Vermonters Making A Difference

Vermont’s continuing hunger gap

By on • ( 9 Comments )
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Emergency measures during the pandemic temporarily alleviated symptoms but did not address root causes, leading to a rebound in need once supports ended.

by Compass Vermont

In the summer of 2025, the Vermont Foodbank announced layoffs affecting about 10% of its workforce, citing a structural budget shortfall amid dwindling federal support.

Compass Vermont is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This scenario encapsulates a broader paradox in Vermont: while emergency funding from the COVID-19 era has largely evaporated, food insecurity rates have persisted at elevated levels or even climbed higher.

According to data from Hunger Free Vermont and the University of Vermont (UVM), approximately 40% of Vermonters experienced some form of food insecurity in 2023 and 2024, a figure that has not declined significantly since the pandemic’s peak. This article explores why demand for food aid in the state has remained stubbornly high post-COVID, driven by economic pressures, policy shifts, and local crises, even as funding sources have dried up.

The Data: No Return to Pre-Pandemic Norms

Food insecurity, as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), refers to households lacking consistent access to enough nutritious food due to limited resources. In Vermont, rates surged during the 2020-2021 height of the pandemic but failed to recede afterward, according to annual USDA household surveys and more granular local assessments.

National trends mirror this, with rates rising from 10.5% in 2021 to 13.5% in 2023, but Vermont’s rural and economic profile has amplified the issue, per reports from Feeding America and state advocates.The following table summarizes key trends, drawing from USDA data, UVM studies, and Hunger Free Vermont briefings:

Why Demand Increased: Unpacking the Drivers

The failure of food insecurity to decline post-COVID stems from a confluence of factors that built on pandemic disruptions rather than resolving with them. As explained in a 2023 UVM study, emergency measures during the crisis temporarily alleviated symptoms but did not address root causes, leading to a rebound in need once supports ended.

Inflation’s Persistent Bite

Food prices have risen by about 25-30% nationally since 2019, but in Vermont, this inflation has been compounded by higher baseline costs for groceries, energy, and heating in a rural state. According to the Economic Policy Institute and local analyses from Hunger Free Vermont, wage growth has lagged behind these increases, leaving 40% of adults struggling to afford basics and forcing trade-offs like skipping meals to pay rent.

The Benefits Cliff: Loss of Temporary Supports

The phase-out of expanded programs like enhanced Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, child tax credits, and unemployment extensions in 2022-2023 created an abrupt “cliff” for many households. In Vermont, this resulted in average monthly losses of around $100 per household, contributing to a 30% uptick in reported hardships, as detailed in UVM surveys and USDA follow-ups. Nationally, this policy shift drove much of the 2.3% increase in insecurity rates from 2021 to 2023, per federal reports.

Systemic Inequities and Rural Challenges

Underlying issues such as unaffordable housing (with rents up 30% post-2020), childcare shortages, and racial disparities have worsened. Hunger Free Vermont reports that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities face rates up to 10 times higher than white households, while rural Vermonters contend with limited transportation and fewer food access points—factors that elevate insecurity by 10-15% compared to urban areas, according to state and national studies.

Vermont’s Local Crises: Flooding and Agricultural Disruptions

Consecutive floods in July 2023 and 2024 devastated farms, destroying crops worth $16 million in 2023 and $5 million in 2024, and affecting over 27,000 acres statewide. These events created “newly food insecure” populations by disrupting local supply chains and personal access, as documented in reports from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and emergency response teams. Initiatives like Vermont Emergency Eats provided temporary meals to thousands, but long-term recovery has kept demand elevated.

The Funding Vanishes: A Perfect Storm of Cuts

While demand endured, funding plummeted as pandemic-era boosts expired by 2023, followed by targeted reductions in 2024-2025. The Vermont Foodbank’s recent layoffs stem directly from this, as federal grants that supported staff expansion during COVID were not renewed. Key cuts include a 20% reduction in SNAP allocations, potentially costing Vermont $7-33 million annually and affecting thousands of households, according to state budget analyses. USDA grants for local food programs were slashed by $498,000, and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) deliveries dropped by 12 truckloads (about 375,000 pounds of food), per agency announcements. Flat-funding under continuing resolutions has acted as an effective cut amid inflation, forcing nonprofits like the Foodbank to streamline operations without new resources.

Bridging the Gap

Vermont’s persistent hunger crisis underscores the need for renewed policy focus, such as reinstating expanded federal supports or investing in local agriculture resilience, as advocated by groups like Hunger Free Vermont. For families like those displaced by floods or squeezed by rising costs, the mismatch between high demand and vanishing funds means greater reliance on strained community networks. As Sayles told Vermont Public, adapting to this “new normal” is essential, but without broader interventions, the gap may widen further.

