[{"_1":2,"_98":-5,"_99":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_25":26},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5},"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","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_27":28,"_29":30},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[31,74,86],{"_32":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":55,"_73":55},"mediaId",6377296,"mediaKeyId","2139170-5777332418347b9eae2b19992248c1b2","parentId",2139170,"title","Census data show majority of Vermont farms reported net losses and a serious succession challenge","audioSeconds",135,"startMs",2805000,"endMs",2940000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2139170-5777332418347b9eae2b19992248c1b2&start=2805&end=2940","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2139170-5777332418347b9eae2b19992248c1b2/thumbnail_2805000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6377296/Vermont/Census-data-show-majority-of-Vermont-farms-reported-net-losses-and-a-serious-succession-challenge","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6377296-d2d1bd84fb5c497657d5d30bcc9b58b9/orig.mp4?Expires=1770140426&Signature=ZT6jO5YPdkFaWLSzkm0a2pgbR8ms3xTwJh~6r~~TExi4NoJcG~dh9o4NWEmVg2w4aLHFTvVPE8PzHgxkwnuIatdjF6knUVox4CY4wtYlmHiw31JyaK1dgVRayw9OmHYOxEIk92UwTOh~3sKDgTgC1ah1tuWHuj1ZqpFFWmtMC8v5hB-cY9uD0XJA0639bfLv8akdnhV-cerk7~NTQ6ms4E8dug9fXCDJa6wdhEZGEixMU3m0aPQmyJ6kf7JuAjfIe8WEq9Ua5IZr0WT66xuQzZ-CU90eKoSzHcG4Pqs98WjRmXDomCEIsMuGTXBvQeYJyiXTUMcBj~0omly-eomeDg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","","date","2025-01-22T18:08:21Z","article","Jake Claro, Farm to Plate director at the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, told the committee that 57% of farms reported net losses in the latest census year while 43% reported gains. “There was a time in 1997 where more farms were reporting that they had net gains than net losses. But since that point in time, the numbers have crossed over and now we have more farms, 57% in the last census year that reported that they had net losses,” Claro said.

The presentation showed farm size and sales strongly correlate with profitability: average farm size in Vermont is about 180 acres, and farms below approximately 140 acres tended to report negative net income on average. The slides cited a commonly used breakpoint where farms reporting more than $25,000 in annual sales are more likely to report positive net income; approximately 2,000 farms met that $25,000 threshold.

Why it matters: the data highlight a long-term question about who can make a living farming in Vermont, the degree to which farms need off-farm income and where targeted technical assistance or financing could improve viability and succession outcomes.

Presenters also flagged farmland values and demographics as additional pressures. The value of farmland per acre was shown to have increased roughly 59% since 2010, which presenters and committee members said raises entry barriers for new and beginning farmers. The average reported operator age was nearly 58 years and nearly two-thirds of producers are over age 55, creating near-term succession concerns.

Claro and other commenters emphasized the distribution of net income: a small share of farms account for most positive net income. The presentation said farms with $1,000,000 or more in sales account for roughly two-thirds of total net farm income while 26% of farms account for the overall positive net income total of about $310 million in 2022.

Speakers noted data limitations: census classifications, owner-draw reporting and unpaid family labor complicate interpretation. Committee members asked whether off-farm income, home-scale production, and unreported backyard food production are captured; presenters said those categories are not fully represented in the census and that USDA counts as a “farm” any operation with $1,000 or more in potential sales.

