State looks to prisons to support local food movement

Vermont Public Radio reports that in 2007, "lawmakers directed the Agency of Agriculture to review food-buying practices at state institutions." In response, the Agency appointed Helen Labun Jordan to "focus on the state's buying practices" and to "produce a report on the potential connections between agricultural producers, state government, and state institutions, such as the State Hospital, prisons, and the Veterans' Home." The report identified "barriers to acquiring local food" and determined that Vermont's nine correctional facilities could be "a potential market for Vermont farmers and food processors and state-sponsored farm-to-table initiatives." According to Jordan, "Correctional facilities are the primary place where Vermont government directly purchases food" and these facilities offer a "whole new frontier for the types of markets farmers can sell to." The St. Albans' Northwest Correctional facility serves as "a good example." The facility receives dairy products from the St. Albans Cooperative Creamery and "has a four-and-a-half acre garden that supplies up to 40,000 pounds of produce, half going to the local food shelf." Now the State is "exploring new routes to buy locally grown food": They are looking into creating more vegetable gardens on prison property and adding local food to prison menus.

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