(Host) More Vermonters have turned to food stamps to help them make ends meet.

And at the same time, the price for that food has risen faster than it has in 30 years.

A report from the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger says that 56,000 people signed up for food stamps in March.

That's the most people enrolled in the program in Vermont since 1994.

Joanne Heidkamp is program director at the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, which helps families seek benefits.

(Heidkamp) "Now what we're seeing is people at the margins have been slammed with increases in some of their key needs, increases that are going up much faster than their paychecks are. So now they're looking into a benefit that they were always eligible for but they could manage without it.'' 

(Host) Advocates say many families don't like to sign up for government benefits. So as many as a third of the people who qualify for food stamps never apply.

Representative Robert Dostis says many of them now have no other choice.

(Dostis) "With rising fuel costs and food costs, families are being put in the position to use what little discretionary money they have for food to cover those other expenses: a roof over their head, and gas for their cars and heating their homes.''

(Host) Vermont Agriculture Secretary Roger Allbee says a number of factors have driven the price increases, including higher fuel costs.

(Allbee) "The last time we've had a major spike in food prices like this was in the early ‘70s when we had the energy issue, again a spike in oil prices. So a percentage increase we're seeing today has not been for the last 30 years or so.''

(Host) Allbee also says the federal government needs to stop subsidizing corn for ethanol because that's driving food prices.