Spotlight on Vermont: Investing in Farm to Early Care and Education
Vermont has a rich 25-year history of promoting, investing in, and championing farm to school. Vermont Food Education Every Day was established in 2000 as a partnership project of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont and Shelburne Farms Institute for Sustainable Schools offering network and advocacy leadership, educational resources, and professional development to the evolving movement. In 2006, the Rozo McLaughlin Farm to School Act established the Vermont Farm to School Grants Program and staffing position within the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets. The legislation was updated in 2017 to include early childhood programs in the grants program. The Vermont Local Food Purchasing Incentive for schools was then created 2021, and universal school meals were established through Act 64 in 2023.
Farm to school and early childhood advocates in Vermont had a successful 2025 legislative session, securing $ 500,000 in annual base funding for both the Vermont Farm to School and Early Childhood Grants Program and the Vermont Local Food Purchasing Incentive for schools. In addition, $ 150,000 in one-time funding was allocated for Child and Adult Care Food Program( CACFP) sponsors, with another $ 500,000 earmarked to backfill federal cuts to the Local Food for Schools and Child Care program( VT FTS & EC Network, Policy & Demand Action Team 2025). Additionally, Vermont legislators were able to preserve universal school meals.
This success builds on a strong foundation. The 2017 expansion of the Rozo McLaughlin Farm to School Act has since provided over 160 early childhood programs with grant opportunities, technical assistance, professional development, and networking support from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets.
A pilot project in Vermont’ s Upper Valley region is helping eight early childhood programs improve food access and procurement, regardless of whether they participate in the CACFP. In this rural area bordering New Hampshire, some communities have poverty rates of over 20 percent and limited access to supermarkets. The pilot program aims to test processes that improve food access and integrate nutrition services into early childhood education programs. With technical assistance, the group worked to
› Set up a collective bulk purchasing process to get better prices, access local foods, and arrange for delivery
› Establish shared purchasing values
› Assess the necessary infrastructure for storing and processing food
› Calculate individual programs’ average monthly expenses
› Partner with local food systems, administrative, and fiscal agencies
› Create a collective shopping list and a twice-per-month purchasing schedule
The planning team, which includes nonprofit adult education and technical assistance organizations; community environmental, civic, and economic vitality partners; coordinating early childhood administrative entities; and food cooperatives and distributors, is providing support to early learning programs for all aspects, including vendor selection, ordering, financial processes, and distribution.
After a seven-month planning period, the Upper Valley ECE Food Access Collaborative, composed of the planning team partners and eight early childhood programs, successfully launched its collective food purchasing in March 2025. By June 30, 2025, preliminary reports indicated that the collaborative had spent over $ 18,000 on infrastructure and equipment and $ 11,000 on food purchases.
This initiative leveraged $ 31,000 in grants and philanthropic support along with nearly 200 hours of in-kind support from community partners( report in preparation). This funding and support allowed the collaborative to refine their processes and work toward long-term sustainability.
Initial benefits identified by the early learning programs include
› Reduced staff time and travel spent on grocery shopping
› Direct food delivery to their locations
› Stronger collaborative partnerships and community relationships
› Improved access to local foods and the equipment needed to prepare them
Even though the Farm to School Vision Grant is scheduled to end on December 31, 2025, the collaborative and its partners are committed to sustaining the project.
64 Young Children
Winter 2025