Ending: presenters recommended focusing technical assistance and business support on farms near the $25,000 sales threshold and on succession planning for older operators to preserve productive farmland and minimize disruption to supply chains.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","House Agriculture – 2025-01-22 – 1:00PM","oneSentenceSummary","Agency presenters said 57% of farms reported net losses in the most recent census, average operator age is nearly 58, farmland values have risen and about 2,000 farms meet a $25,000-sales viability threshold.","taxTitle","Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Committees, Legislative , Vermont","taxId",36721,"location","Vermont","headline","shortSummary",{"_32":75,"_34":35,"_36":37,"_38":76,"_40":77,"_42":78,"_44":79,"_46":80,"_48":81,"_50":82,"_52":83,"_54":55,"_56":57,"_58":84,"_60":61,"_62":63,"_64":85,"_66":67,"_68":69,"_70":71,"_72":55,"_73":55},6377301,"Presenters estimate $165 million processing shortfall; labor and financing named as main bottlenecks",320,2441000,2761000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2139170-5777332418347b9eae2b19992248c1b2&start=2441&end=2761","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2139170-5777332418347b9eae2b19992248c1b2/thumbnail_2441000.jpg","/articles/6377301/Vermont/Presenters-estimate-165-million-processing-shortfall-labor-and-financing-named-as-main-bottlenecks","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6377301-252712ef2073ca4db9cfd56b6a4fb847/orig.mp4?Expires=1770140426&Signature=WdTNd3LuEd7x~MS8s3CLFTJUPgCXpyZd~TMTSRGr4QDGKETprW50V0Z0PXXWWiQO5X2IvtH7Rfn3r0ptJ115vjFi33GSVtH9r9GDBLFhCu6l~bQONZb-Dvl~-~EoOEZKjDorCi147s3uDvg9cHGJP8IA1M57BKfq4O0XxSNiCG-L-Ak4oP7GdIt8IXgAv9D0Hh~D3hPfltBfXVG~8M~Aqc1zBIJbSjhCplDhkff43aBz5jupdk60lABTg2gxpFjStBdK9eJqqM6MBRaK6DP2FPREpOZf9p5li0LH-lWM-sjb-0T3WDgr7ZhESCSucL3ISVzjjLNE5G-A5VbzrrbQNw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Jake Claro, Farm to Plate director at the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, told the committee the agency and a consultant estimated three-year infrastructure investment needs concentrated in processing, storage and distribution. “For the processing, you know, we're looking at potentially $165,000,000 of need, and storage and distribution at 13,600,000,” Claro said.

The analysis presented broke estimates down by industry: livestock (about $60,000,000), dairy (about $53,000,000 for certain value-added facilities), produce (about $46,000,000), grain infrastructure ($15,000,000) and permanent-crop needs such as tree nuts and some berry infrastructure. The presenter cautioned those figures are conservative and do not capture all capital needs in the supply chain.

Why it matters: the numbers offer an order-of-magnitude estimate for policymakers considering targeted grants, loan programs or other incentives to stimulate private investment.

Presenters described two consistent barriers cited in processor surveys: labor and funding. “Labor has shown up consistently…they could double throughput, their capacity, they could add an additional…shift of workers if they're available,” Claro said. He added funding is also a recurring constraint because a lot of processing equipment is sized and priced for much larger facilities.

The production-to-processing gap was linked directly to program recommendations: the Future of Ag Commission used similar estimates to recommend $20 million for meat, maple and produce infrastructure. Abby (role/title not specified) noted internal demand for grant programs exceeded available allocations. “The full economic development request within fiscal year 24 was a 108,000,000. The demand just in the meat, maple and produce infrastructure was 44,000,000,” she said.

Officials discussed regulatory changes that affect market access. Claro explained Cooperative Interstate Shipment (CIS) agreements allow some state-inspected meat facilities to sell across state lines when the state’s inspection program meets federal standards; the presentation noted growth in CIS participation among Vermont processors.

Panelists also flagged gaps in small-scale and aggregation infrastructure — for example, larger wash/pack facilities for produce (each potentially $1–3.5 million) that would allow more small farms to aggregate, lightly process and access wholesale markets.

