examples of activities that contracting could support: the Northeast Farm to School Institute, which brings school teams together for coaching and technical assistance; statewide materials such as the Harvest of the Month promotions; and a potential coordinator position housed through partner organizations to manage network activities. “We would love to be able to, as the agency of agriculture, contract with some of those awardees to cover some of their costs,” she said.

Committee members pressed on funding. An unnamed senator read recent application and award figures for the program — including a request of roughly $1.6 million with $283,000 awarded in one round, and a smaller request of $167,000 with $110,000 awarded — and asked whether contracting would require additional money beyond current allocations. Butler said the governor’s recommended base allocation for the program is $500,000 and that the program is commonly oversubscribed; she explained that a prior one-time $500,000 state appropriation was used after about $1.2 million in expected federal funds were pulled late by a federal administration change.

Butler said the proposed statutory language would give the agency flexibility to assess demand in grant cycles and, if appropriate, use existing allocation and staffing to support contracting for statewide priorities. She explicitly told the committee the agency was not requesting a new position to implement contracting authority.

No formal vote or adoption of statutory language was recorded in this segment; Butler offered to return with a fuller presentation and materials for committee members who requested them. The committee recessed for a short break at the end of the discussion.