When I reported a feature on Vermont’s national “firsts” and “onlys” 20 years ago, the state’s agriculture secretary had just flown to Cuba to promote a plan to sell Vermont apples and powdered milk. Some public utilities were already using methane from cow manure to make power. Vermont was the first state to require labels on genetically modified food and the last to let in Walmart. Its culture is not monolithic. But there’s a thick braid of independence and interdependence up in the Green Mountain State. Stephanie Hanes and Riley Robinson today explore how that’s showing up in a push to secure a truly local food system at a moment when the global supply chain for food merits extra attention.