Ending: presenters recommended combining seed grant funding with anticipated private investment — an 80/20 mix used in planning assumptions — but said state funding alone would reach only part of the estimated need and that a broader funding strategy will be required.","Agency presenters told the committee processing, storage and distribution shortfalls — especially for meat, maple and produce — total in the low hundreds of millions and that labor and capital are the primary constraints.",{"_32":87,"_34":35,"_36":37,"_38":88,"_40":89,"_42":90,"_44":91,"_46":92,"_48":93,"_50":94,"_52":95,"_54":55,"_56":57,"_58":96,"_60":61,"_62":63,"_64":97,"_66":67,"_68":69,"_70":71,"_72":55,"_73":55},6377306,"Vermont food system produced about $11.5 billion in 2022; dairy remains dominant",1087,193000,1280000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2139170-5777332418347b9eae2b19992248c1b2&start=193&end=1280","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2139170-5777332418347b9eae2b19992248c1b2/thumbnail_193000.jpg","/articles/6377306/Vermont/Vermont-food-system-produced-about-115-billion-in-2022-dairy-remains-dominant","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6377306-cbe03f901f03c9719e0eb49cf9f914fc/orig.mp4?Expires=1770140426&Signature=oCmhJoo3jek1RUNFPwyIuhDuIZNqyiJdg5zKzNQosNGP1AN65Jg1YXyNHUCvLFlsFyT52Uz9vRULABmq1ySovnc2J4~5ANruMQdW0-1Sd3d2b10G~kWZEyr5VlAo~Luc~6~mTF7Hr4m6m3xbUL~O2Pu22l3-XpWBjWj33Lhg8QWa5OqbqK05O3uqq5nQaMM-KJreCZekkiZCZHavfaaAclvAGdnGFJOmLeorFWa2q1ulOB88lbLgMX~8Xc0cVPQ-xRnXcQpjvL4gcxzvylmqYzhJMUJRfjfVgcRpJcyix68Y1-Lm-Rf4JepkV7ubpAo2pCwGqxpiqPXwA-Pb7T9qhA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Jake Claro, Farm to Plate director at the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, told the Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry session that the 2022 data show the food system generated roughly $11.5 billion in economic output across production, processing, distribution and retail. “This gives you a sense of the breakdown of, you know, $11,500,000,000 of economic output that’s happening across the food system in Vermont,” Claro said.

The presentation said production and processing account for about $4.3 billion of that total; farm-gate sales were listed at roughly $1 billion and food manufacturing at about $3 billion. Wholesaling activities were reported near $3.6 billion, with retail and food service contributing a further roughly $3.5 billion. The data presenter cautioned some manufacturing subcategories remain suppressed in the public dataset.

Why it matters: the numbers show the food and agriculture sector’s large footprint in Vermont’s economy, the continued prominence of dairy and the rise of certain non-dairy sectors that may warrant targeted support.

The slides showed employment resilience: more than 63,000 people are employed in food-system jobs, a 9.4% increase since 2009 and an 8.4% increase in the last three years. Claro noted a roughly 10% employment drop between 2019 and 2020 tied to COVID-19, with retail accounting for 90% of the pandemic-related losses. “Employment in the food system is pretty resilient,” he said.

Sector breakdowns in the presentation showed about one-third of food-system employment is in farm operators and hired farm labor, 12% in food manufacturing and 4% in distribution. County-level farm-gate sales were concentrated in Addison, Franklin, Orleans, Orange and Chittenden counties, though the presenter said every county had seen sales increases from 2012 to 2022.

The commodity picture remains heavily weighted toward milk: dairy represented roughly 60% of farm-gate sales in the 2022 census. Maple syrup crossed $100 million in farm-gate sales in 2022 and saw an increase of about $54 million from 2017 to 2022, while vegetable sales grew about 70% and poultry-and-egg sales nearly doubled over that same interval.

Abby (role/title not specified) highlighted the diversification in the state’s production and noted the farm-count and business-count trends: farms are a plurality of establishments but have declined nearly 11% since 2012, with dairy accounting for roughly half of that drop. She also said the state’s 444 dairy farms recently lost more than 20 farms in a single month, underscoring ongoing churn in the sector.

The presentation also flagged limitations in available data. Claro said some beef-processing figures were suppressed in the census release and that changes in classification (for example, how veterinary services are counted) affect comparisons across years.

Ending: the presenter described this session as the first of two parts and said the material is intended to provide a data foundation for continued policy conversations about where to target programs, investments and technical assistance.","A Farm to Plate overview presented economic census and industry data showing $11.5 billion in food-system output, employment resilience after COVID and the dominant role of dairy in farm-gate sales.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Census data show majority of Vermont farms reported net losses and a serious succession challenge

Presenters estimate $165 million processing shortfall; labor and financing named as main bottlenecks

Vermont food system produced about $11.5 billion in 2022; dairy remains dominant