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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 of American Plant Food Control Officials' model language.
The bill replaces several existing categories with the single term "beneficial substance" and adds definitions for plant inoculants and soil inoculants. Under the draft language O'Grady walked through, a beneficial substance is "every substance or compound other than primary, secondary, and plant nutrients, fertilizers, and excluding pesticides that can be demonstrated be beneficial to one or more species of plant, soil or media." The committee heard that the definition is intended to avoid needing repeated statutory updates when new product types reach the market.
Key requirements explained to the committee included annual registration for each brand or formula, an $85-per-product yearly registration fee under the current draft, and a set of labeling requirements that would apply to beneficial substances. For products that contain microorganisms, labels must list genus and species, include an expiration date and provide storage instructions, O'Grady said. He also said the agency may require efficacy data to support claims not already described in APPCO guidance.
The bill also retains and clarifies enforcement tools: inspection and sampling authority, the ability to detain or withdraw adulterated or misbranded products, administrative penalties, and cancellation of product registrations. O'Grady described adulteration broadly to include ingredients harmful to humans, animals, soil or water.
Committee members asked how testing would be handled. O'Grady said manufacturers would provide composition data as part of registration and that the agency could sample and test products; when the agency's lab lacked capacity, samples would be sent elsewhere. He noted the agency routinely works with its laboratory facilities for that purpose.
The draft includes tonnage fees tied to fertilizer distributed in the state: a $150 minimum tonnage fee, a 50¢ per ton charge for agricultural fertilizer and $30 per ton for nonagricultural fertilizer, with nonagricultural tonnage fees earmarked for an "AgriPoco" special water-quality fund described in the draft. Committee discussion included a question about whether the $85 registration fee should be raised to $100; members said fee-setting comparisons with other states would be helpful before any change.
The committee did not take a formal vote on H.484 during the session. O'Grady said the bill originated in the House Agriculture committee and has passed the House; because the draft changes fee categories, it is expected to go to Senate Finance. The draft bill lists an effective date of July 1, 2025.
During closing remarks, members asked the agency to provide information comparing registration fees in other states; O'Grady said he would send registration-fee information to the committee. The committee also scheduled the Agency of Agriculture to appear at a later meeting to answer more detailed questions about fees and implementation.
No formal motions or roll-call votes on H.484 were recorded in the transcript of this meeting.
