Sign up for our newsletter for updates about all things farm to school: professional learning, stories, resources, and advocacy opportunities. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Vermont FEED provides network and advocacy leadership, educational resources, and professional development to an evolving farm to school movement — involving hundreds of school communities and producers across the country — in order to increase equitable access to local, nourishing food and strengthen food, farm and nutrition education.
Our vision is to engage every student and community in a local food and farm culture that nurtures child health, cultivates viable farms, and builds vibrant communities.
Our Work
We cultivate links between the 3Cs— classrooms, cafeterias, and communities — in the following ways:
Professional Learning & Technical Assistance
The heart of our work is providing professional learning, training, and coaching opportunities for educators, child nutrition professionals, early childhood providers, farmers, administrators, and community partners working to build strong farm to school programs. We offer workshops, courses, and direct technical assistance.
Our foundational program is the Farm to School Institute, a unique year-long professional development model that supports school communities in developing robust, long-lasting, and integrated farm to school programs that address whole-school change. Our Institute model is now expanding nationwide, as we support states across the country in adapting this Vermont-born strategy, in order to impact more students.
Tools & Resources
We are continually using evaluative research to develop tools, resources, and evidence-based best practices in the areas of food systems curriculum, values-based local purchasing, and action planning to support whole-school change.
Movement Building & Advocacy
We advocate for supportive policies and resources on the state, regional, and national level, that help to embed and sustain farm to school programming in schools and early childhood programs.
We coordinate the Vermont Farm to School & Early Childhood Network and the Vermont Farm to Early Childhood Coalition to facilitate local connections, foster local engagement, and work to increase farm to school initiatives in the state. We coordinate and serve as the lead for the Northeast Farm to School Collaborative to build a strong farm to school movement and to strengthen our collective impact across the region. We host regional and national Communities of Practice for farm to school leaders to learn from—and with—each other.
in food justice and equity. In a sustainable and just food system, everyone has access to culturally appropriate, nutritious, affordable, local foods and the opportunity to produce one's own food.
a nutritious diet impacts student health and success. Students who are well-fed with nutritious foods are more engaged and successful in their learning and supported to reach their full potential.
farm to school and early childhood contributes to a school culture of wellness. Place-based, experiential food, farm, and nutrition education supports students with the knowledge, skills, and values to make healthy choices for themselves, the environment, and their communities.
investing in local, climate friendly agriculture is critical. Sustainable local food systems are essential to the health of the local economy, environment, and communities. Strengthening relationships between local producers and school communities builds long term resilience and agricultural literacy.
in the power of collaboration. School systems change when a diversity of partners — students, educators, farmers, nutrition professionals, school administration, families, and the community — align to invest in creating lasting change, together.
in supporting student voice and agency to make real change in their local food systems.
Today, the project is led by NOFA-VT and the Shelburne Farms Institute for Sustainable Schools, which share over forty years of experience in farm to school, supporting teachers, school nutrition staff, early childhood providers, farmers, administrators, students, and community-based organizations.
Shelburne Farms is an education nonprofit on a mission to inspire and cultivate learning for a sustainable future through its programs, place, and products. We offer transformative learning experiences to help educators, students, and visitors create a more thriving world. Home to the Institute for Sustainable Schools, our historic campus is a 1,400-acre diversified farm located on the homelands of the Winooskik band of the Abenaki.
