[{"_1":2,"_87":-5,"_88":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":56,"_74":56},"mediaId",6373342,"mediaKeyId","2145994-5faa77f1cdb5a425a9fee1462792878e","parentId",2145994,"title","State outlines BGAP flood-recovery awards, monitoring and set‑asides for agriculture","audioSeconds",1890,"startMs",45925,"endMs",1935985,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2145994-5faa77f1cdb5a425a9fee1462792878e&start=45&end=1935","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2145994-5faa77f1cdb5a425a9fee1462792878e/thumbnail_45925.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6373342/Vermont/State-outlines-BGAP-flood-recovery-awards-monitoring-and-setasides-for-agriculture","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6373342-7a31187e0b0916b496ce1ef29c5ab001/orig.mp4?Expires=1775311390&Signature=LXHkdwzJVhQcwUzGX0zGY3ulAcpWob5VoUq5-JagWosOkRfAffReFg5Q0YI2SIiHIXrodK9CUmOS-MJ0TG2ut8jiy0bjfAkpQCUQcjN80nC~navpgQyS6Xct6eMqQs6EvezttweIazJMDNeslpdrla-23wdaWV9CwvnZbyd9fnnCA77RHU1iKHwQqPELSqHkJSN2-9dH8ObvhErfWYJpjm09wdbWH6HSOAAcE8QAsNBSFituLrqUQTq~jaUZUclP5nG-qI1OkSti~pDaioBpgToKXOYMhDg2Ki9dxmhfFGSZBMQi3l35lV9O8YBjDknH35ceW1-JdpVbGO9YvDZQvg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","","date","2025-01-24T03:32:35Z","article","Brett Long, deputy commissioner of the Vermont Department of Economic Development, told the Agriculture Committee on Thursday, Jan. 23 that the Business Emergency Gap Assistance Program, known as BGAP, was created to get recovery funds quickly to businesses and nonprofits damaged by flooding.

\"So yes, I'm here to talk about the business emergency gap assistance program, which is really kind of 3 programs wrapped into 1,\" Long said, describing BGAP’s structure and who is eligible.

The BGAP program began as a flood-recovery fund and has been run in separate rounds. Long told the committee BGAP 1.0 started with a roughly $20,000,000 appropriation plus about $436,000 from license-plate and other proceeds, for a total near $20,436,000. BGAP 1.0 awarded about 560 grants to 538 businesses, with an average award near $33,000; applicants self-classified industries and about 134 awards were identified as agriculture.

Why it matters: the program directs federal and state resources to businesses and farms that suffered physical flood damage — not to business interruption — and includes explicit set‑asides for agricultural operations and BIPOC awardees in later rounds. That affects how recovery dollars flow to rural communities and farm operations hit by recent storms.

How the program works and who qualified

Long said awards are paid against “net uncovered damage.” Applicants submitted repair or relocation estimates and disclosed other assistance such as insurance or crowdfunding; BGAP subtracts those amounts from damage estimates to calculate a net uncovered damage figure and applies the program’s percentage to that number.

Eligibility is limited to businesses and nonprofits that experienced physical flood damage. Long emphasized the program does not cover revenue loss from customers being unable to reach a business. Nonprofits were eligible only if they were ineligible for FEMA assistance. Municipalities and individual homeowners were not eligible.

BGAP 2.0 and recent award totals

Long described BGAP 2.0 as having multiple appropriations. One appropriation of $5,000,000 addressed remaining 2023 damage, and a separate appropriation totaling $7,000,000 targeted 2024 flood damage. For the 2023 “new damage” bucket, the department had made 41 awards totaling just under $1,000,000 (average roughly $22,000) and had moved toward pro rata supplemental awards for applicants who sought additional funds.

For 2024 damage, Long said the department had issued about 140 awards totaling roughly $3.7 million. Awards in those rounds were generally set at 30% of net uncovered damages; for 2023 awards the cap was $50,000, while later awards could reach up to $100,000. One appropriation included a 40% set‑aside for agricultural businesses and a 10% set‑aside for BIPOC awardees.

\"In this program we awarded 30% of net uncovered damages up to $50,000,\" Long said when describing one tranche, and later noted higher caps for other awards.

Program delivery, reconciliation and monitoring

Long told the committee BGAP pays awards on estimates so funds get out quickly, and the agency is now collecting documentation to reconcile spending and verify use. That process has produced returned funds in several ways: some recipients later received larger-than-expected insurance payments and returned excess BGAP awards; others sold properties or decided not to complete repairs and returned leftover funds; and monitoring is still identifying applicants who cannot substantiate their use of funds.

Long also described administrative constraints: awards are made per physical location; applicants with multiple properties may be eligible for awards on up to three locations. He said processing times vary \"as quick as a few days, as long as a few months,\" largely because applicants sometimes do not submit all required documentation promptly.

Role of agriculture agency and local technical assistance

Nicole Dubuque, chief operating officer at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, told the committee the agency reviewed applications that self‑identified as agricultural and assigned them to staff with farm familiarity for a closer review.

\"We essentially deployed multiple staff within the Agency of Agriculture to work on this effort,\" Dubuque said, describing how applications routed through the ACCD portal were assigned to agriculture reviewers and field staff who helped spread the word.

Long also said the department had carved out some funding to support regional development corporations to provide technical assistance to applicants. He said the regional developer in Washington County helped applicants through the portal, a step that some applicants needed to complete an application.

Outstanding questions and next steps

Committee members pressed on whether awards had been used for mitigation as well as repair. Long said monitoring is still early and that the agency could not yet specify how much spending went to mitigation versus cleanup; he said the department expects clearer data in the coming months.

Long said the department is discussing whether a standing disaster recovery program should be created, but said no final decision had been made.

