4.1: Food Security in Vermont
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Harvest at Vermont Food Bank farm. Photo: Vermont Food Bank
Hunger (i.e., a painful sensation caused by a lack of food) and food insecurity (i.e., an inability to access enough food to meet basic needs due to financial constraints) are issues of growing concern in this country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service reports that the percentage of food insecure American households increased from 11.9% (over 15 million households) in 1995 to 14.3% (over 17.6 million households) in 2013. The percentage of very low food security households—households where some family members consumed less or eating patterns were disrupted due to limited resources at any time during the previous 12 months—increased from 4.1% (over 4 million households) in 1995 to 5.6% (over 6.8 million households) in 2013.
The percentage of food insecure Vermont households increased from an average of 9.1% (22,000 households) from 1999 to 2001 to an average of 13.2% (34,000 households) from 2011 to 2013.
Strategies for addressing food access generally fall into three categories: (1) supplemental assistance programs (often federally or state funded) to increase the consistency and nutritional quality of meals accessed by vulnerable groups; (2) using the emergency or charitable food system to meet the needs of citizens in crisis by providing food through food shelves and other mechanisms; and (3) community food security projects to focus on building communities’ capacities to feed themselves through job training, food and nutrition education, and infrastructure development.
Leveraging resources to effectively and efficiently reduce food insecurity while continuing to develop Vermont’s food system economy is a formidable—but solvable—task.
Karyl Kent, Lamoille North School District Food Service Director
Photo: Karyl Kent
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Taylor & Jake Mendell, owners of Footprint Farm in Starksboro
Photo: UVM
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Photo: High Meadows Fund
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Photo: Salvation Farms
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Photo: Vermont Foodbank
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Photo: Hunger Free Vermont
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Photo: Green Mountain Farm to School
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Johnson State College Staff at Peaslee’s Potatoes in Guildhall, VT
Photo: NOFA-VT
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Photo: Over the Hill Farm
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Photo: Good Heart Farnstead
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Wellspring Farm
Photo: Corey Hendrickson
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Photo: Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf
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Photo: Rooted in Vermont
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Fall pumpkin harvest
Photo: Land For Good
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Photo: NEK Food System Plan
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Intervale Food Hub delivers fresh produce to UVM.
Photo: Intervale Center
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Photo: Center for an Agricultural Economy
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Healthy and local dining options at UVM Medical Center
Photo: UVM Medical Center
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Photo: Salvation Farms
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Photo: Hunger Free Vermont
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Photo: Vermont Foodbank
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Photo: NOFA VT
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Workers at Black River Meats (Springfield)
Photo: Black River Meats
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Photo: Aires Hill Family Farm
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Photo: GMFTS
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Photo: UVM Extension
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Photo: All Souls Tortilleria
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Photo: Rachel Carter
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Photo: Farm Fund
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Montpelier's farmers' market.
Photo: Rachel Carter
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Photo: CAE.
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Photo: Salvation Farms.
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Photo: Caroline Abels
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Good Food Good Medicine community meal.
Photo: Food Works
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Farms Program class of 2009.
Photo: Intervale Center.
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