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Senate Agriculture committee reviews H.484 to fold 'beneficial substances' into fertilizer law
Summary
Committee heard counsel explain H.484, which would expand Vermont’s fertilizer and lime statute to regulate so-called beneficial substances (soil amendments, biostimulants, inoculants), add labeling and registration requirements, and impose registration and tonnage fees; no formal vote was taken.
Michael O'Grady, deputy chief counsel, told the Vermont Senate Committee on Agriculture on Oct. 12 that H.484 would amend the state's fertilizer and lime chapter to add a new regulatory category, "beneficial substances," and extend existing registration, labeling and enforcement authorities to those products.
The change matters because manufacturers would have to register each brand or formulation, include new label information for products containing microorganisms, and pay annual fees and tonnage fees that support the agency’s testing and enforcement program.
O'Grady said the Agency of Agriculture already regulates fertilizer and lime and has handled new product categories on a case-by-case basis. "Currently, the Agency of Agriculture regulates fertilizer and lime products that are sold in the state, and they've been doing that for decades," he said, and H.484 would add a broader, uniform term to capture products such as plant amendments, biostimulants and plant inoculants adopted under the Association…
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