Speakers: Brett Long, deputy commissioner, Vermont Department of Economic Development; Nicole Dubuque, chief operating officer, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets; Mary Montour, Agency of Agriculture staff reviewer; Meeting chair (name not specified), Agriculture Committee.

Ending: Committee members asked for follow‑up on county and farm-level details including counts of dairy applicants and whether award funds were being invested in mitigation steps. Long and agency staff said they would return with more specific monitoring results and applicant-level breakdowns on request.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Senate Agriculture 2025-01-23 9:00 AM","oneSentenceSummary","Brett Long, deputy commissioner of the Vermont Department of Economic Development, told the Agriculture Committee on Thursday, Jan. 23 that the Business Emergency Gap Assistance Program, known as BGAP, was created to get recovery funds quickly to businesses and nonprofits damaged by flooding.","taxTitle","Agriculture, SENATE, Committees, Legislative , Vermont","taxId",35161,"location","Vermont","headline","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":56,"_74":56},6373337,"Vermont dairy update: fewer farms but stable production; Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center expands processor and farm grants",2296,1891159,4188045,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2145994-5faa77f1cdb5a425a9fee1462792878e&start=1891&end=4188","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2145994-5faa77f1cdb5a425a9fee1462792878e/thumbnail_1891159.jpg","/articles/6373337/Vermont/Vermont-dairy-update-fewer-farms-but-stable-production-Northeast-Dairy-Business-Innovation-Center-expands-processor-and-farm-grants","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6373337-7b66279897a37ea450de31793d50a77f/orig.mp4?Expires=1775311390&Signature=niqj9cQ7vc8p8DOjw4OW2AAsyjJWLU6KPC0y0C~JzfhbdB7DA7~NEcuV-eOdOE0kFTNeP01L2YFJGiLYfDWCzs3vwL9jfYCsq1oLB8itjtLBChw9ZySnSRa2F-LgGx~dL1szHDM4gNDngL6aA2ISETFtZW9uqM5h~hoq3HPMYTOCZRHDpdsbk0a~Wz-e84-19xkbKYWjveJqHr2n5gifwkm6m1EuDlOvtRK~0NnC-P4EBWU3zW2SWHX~aAYewO4BGnA~ojzsu2rNiETEAUqjZh5AcTxLRdEzSnqI0QOaH5FZl71t~kJ5HpOr2wNsuONntPOzsssQWzJBZMYm-X6ZyQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Laura Ginsberg, dairy strategy and innovation manager at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, told the Agriculture Committee on Thursday, Jan. 23 that Vermont has fewer dairy farms than a decade ago but that milk production has been relatively stable and the number of processors is increasing.

\"Vermont is the most reliant on a single commodity more so than any other state, and that is dairy,\" Ginsberg said, describing the economic centrality of dairy to Vermont agriculture and the statewide economy.

Ginsberg provided county and species breakdowns for December 2024 and said some apparent month‑to‑month losses were data cleanup rather than actual farm closures. She said Addison and Franklin counties remain the largest dairy-producing counties and that Vermont processes a substantial share of its milk but still ships much product out of state because local demand is smaller than production.

Key statistics and trends

Ginsberg said the state has seen a long-term decline in the number of dairy farms while average herd size per remaining farm has increased. She noted organic farms are steady in number (around 200) and account for roughly 5.5% of Vermont cow-milk volume while comprising a higher share of total farms than most states.

She described processors as a growth area: the number of dairy processors in Vermont has increased over the past decade, including small on-farm processors. Ginsberg said processor growth helps keep more value-added revenue in state and cited examples of recent investments in automation and equipment.

Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center investments

Ginsberg also described the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (a USDA-funded regional center hosted at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture) and its recent investments in farms and processors. She said the center has received about $53 million in USDA funding to date and was awarded $19 million in 2021 for a targeted program after a regional processing disruption.

\"So far we've awarded 367 projects with $33,800,000 worth of funds,\" Ginsberg said when summarizing the center's grant activity across the region; she said the program has reviewed more than 1,000 applications and that the average grant is roughly $92,000.

Ginsberg highlighted several Vermont grant recipients: Cabot received support to automate packaging lines for cracker-cut cheese and double capacity; Maplebrook Farm in Bennington received funds to increase processing efficiency and reduce energy use; and Larson Farm in Wells received a grant to modernize yogurt filling and increase output. She said marketing and rebranding grants have produced measurable sales gains for participating processors.

Workforce and technical assistance

Ginsberg said the center also funds technical-assistance cohorts that lead to on-farm changes and subsequent grant readiness. She described a workforce investment program to expand training and reduce barriers for Spanish-speaking employees and other groups, and she noted pilot projects on technology such as virtual fencing and manure handling spreaders.

Questions from committee members focused on acreage changes, the decline in small farms and whether production shifts reflect pasture loss or conversions to other crops. Ginsberg deferred some specific acreage questions to Farm to Plate (which produced the underlying slide), saying that organization could better explain the land-use figures. She emphasized that Vermont produces far more milk than it consumes and that expanding processor capacity and market access remains a priority.

Speakers: Laura Ginsberg, dairy strategy and innovation manager, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets; Nicole Dubuque, chief operating officer, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets; meeting committee members (names not specified) who asked questions.

Ending: Ginsberg invited follow-up questions and offered to return with further details. Committee members thanked her for the presentation and said the information would inform committee planning and priorities around workforce, processing capacity and farm supports.","Laura Ginsberg of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture told the committee on Jan. 23 that Vermont continues to produce more milk than its residents consume despite a decline in farm numbers; the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center has awarded grants across the region to support processors, farm modernization and workforce initiatives.","actionData","errors"]

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State outlines BGAP flood-recovery awards, monitoring and set‑asides for agriculture

Vermont dairy update: fewer farms but stable production; Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center expands processor and farm grants