Vermont agriculture secretary warns federal funding uncertainty could affect produce-safety, cooperative agreements

Anson Tebbetts, secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets, told a legislative committee that federal funding makes up roughly 40% of his agency’s budget and that changes at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration could affect state programs, inspections and cooperative agreements.

“I wanted to start maybe just with a brief overview of our proposed budget, which you guys know already, but I wanted to just to highlight, you know, our proposed budget is about $60,000,000 21% comes from general funds, state dollars, 35% from special funds, and about 40% of our budget at the agency bag is federal funds, and the remaining 4% made up of interdepartmental, transfers,” Tebbetts said. He added that programs reliant on USDA or federal funding were temporarily paused early in the federal administration’s transition but have largely resumed.

Nut graf: The testimony outlined program-level risks if federal funding changes. Tebbetts said the agency is monitoring potential cuts and restructuring at USDA and FDA, highlighted a terminated cooperative agreement tied to the Local Food Purchase Assistance program, and urged continued advocacy for programs such as the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center.

Key details: Tebbetts told the committee that the FDA has informed Vermont that produce-safety programs could face cuts “potentially as much as 40%.” He said USDA terminated the state’s cooperative agreement for the Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program on March 7, which eliminated anticipated funding of about $1.7 million that the agency had expected. He also described a resilient food-systems infrastructure and equipment grants program that awarded roughly $3 million to Vermont producers for equipment and infrastructure improvements; those awards were described as federal dollars that were briefly paused but later announced.

Tebbetts also warned that Congress has not passed a new farm bill — the multiyear federal agriculture policy package — and that the absence of a farm bill is a “major wild card” for funding. He said federal restructuring and an announced round of USDA workforce reductions could change how services and funding are delivered in Vermont. The secretary said his agency is meeting weekly with federal partners and regional counterparts to clarify eligibility and avoid duplicative reimbursement on disaster-relief programs.

Committee members pressed on implications for water-quality conservation and SNAP-related benefits that flow through federal agricultural policy. Representative Nelson expressed concern about the farm bill’s delay and the potential loss of USDA staff to administer programs at the state level. Representative O'Brien asked about resilient food-systems infrastructure grants; Tebbetts said Vermont received a little over $3 million for infrastructure improvements, funded by USDA and allotted by state farm-economy metrics.

Distinguishing discussion and direction: The session consisted of informational testimony and committee questions; no binding funding decisions or budget changes were made during the meeting. Tebbetts said the agency will continue to monitor federal announcements and “we're meeting with them weekly” to clarify program eligibility and next steps.

Ending: Tebbetts told members he would continue to track federal developments, emphasizing core priorities such as meat inspection, produce safety inspections and regional programs like the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center.