The Vermont Food Security Coalition
We are on the road to food security in Vermont
Vermont has the tools, knowledge, and resources to ensure that every person living here has sufficient, safe, and nutritious food every day.
We are working together to secure our food supply in a changing climate, address the social inequities that perpetuate poverty and hunger, and ensure that everyone in Vermont has access to abundant, culturally responsive food, with dignity.
The time to act is now. Join us!
Our shared goal is that all Vermonters will be food secure by 2035. Every Vermonter will have physical, financial, and social access to food that meets their needs, and supports their active and healthy life.
Creating food security for people in Vermont involves all aspects of daily life that influence our ability to eat nutritious, desirable food.
Food security will include reliable transportation, thriving farms, nearby grocers, stable homes with functional kitchens, and foods that meet our physical needs. It will include safety where we shop, language access, and foods that meet our dietary and cultural preferences. It will include a Vermont where everyone can meet all their basic human needs, and where food fits easily into our budgets.
Our Coalition
The Vermont Food Security Coalition launched in 2024. We are deeply integrated into one another’s work, aligning on our common goals to take collective action.
The Vermont Food Security Coalition is fully committed to all the goals, objectives, and strategies of the Vermont Food Security Roadmap to 2035, which you can explore below. The Roadmap shows us how to ensure everyone Vermont has the food they need. It provides shared action strategies to create food security. The strategies spring from statewide community feedback and expertise, and represent a mix of approaches to reach food security in Vermont. Following the Roadmap together, we take immediate, effective action to relieve food security crises now, and progress toward system changes that will ensure our collective food security in the future.
Everyone has a role to play on the journey to food security. Learn more about becoming a Coalition Ally or Member organization here.
There will be food security in Vermont when
Government ensures food security for all in Vermont
Vermont farms have the resources to be resilient
Communities have the tools to support food security
Our Work
The Vermont Food Security 2026 Policy Slate
The VT Food Security Coalition is asking the Vermont Legislature and Governor to pass the following policy and budget requests in 2026. We welcome people to join us to support these requests, and will support you to take effective action, whether that is writing an email or joining us in the Vermont State House. Contact information is below. (The letters & numbers in paragraphs for each policy request refer to the related strategies in the VT Food Security Roadmap.)
Vermont can Maximize Federal Funding with Strategic State Investments
The July 2025 federal budget reconciliation package marked the largest-ever cut to our nation’s most effective federal nutrition program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), called 3SquaresVT in our state. Vermont must invest to ensure the 3SquaresVT (SNAP) program continues to operate effectively for Vermonters. We are asking the state to
- Appropriate in FY2027 an additional $6.3 million to the Department for Children and Families – Economic Services Division to ensure continued State administration of the SNAP program (3SquaresVT) in response to the changed federal match requirement. (G1)
- Provide robust state funding in FY2027 to service-providing organizations to expand capacity for benefit assisters to keep eligible people on federal benefit programs such as SNAP and Medicaid. (G1)
We are also asking the state to appropriate in FY2027 $182,000 to the Agency of Education Child Nutrition Programs for the sponsor organizations of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) as an incentive to participate as a sponsor of the CACFP for Family Child Care Home providers. (G5.3)
Get involved and support the above requests by contacting Autumn Moen at Hunger Free Vermont.
Fund the Land Access & Opportunity Board (LAOB)
The LAOB has statutory powers and duties for improving land and housing access among historically marginalized or disadvantaged communities. We are asking the state to fund the Land Access and Opportunity Board in FY2027 for their operational costs and provide program funding for the Homes For All Grant Fund, Homes for All Developer Community of Practice, Secure Housing Coaches Program, Community Disaster Readiness Grants, Advisory Powers Work Groups and Collaborative Planning Initiatives and Community Governance Capacity Building Mini-Grants. Operational: $1,680,530 total base appropriation. Programs: $1,541,792 one-time appropriation. (A2.2, A2.3, A4.1, A4.2, A4.3, A4.4, C1.1, C2.1, G4.4, G6.2, G6.3, G8.5)
Support Local Food Security, Vermont Farms, and Food Producers
The State of Vermont can make policy choices that support neighbors with the food they need today, as well as ensuring our farmers can profit from growing the food we all need every day. We are asking the Legislature to
- Fully fund the Vermonters Feeding Vermonters local food purchase program in FY2026 with $1.5 million through the Budget Adjustment Act. (A1.3, C3, G5.2,)
- Appropriate $500,000 in FY2027 to NOFA Vermont to support the Crop Cash, Crop Cash Plus, and Farm Share programs. (C3)
- Appropriate $5 million in FY2027 to the Vermont Foodbank to: (A1.3, , C3, G4.3, G5.1, G5.2)
- Fully fund the Vermonters Feeding Vermonters Program ($2 million)
- Support Vermont Foodbank network food shelves and meal sites ($2 million)
- Support Ready Response for food access in emergencies ($1 million)
- Enact S.60, the Farm & Forestry Operations Security Special Fund bill. (A1.2)
- Appropriate $20 million in FY2027 for the Farm & Forestry Operations Security Special Fund. (A1.2)
- Increase base funding in FY2027 for the Working Lands Enterprise Fund from $1 million to $1.5 million. Supplement the Working Lands Enterprise Fund with an additional $3.5 million in one-time funding in FY2027 to address backlog and rising demand. (A3.1, A3.2)
Get involved and support the Vermont Foodbank requests by contacting Carrie Stahler at the VT Foodbank, or vtfoodbank.org/advocacy.
Get involved and support NOFA-VT and the Farm & Forestry Operations Security Special Fund by contacting Jess Hayes Lucas at NOFA-VT.
Get involved and support the Working Lands Enterprise Fund request by contacting Denise Smith at Vermont Council on Rural Development.
Community Connections
Vermont’s ten Food Security Networks (previously known as Hunger Councils), focused on local efforts in regions across the state, are where nonprofit organizations and civic leaders can collaborate to improve food security. To find out more, and get involved in your local Food Security Network, visit Hunger Free Vermont’s website which includes contact information.
Coalition Member Organizations
Explore the Vermont Food Security Roadmap to 2035
Visit the Vermont Food Security: Roadmap to 2035 home page or explore the Roadmap goals and objectives using the links below.
Goal G: Government ensures food security for all in Vermont
| Objective G1 Financial Resources | Objective G2 Accessible Enrollment System | Objective G3 Office of Food & Nutrition Security | Objective G4 Emergency Response |
| Objective G5 Consistent Access to Food | Objective G6 Infrastructure Investment | Objective G7 Transportation Investment | Objective G8 Health Care |
Goal A: Vermont farms have the resources to be resilient
| Objective A1 Financial Support to Farmers | Objective A2 Conservation of Agricultural Lands | Objective A3 Agricultural Supply-Chain Investment | Objective A4 Equitable Farmland Access |
Goal C: Communities have the tools to support food security
| Objective C1 Town Planning | Objective C2 Local Collaboration | Objective C3 Local Food Access |