Troy Headrick

What do you believe is the role of state government, if any, in ensuring that everyone living in Vermont has the food they need to thrive?

State government has an affirmative obligation to ensure that everyone living in Vermont can eat with dignity. Cutting food assistance does not make hunger disappear. Federal dollars may disappear; our obligation to one another does not disappear with them.

When the federal shutdown threatened 3SquaresVT benefits, Vermont was right to use state resources to preserve benefits and provide additional support to the Vermont Foodbank. That emergency response should guide us as deeper federal SNAP cuts take effect.

The State must protect access to 3SquaresVT, maintain universal school meals, fund emergency food providers, and connect public nutrition spending to Vermont farmers. We must also address the conditions that produce hunger, including inadequate wages and the costs of housing, healthcare, and childcare. Food security is a public responsibility and a policy choice.

What would be your policy priorities to move Vermont toward food security for all?

My first priority is defending universal school meals and protecting 3SquaresVT as federal cuts place more Vermonters at risk. Vermont should be prepared to backfill critical gaps while making enrollment simple and free from stigma.

We also need sustained funding for Crop Cash, Farm Share, and Vermonters Feeding Vermonters. These programs accomplish two goals at once: families gain access to nourishing local food and farmers gain reliable markets. Public institutions, schools, and correctional facilities should purchase more Vermont-grown food whenever feasible.

Finally, food security requires viable farms. I support the Farm & Forestry Operations Security Special Fund, expanded technical assistance, processing and distribution infrastructure, land-access and succession support, climate-resilience investments, and fair conditions for farmworkers. We should measure every food policy by two questions: can Vermonters afford to eat well, and can the people producing that food afford to keep farming?

What do you believe are the root causes of hunger, and what should the state do to address those underlying factors?

Hunger is economic insecurity. It grows when wages fail to cover housing, healthcare, childcare, utilities, and transportation, leaving food as the only flexible expense. It is intensified by disability, racism, rural isolation, unstable work, and barriers that make public benefits difficult or humiliating to access.

The State should raise wages, strengthen collective bargaining and worker protections, expand affordable housing and childcare, move toward universal healthcare, and invest in reliable public transportation and energy assistance. We must also protect 3SquaresVT, simplify enrollment, eliminate unnecessary work-reporting barriers, and adequately fund community food providers.

Worker power is food-security policy. A person working full time should not need an emergency food shelf to survive. Addressing hunger requires both immediate nutrition assistance and an economy in which every Vermonter has enough income and security to meet basic needs with dignity.

How would you help strengthen the state’s agriculture and food economy to ensure Vermont farms can continue to grow the food we all need?

Farm viability should be treated as essential public infrastructure. Vermont must create reliable markets by expanding institutional purchasing of Vermont food and sustaining programs such as Crop Cash, Farm Share, and Vermonters Feeding Vermonters. We should invest in regional processing, storage, distribution, and slaughter capacity so more of the value created by Vermont farms remains here.

Land policy must help beginning farmers gain access, support farm succession, and keep conserved farmland actively farmed. The Farm & Forestry Operations Security Special Fund and climate-resilience grants should protect producers from disasters and volatile markets. Farmers should also be compensated for measurable soil, water, and climate benefits they provide.

Labor shortages require better wages, housing, healthcare, childcare, and strong protections for migrant farmworkers. Vermont cannot expect farms to remain viable while ignoring whether the people who own and work them can afford to stay.