Yes Farms, Yes Food
A Beacon of Hope for Local Food Access
You’ve seen the bumper sticker: “No Farms, No Food” or perhaps its positive inverse: “Yes Farms, Yes Food.” Both are reminders—or maybe warnings—pasted onto the back of any number of Subarus and pick-up trucks around New England gesturing to the connection between working farms and the food we eat every day. It's an important message (our members certainly drive with bumpers adorned), and while memorable in its simplicity, it begs some questions. What kind of farms? And where? Food for whom, exactly?
For better or worse, our current national policies around food and agriculture provide plenty of answers. Take the farm bill, for example. Passed about every five years, this massive package of legislation funds the vast majority of agricultural and nutrition programs in this country. It sets policy dictating which farmers and what kinds of farms get government support, and carves out who is (and who is not) eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other forms of food assistance.
In farm bill discourse, food production and food access are too often treated as two opposite poles—never the twain shall meet—or simply as bargaining chips to force Democrats and Republicans to come to the table. Our government often invests in SNAP benefits at the cost of divesting from sustainable farming supports. These efforts could instead be seen as two sides of the same coin. SNAP benefits, which are proven to help lift people out of poverty and give folks critical access to nutrition, could also bolster local economies and support farm viability, clean drinking water, healthy soil, and climate stabilization if our national policies also prioritized the existence of local organic farms.
This short-sighted thinking continues in the farm bill proposal recently introduced by House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson, which divests from both food security and climate-smart farming practices. (Editors’ note: The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition [NSAC] has excellent and comprehensive analyses of both the House and Senate Farm Bills, examining both packages’ approaches to food, farm, and conservation policy and funding. See the NSAC Blog for the full complement of context and analysis.) The House Farm Bill proposes what amounts to a $30 billion cut in SNAP funding and undermines critical support for organic farmers and others seeking to adopt climate-friendly practices. These policies reveal disdain toward people needing food assistance and antagonism toward farmers concerned about anything beyond their short-term yields.
In a stark, though welcome, contrast, the Senate Agriculture Committee, led by Chair Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, and including Vermont’s own Senator Peter Welch, also recently released their version of the Farm Bill. The Senate version includes many provisions that importantly would support organic and small diversified farms. It would protect and increase funding for conservation practices that support climate change mitigation and resilience (such as organic farming), improve and expand nutrition assistance, and include direct support for farm workers and other food system workers.
Customers pick up local, organic food at People’s Farm Stand in Burlington, Vermont. Photo courtesy of NOFA-VT.
We’re seeing synergies between farming and food access closer to home here in Vermont, as well; our Vermont state legislators have recently set a powerful example of how we can do things differently. By appropriating $300,000 to NOFA-VT’s local food access programs, Crop Cash and Farm Share, our policymakers have demonstrated that they understand it is possible (and even popular) to make policy choices that keep people fed while investing in local, organic farms. These programs are a win-win, subsidizing the cost of locally grown food either by partially covering the cost of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership or by giving people extra cash to buy fruits and vegetables when they spend their SNAP benefits at farmers markets, resulting in income for local farmers. Equivalent programs are making big, tangible impacts around the region, and we are finally seeing new state-level funding and support. With $1.2 million in new funding for Maine Harvest Bucks and a proposed $20 million contribution to the Massachusetts Healthy Incentive Program, policymakers across New England are dedicating new levels of support to similar intersecting and impactful nutrition and farm viability efforts.
Our collective food security depends on a viable agricultural sector. Public investment in programs like Crop Cash and Farm Share puts locally grown food within reach for neighbors and community members with limited incomes, allowing them to buy food that aligns with their values while directly reinvesting in their own community. It helps farmers reach more customers and ensures they are paid a fair price for their products. It brings in federal dollars that so often leave the state through multi-national chain grocers, instead circulating them in our local economy.
“Our government often invests in SNAP benefits at the cost of divesting from sustainable farming supports. These efforts could instead be seen as two sides of the same coin.”
This effort to expand local food access programs is just one piece of the puzzle in the broader strategy outlined in Food Security in Vermont: Roadmap to 2035, a new report authored by NOFA-VT, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, and a number of other food access and equity advocates around the state. The roadmap presents perhaps the clearest articulation yet of how the State of Vermont can make policy choices that ensure food security for everyone who lives here, and lays out an achievable timeline for reaching that reality. Developed and informed by community members from all walks of life, the roadmap lays out a framework giving voice to what Vermonters already know: Investing in our farmers is an investment in our future. This report has set the stage for future policy efforts to be grounded within a collaborative strategy toward ending hunger, and we’re excited to see what new initiatives emerge moving forward.
As we celebrate this legislative victory and our step toward food security, it’s clear that the State of Vermont has clarified the bumper sticker slogan: Yes to our local, ecological farms, and yes to food for all people. By keeping this momentum and sticking to our values, maybe better federal and state policy for our food system is truly possible.
Maddie Kempner is the Policy Director at the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT). NOFA-VT advocates for public policy that supports a just, sustainable food system at the state and national level.