FOOD HUB COLLABORATIVE AT THE STATEHOUSE
 

For over a decade, organizations that operate food hubs have been working to strengthen Vermont’s local food systems. These organizations take different approaches to this work but share common goals of increasing the accessibility of local food, distributing local products to strengthen market access and farm vitality for farmers, and strengthening local communities. Since the pandemic these organizations have also responded to emergent crises. This included multiple pandemic response efforts and support to communities and farms after the 2023 and 2024 floods.

Located across Vermont, these organizations have formed a network to further this work in a collaborative manner. This network is known as the Vermont Food Hub Collaborative, and it includes Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE), Green Mountain Farm to School (GMFTS), Intervale Center (IC), Food Connects (FC), Vermont Farmers Food Center (VFFC), and Addison County Relocalization Network (ACORN). The collaborative utilizes infrastructure across the food hubs, many farmers work with multiple food hubs, and food is moved between the hubs. 

In 2019, the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) was reauthorized by the Vermont state legislature to create the Vermont Agriculture and Food System Strategic Plan 2021-2030. The legislature tasked the VSJF with creating an implementation plan with stated goals for the future of agriculture. This spring, representatives from VSJF and the collaborative embarked on two efforts to increase awareness of the work happening to grow local food systems in Vermont.

Green Mountain Farm to School Executive Director, Catherine Cusack, and Representative Richard Nelson during testimony to the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry. (Photo: Kelly Bogle Stokes) 

CAE Executive Director, Jon Ramsay (left), and Vermont Farmers Food Center Executive Director, Heidi Lynch, presenting closing statements to the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry. (Photo: Kelly Bogle Stokes) 

On April 15, all six organizations provided testimony to the Vermont Legislature’s House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry. Appearing jointly with three farmers, the organizations testified on the importance of local food and how their efforts are sustaining the working landscape and strengthening our communities. During this testimony, the organizations highlighted how goals from the strategic plan are being accomplished by the work they are undertaking every day.

Additionally, with support from the UVM Leahy Center for Rural Partnerships, the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund has secured funding to work with the UVM Spatial Analysis Lab to create a mapping tool that analyzes the locations of the hubs, the producers working with all of the hubs, and the movement of food within the network. This project will take nearly a year to complete, but it will provide valuable information and help streamline the movement of food from farms to hubs to markets.

Members of the VT Food Hub Collaborative who provided in-person testimony at the Statehouse on April 15. (Photo: Kelly Bogle Stokes) 

(Left to Right): Jake Claro, Farm to Plate Director, VT Sustainable Jobs Fund; Jon Ramsay, CAE Executive Director; Lindsey Berk, Addison County Relocalization Network (ACORN) Executive Director; Heidi Lynch, Vermont Farmers Food Center Executive Director; and Catherine Cusack, Green Mountain Farm to School Executive Director. 

Click above to view a recording of the full testimony

 FOOD HUB COLLABORATIVE SITE VISITS 
This spring, I reached out to the other five organizations and visited three of them to strengthen the relationships CAE holds with them. These trips included stops at Vermont Farmers Food Center, ACORN, and Food Connects. It was inspiring to see the hard work happening across Vermont that our farms and communities will benefit from as each of the hubs are investing in the future of agriculture. They are creating critical infrastructure that will expand our collaborative efforts and open new opportunities. These conversations also highlighted the need for more investment and resources to fulfill the goals Vermont outlined in the Farm to Plate 2.0 Strategic Plan and underscored the complexity of challenges we are facing with shifting agricultural markets, uncertainties with federal funding and policy, and the impacts of climate change. It is clear Vermont would be a very different place without the work CAE and all the food hubs are doing by taking action and working collaboratively every day.  

With gratitude and in solidarity,

Jon Ramsay