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Agency of Education says Local Foods Incentive is growing; grant requests exceed $500,000 appropriation, prompting proration and audits
Summary
Agency of Education staff told the Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry committee that participation in the Local Foods Incentive has increased (14 SFAs reached 15% local purchasing; Wyndham Northeast hit 31%), but demand exceeded the program’s $500,000 appropriation for the first time. The agency will prorate awards (roughly 90% expected) and is conducting audits of applicants.
The Agency of Education told the House Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry committee that Vermont’s Local Foods Incentive (LFI) is producing measurable increases in school-local purchasing but that this year’s grant requests exceeded the $500,000 annual appropriation, triggering proration and a sample audit of applicants.
Rosie Krueger, state director of Child Nutrition Programs, introduced Connor Floyd, the agency’s grant programs manager, who walked the committee through the report. Floyd described two grant tracks: a baseline-year grant for first-time school food authorities (SFAs) and subsequent-year grants available to SFAs that meet local-purchasing thresholds. Subsequent-year tiers pay 15¢ per lunch at 15% local purchasing, 20¢ at 20% and 25¢ at 25%; awards are scaled by prior-year meal counts and typically fall in a $15,000–$40,000 range.
"We had 14 school food authorities hit 15% this year," Floyd said.…
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