Food is Medicine in Vermont: An Unmet Needs Analysis Using a Value-Based Medicine Lens
Executive Summary
This report summarizes key findings from a cross-sector review of Vermont’s Food is Medicine (FIM) landscape, with the primary objective of identifying unmet needs across clinical, community, and food settings. Through stakeholder engagement with clinicians, support staff, community health workers (CHWs), registered dietitians (RD), and food system providers, shared priorities, unmet needs, barriers and potential solutions were revealed.
Despite differing scopes of practice, all groups demonstrated a common commitment to improving health outcomes through food-based interventions that are culturally relevant, patient-centered, and rooted in Vermont’s values of community, humility, and local connection. Stakeholders highlighted the growing demand for sustainable, integrated FIM programming—but expressed concern over fragmented funding, limited infrastructure, and a lack of standardized workflows to support long-term success.
The “Vermonter Way”—a deeply held preference for locally driven solutions—emerged as a guiding principle across sectors. This report outlines both the opportunities and structural challenges facing FIM in Vermont, and proposes a foundation for coordinated, community-informed strategies moving forward.
