Vermont intends to use its Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement allocation to support school food authorities (SFA’s) in purchasing local food from Vermont’s network of non-profit food hubs. Vermont’s non-profit food hubs work collaboratively to aggregate locally grown and produced products from Vermont producers and distribute those products throughout the state and region. Combined, these food hubs source from over 150 Vermont farms and food businesses and currently sell to 130 of Vermont’s 391 schools. This opportunity will help the food hubs both strengthen existing relationships and foster new ones with Vermont schools who have yet to utilize food hubs.
LFS funds will be divided equally among Vermont SFA’s using a formula based on student enrollment. Each SFA will be paired with a food hub in their region and the value of their LFS allotment will be provided to them in the form of credit at their assigned food hub. Food hub sales staff will work with each SFA to help them navigate the procurement process, ensuring each school can easily utilize their allotted funds and can readily identify those products produced by socially disadvantaged farmers. Food hubs, which have the ability to source identify all the products they carry, will provide detailed reporting demonstrating the impact of LFS funds on the producers they support, including how many socially disadvantaged producers benefit and how many small businesses