Michael Fernandez, district manager of the Bennington County Conservation District, presented a detailed plan for the Bennington Veterans Incubator Farm and asked the Senate Committee on Institutions to consider state capital funding for three near-term infrastructure items: a greenhouse, a deep well and a mobile solar generator.

Fernandez said the project originated through a Bennington Fair Food Initiative and a congressionally designated HUD allocation obtained with Senator Peter Welch’s assistance. He said the HUD funds have been used for planning, a small tractor and other items, and that the new state request would act as seed capital to establish a cooperative that trains veterans, provides short-term enterprise space and sells produce to institutional buyers (including the Vermont Veterans Home and schools).

Costs and priorities provided to the committee (from the applicant’s materials):
- Greenhouse (Rimol/Rimmel “Nor’easter” gothic-style model, 30-by-96 quoted): approximately $55,000 including materials and specialized installation. Fernandez said about half the cost covers installation by contractors with greenhouse experience.
- Deep well: Fernandez described the need for a new deep well rather than a shallow or sandpoint well near the site because of concerns about PFOA contamination in nearby shallow supplies; the committee was given a project estimate of roughly $16,000 for a deep well and market-treatment provisions.
- Mobile solar power (SunTitan T30 or comparable mobile solar generator): Fernandez said the vendor price was about $56,000 and that running grid power to the site would be about the same or more over the near term; the mobile unit would provide immediate off-grid power to start production and irrigation pumps and could be redeployed to other parcels later.

Fernandez described the project model in detail: the conservation district will lease roughly 12 acres from the Vermont Veterans Home initially and act as the fiscal and operational steward while the incubator cooperative is formed. The plan calls for training cohorts of veteran beginning farmers for 3–5 years in a "learn-and-earn" model, pairing graduating cohort members with additional nearby parcels and using nested enterprise leases so individual cohort members can build a record of production needed to access federal loans and grants. Fernandez emphasized the project’s institutional-market focus: production is explicitly meant to supply the Veterans Home institutionally first and then other institutional buyers, not to displace existing retail farms.

Fernandez also outlined operational details: composting the Veterans Home kitchen waste with a chicken-assisted system, a small tractor purchased with earlier funds, plans to hire a project manager (preference for a veteran candidate), and partner arrangements with local farms and buyers. He noted supply challenges: avian influenza and related poultry shortages make it hard to source pullets or year-old birds and could delay egg production timelines.

He asked the committee to accept a materials package and closer cost sheet after the hearing; committee members requested copies of the HUD proposal, the white paper and the budget. Fernandez said he would provide materials to staff.

Ending: Committee members signaled interest and asked staff to accept the detailed materials and to follow up; no vote was taken.