Discover more from Vermont Daily Chronicle

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Categories: Vermonters Making A Difference

9 replies »

  1. So let me get this straight:
    “Food prices have risen by about 25-30% nationally since 2019, but in Vermont, this inflation has been compounded by higher baseline costs for groceries, energy, and heating in a rural state. According to the Economic Policy Institute and local analyses from Hunger Free Vermont, wage growth has lagged behind these increases, leaving 40% of adults struggling to afford basics…”

    Wage growth has lagged. And policy makers are advocating for INCREASING the labor pool via immigration? I must be too stupid to understand how increasing the supply of labor will address insufficient wages and consequent food insecurity in the state (and the country).

    • No Tyler, you are not stupid. The state is completely fiscally and legislatively mismanaged. Our leadership doesn’t care about liveable wages or bringing more good paying jobs to Vermont. Neither of these objectives are on their mind.

    • Exactly! What are the salaries for the people at the top of these organizations? If we weren’t a Sanctuary State and more than likely feeding people in our Country illegally I’m sure things would be better!

  2. This isn’t just about floods or expired federal programs, it’s about Montpelier’s failure to create a Vermont where people can afford to live and eat without depending on emergency handouts.

    Yes, back-to-back floods were devastating. Yes, pandemic-era programs eventually had to wind down. But what has the state done to build resilience, lower costs, or foster actual self-sufficiency since? Very little.

    We keep hearing about food insecurity, emergency meals, and funding shortfalls, as if those are the disease. They’re not. They’re symptoms of a state government that has lost touch with its people. While rural families struggle to put food on the table, Montpelier’s answer has been to pile on new taxes and mandates and a relentless stream of rules that make heating your home, growing your own food, or running a small business feel like regulatory warfare.

    Instead of addressing our out-of-control property taxes, rising energy costs, or regulatory strangleholds on local agriculture and small businesses, we get more press releases about “emergency meals” and “nonprofit layoffs.” That’s triage, not leadership.

    And what’s been offered in exchange? No economic development plan. No serious rural investment strategy. No incentive to grow, build, or innovate, just more dependency and more top-down control.

    If Montpelier spent half as much time empowering Vermonters as it does preserving its pet programs, maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with.

    Vermonters are tired of the dependency model. We need policies that make it possible for families to grow food, find housing, and pay their bills without navigating a maze of state-sanctioned “help.” That means reining in bureaucratic bloat, cutting unnecessary mandates, and incentivizing true local economic growth, not waiting for the next federal grant to drop from the sky.

    Gone is the Vermont where you could heat with wood, grow your own vegetables, and live on your land without being punished for it. Instead, we’re handed “emergency meal programs” while the state makes it more expensive to drive to work, till your land, or build a greenhouse.

    The cost of living in Vermont has exploded, not because of floods or federal cuts, but because of Montpelier’s refusal to rein in spending, reduce taxes, or cut the red tape strangling everyday life. Food insecurity is just the latest consequence of policies that discourage productivity and punish self-reliance.

    Vermonters don’t need more handouts. We need our independence back.

    • And, our liberal governor will drag in a few hundred Haitian asylum seekers bringing the third world into our world. The same guy and his LT. who voted for Kamala H. and Biden before that. If that doesn’t demonstrate the poorest of judgement what will. Our AG is suing everyone out side of the state while crime soars and drugs flood the state. Everything is wrong, regulations are killing us. Try to get your vehicle inspected after they drove 300 inspection stations out of business. The roads in disrepair and the salt brine splashed on the roads destroy our vehicles and the costs are staggering. I think you get my point. What are the voters voting for, misery and financial ruin. Thank a Vermont voter for the crappy life in Vermont and your children that can hardly read, do math or know anything about almost anything except the trash on their dumb phones.

    • The flood from last year in Montpelier could have been avoided if our legislature had implemented the FEMA flood emergency response plan. The State expected heavy rain and intentionally did not update specific infrastructure to mitigate the issue. A state auditor reported on the States noncompliance with the extreme weather plan

  3. And in the midst of this, the food waste I see happening at the housing of the illegal Mexican farmworkers is astounding. They have all been plugged into a food shelf delivery program where every week they are given multiple boxes of free food including non perishables and also a whole box of produce. Most of the produce items are things they typically dont consume in their diet or don’t recognize (i.e. microgreens, arugula, kale, etc) so the produce boxes just rot out on the front porch. The non perishable boxes contain canned goods they don’t use and things like mac and cheese which is also not something they consume. All of these boxes also pile up and go to waste. I have seen kitchens where an entire wall is just filled with stacked up boxes full of unused food.
    I am sure this is well-intended, however, these workers are netting $750 ish a week while not paying any rent, electricity, heat, trash removal, wi fi or cable- the farmers foot those bills. This is a true misappropriation of resources that could be getting directed towards people who are truly in need.

  4. We have had a large influx of non working migrants in need of food. the lines at food shelves in urban areas of vermont have doubled. Feeding chittenden in burlington cannot keep up with the demand. You wait in that long line and they are out of food most times by 12 noon. The people are grabbing the food as soon as they bring it out, it’s like a free for all in there. Handicapped seniors that don’t drive take 2 or 3 buses to get there, stand in that long line only to get two or 3 things. Its not just about having more food, it’s about fair and proper distribution.