Editorâs Note: The second of two articles focusing on food and agriculture in Vermont.
BENNINGTON â Drawing on centuries of Black wisdom and hard-earned experience, two leaders of the SUSU CommUNITY Farm recently presented an online keynote on âcreative strategies for food liberation in Vermont.â
âWe draw from and we learn from the wisdom of our ancestors while also at the same time planting seeds for the future generations,â said Amber Arnold, co-steward and co-executive director. âThat is the work that we center as we move on this journey to food liberation and land liberation in Vermont.â
The Bennington Local Food Summit was a day-long video conference held on May 15, held as part of Bennington Collegeâs three-year grant from the Mellon Foundation to address food insecurity in Bennington County
About Food Insecurity in Bennington County
Food insecurity–an inability to access enough healthy food to meet basic needs because of financial constraints–is a serious problem across the state of Vermont, and has only worsened in light of COVID-19.
The National Food Access and Covid Research Team (NFACT) reports that 29% of respondent households in Vermont were classified as food insecure at some point between March and September 2020. More than 2/3 (69%) of these households were persistently food insecure (both food insecure before COVID-19 and since the start of the pandemic). Households with greater odds of being food insecure during this timeframe include households without a college degree, households with children, and households with a job loss or disruption during the pandemic (2.4 times greater odds) 38.7% of households with a job disruption experienced food insecurity compared to 20.6% of households without a job disruption. Nearly 50% of Vermonters experienced job
About Food Insecurity in Bennington County
Food insecurity–an inability to access enough healthy food to meet basic needs because of financial constraints–is a serious problem across the state of Vermont, and has only worsened in light of Covid-19.
The National Food Access and Covid Research Team (NFACT) reports that 29% of respondent households in Vermont were classified as food insecure at some point between March and September 2020. More than 2/3 (69%) of these households were persistently food insecure (both food insecure before COVID-19 and since the start of the pandemic). Households with greater odds of being food insecure during this timeframe include households without a college degree, households with children, and households with a job loss or disruption during the pandemic (2.4 times greater odds) 38.7% of households with a job disruption experienced food insecurity compared to 20.6% of households without a job disruption. Nearly 50% of Vermonters experienced job