Intervale Food Hub Offers Free CSAs to Vermonters With Barriers to Accessing Fruits and Vegetables

During the summer growing season, our friends at the Intervale Center's Intervale Food Hub in Burlington offer free CSA shares to area residents whose income is below 200% of the federal poverty level, or who are receiving 3SquaresVT or WIC benefits. Vegetables for the shares are gleaned or donated from area farms. This past summer, 50 participants received the shares. 

In addition to visiting the pick-up sites to offer recipe suggestions and taste tests, Hunger Free Vermont also  helps administer a pre- and post- survey of the program and analyze the results. From the results, we found that although every household that completed the survey for the free CSA share was on a federal food or financial assistance program, and 62% were on more than one, shareholders still reported cost as the most common barrier preventing them from eating more fruits and vegetables. In fact, over half the households don’t eat fresh produce on a daily basis. This is especially concerning because 67% of households reported having at least one child.  Transportation was also a problem in getting fresh fruits and vegetables for a quarter of shareholders. 

Shareholders are enthusiastic about wanting to get more fresh produce. When asked to write in suggestions for future shares, 14 participants wrote that they like all kinds of fruits and vegetables. All told, shareholders requested 40 different varieties of produce, including okra, beets, cauliflower, mushrooms, and artichokes. Shareholders also want more nutrition information. They reported that having increased knowledge of how to cook with fruits and vegetables would help them to include more in their diet, and that more recipe cards using vegetables from their share would benefit them.  

There is a demand for education and cooking classes across all income levels and we work to integrate nutrition education into school and child care curriculum throughout the state. We also offer The Learning Kitchen program which has taught over 7,000 Vermonters how to shop for and prepare nutrition meals on a small budget. With 1 in 8 Vermonters suffering from food insecurity, resources like the Intervale's CSA program are crucial to helping Vermonters access more fresh produce to feed themselves and their families.