The Farm Bill is a comprehensive piece of legislation that authorizes most federal policies governing food and agriculture programs. Every five years, Congress reauthorizes the Farm Bill, which offers policy makers an opportunity to review the programs included in the legislation, consider programmatic changes, and address barriers that may have come up since the previous reauthorization.

The current Farm Bill was authorized in 2018, which means reauthorization should occur in 2023. However, Congress passed a one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill because there wasn’t enough time to fully reauthorize the entire package.

The Farm Bill is broken down into 12 different titles, each title encompassing broad categories that address different programs (FRAC Primer). We are focused on Title 4, the Nutrition Title, which authorizes many federal nutrition programs. Which nutrition programs under Title 4 are relevant to Vermont?

• SNAP (3SquaresVT) - Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known in Vermont as 3SquaresVT.

• SNAP-ED - Nutrition & physical activity education for SNAP-eligible people.

• TEFAP - The Emergency Food Assistance Program - Food provided by USDA to state distributing agencies for low income people (in Vermont, that’s the Vermont Foodbank).

• CSFP - Commodity Supplemental Food Program - Provides boxes of food to people over age 60 who meet income guidelines.

• Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program - Supports the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers markets and stands for income-eligible older adults. This includes Farm to Family Coupons, and NOFA-VT’s Senior Farmshare.

• FINI / GUSNIP - Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentives - Supports the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers markets and grocery stores for SNAP participants; includes NOFA-VT’s Crop Cash Program.

• FFVP - Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program - Provides funds to schools with higher numbers of low income students to serve fresh fruits and vegetables for snacks during the school day.

• Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program - Administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and complements federal farm-to-school grants to increase the capacity for food, garden, and nutrition education programs.

• HFFI - Healthy Food Financing Initiative - Public-private partnership that provides grants, tax credits, low-cost loans, and technical assistance to help increase access to healthy, affordable foods in low-income and underserved communities. Applications of HFFI funding include investments in new grocery stores, corner stores, farmers markets, and other retail outlets offering nutritious foods.

The 2023 VT Farm Bill Nutrition Coalition is made up of food security organizations across the state as well as legal advocacy organizations, farmers and growers, food retailers, school partners and parent-child centers, and many more.

The Coalition is directly informed by the lived and living expertise of hundreds of people across the state. Their priorities and experiences shaped the final priority recommendations.

Vermont Farm Bill Nutrition Coalition Steering Committee Members:

• Vermont Associations of Area Agencies on Aging

• Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO)

• Vermont Center for Independent Living

• Vermont Foodbank

• NOFA-VT

• Hunger Free Vermont

Vermont Farm Bill Nutrition Coalition Members:

• Brandon Area Food Shelf/Brandon Senior Citizens Center

• Champlain Islands Farmers' Market

• Delicious Dirt Farm & Apothecary

• Green Mountain Self-Advocates: A Disability Rights Organization

• Lamoille Community Food Share

• Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op

• Milton Family Community Center

• New Tradition Farm

• Northeast Kingdom Community Action

• Roxbury Food Shelf

• Vermont Legal Aid

Farm Bill Reauthorization is an opportunity for Vermont advocates to share their voices with Congress and inform policy change.

The Coalition works closely with Vermont’s Congressional Delegation to inform key legislation as part of the Farm Bill reauthorization process.

Read our recommendations here!

These recommendations were informed by more than 450 community members and service providers across the state, as well as anti-hunger and legal advocacy organizations, farmers and growers, food retailers, school partners and parent-child centers, and many more.

We all have priorities of our own when it comes to improving programs that support us, our neighbors, families, friends, farmers, growers, and the broader economy. These recommendations summarize a set of key priorities that we all share, and that we are calling on Senator Sanders, Senator Welch, and Congresswoman Balint to prioritize in their negotiations this year.

From June 2022-January 2023, the Steering Committee met biweekly to coordinate the Coalition’s process for establishing priority Nutrition Title recommendations.

From October-November 2022, people across Vermont participated in a Community Survey to gather feedback on the federal programs in the Nutrition Title that support people in Vermont. The purpose of the Community Survey was to ensure the voices of those with experience using federal nutrition programs–as participants and as service providers–were centered in the final recommendations.

From November-December 2022, findings from the survey were synthesized in a report–you may read the executive summary here. From the common themes, the Steering Committee drafted an initial set of priority recommendations.

In January 2023, the Steering Committee convened a broad Coalition to help finalize the recommendations, and held a Learning Session for partners to learn more about the survey findings, our draft recommendations, and next steps. You may access the recording here (Passcode: 4^^q0Xy2). Partners provided feedback on our draft recommendations.

In February 2023, a final set of recommendations were shared with VT’s Congressional Delegation, alongside the list of hundreds of community supporters.

Throughout 2023, we've worked closely with Senators Sanders and Welch, and Congresswoman Balint, on efforts to turn the policy recommendations into bills in the hope that Congress would reauthorize the Farm Bill and do so with strong and protected nutrition programs.

Congress had until October 1, 2023 to reauthorize the Farm Bill, but there wasn't enough time to do so. Instead, Congress passed a one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill, which ensures that the nutrition programs so many of us depend on are funded through September 2024.

We wish Congress had been able to pass a robust Farm Bill on time, but we knew this would be a long road. Please continue down this road with us as we take this extra year to double down on our policy priorities and build momentum to strengthen, protect, and improve nutrition programs.