Gov. Peter Shumlin speaking on Thursday. VTD/Finnian Coleman Galloway-Kane
Gov. Peter Shumlin wants to shift the school food commodity paradigm. Shumlin announced on Thursday that he will ask the federal government to give schools “vouchers,” or direct funding, in exchange for stockpiled USDA commodity products.
Shumlin held a press conference yesterday in Montpelier to announce that he will ask the U.S. Department of Agriculture to give Vermont a waiver to bypass the school food commodity program and use the money that would otherwise be spent on frozen foodstuffs and other USDA stockpiled products on food purchases. The waiver, he said, “wouldn’t cost a dollar more” and would enable Vermont schools to buy food from local farmers. Shumlin said he had not yet spoken to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack about the proposal.
About 20 percent of the food used by schools comes from USDA commodities. The food is valued at about $2 million.
One in five children in Vermont go hungry on a daily basis. Advocates say children who are “food insecure” rely on school breakfasts and lunches as a primary source of sustenance. The commodities program does not include fresh fruits and vegetables, which are fundamental to a nutritious diet.
“We are launching an effort to end childhood hunger in Vermont,” Shumlin said. “Twenty five thousand Vermont children don’t have enough to eat in the Green Mountain state, and no one is more committed than my team to ensure that every child has a meal.”
The governor billed the localvore initiative as a three-for. Shumlin said a voucher program would ensure that Vermont children have access to more nutritious fresh food; it would boost Vermont’s growing non-dairy farming sector; and it would reduce food transportation miles and consequently lower climate change impacts.
Shumlin is taking his localvore message to the National Governors Association meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, this weekend where he hopes to persuade other governors to press the USDA for more flexibility in the school food commodity program.
Hunger advocates lauded the governor’s voucher initiative. John Sayles, executive director of the Vermont Food Bank, told reporters that too many children “have gone to bed hungry, woken up hungry, and gone to school hungry.”
“Hunger is increasing in Vermont and across the country there’s no reason for that, there’s plenty of food and plenty of money,” Sayles said. “The only thing we don’t have is the will to bring the pieces together and feed people.”
Sayles challenged Shumlin to tell governors across the country that hunger in America must be addressed. “I want to see ignoring hunger as politically dangerous,” Sayles said.
Anore Horton, a child nutrition advocacy manager for the nonprofit Hunger Free Vermont, told reporters that school food service programs are struggling financially “because federal meal reimbursements have not kept pace with the rising costs of food and fuel.”
“Providing the option of cash or vouchers will allow our schools greater flexibility in what they serve, how much to buy and when to buy it,” Horton said.
Most importantly, the proposal, she said, would improve the quality of food made available to Vermont children who depend on school meals.
Permalink |
This is such great news! Governor Shumlin hasn’t stopped moving, acting, making things happen since he took office. This plan is brilliant, and if successful will directly affect our children in a positive way. The USDA commodities currently served to children in our schools contribute to the cycle of obesity, ignorance about real nutrition, and ill health in the poor. Localvores celebrate!
Permalink |
Governor Shumlin has identified a real problem with the National School Lunch Program’s commodities purchases, and I encourage his creative exploration of alternatives.
The overall school lunch program has been a long-term success, but the commodities portion has not always supported good nutrition and has often been subject to political manipulation favoring large producers over small, local ones. Here is something I posted earlier on another site:
“When I was with Jim Jeffords in the House, I saw the distorting influence of politics in something as mundane as the National School Lunch Program. There, subsidies were given to school districts in order to ensure that healthful school food programs existed, particularly for kids from economically disadvantaged families. …. Yet, commodities were also given to schools under the system, and I saw in the House Education and Labor Committee, which had jurisdiction, how certain Members of Congress would vie to have a home-grown foodstuff added to the program, thereby increasing demand for the product and ensuring a transfer of wealth from the taxpayers to the favored commodities’ producers.
Jeffords’ first successful legislative amendment was affectionately called “the hot dog amendment.” We learned that the Feds had rules that effectively eliminated small producers in Vermont from selling to Vermont schools. Hot dogs, love ‘em or hate ‘em, was one category. The late John McKenzie came to us and told us how crazy this was. Long story short: Jim Jeffords crafted an amendment that got the Feds out of supplying hot dogs from wherever, and the result was that local producers in Vermont, like John McKenzie, had a chance to compete directly for the schools’ lunch market.”
A cautionary note, however: Many of those who dislike federal programs, particularly those that benefit folks who have financial needs, often propose making them into block grants, which over time have less identity, can be badly manipulated, lose funding and then disappear. I would hate to have this happen to the National School Lunch Program. Therefore, a voucher program for commodity purchases, which I think could benefit Vermonters, must be carefully constructed and monitored so that it does not become abused and then fade away. So, kudos, Gov. Shumlin, but careful!
Permalink |
It would be a very happy day in my school kitchen if I could use cash vouchers to purchase locally grown products rather than taking donated foods we may not necessarily need or want. The purchase of local foods is important to me because the quality is superior compared to the donated foods and supports our local economy. I am so delighted that Gov. Shumlin is pushing for this!
Permalink |
End the USDA commodity stockpiles and see your dairy farmers go out of business! Governemnt needs to get out of the system of handing out everything to everyone. I doubt 25,000 kids in VT are starving. They may be hungry, but that is the parent’s problem, not the taxpayers.