Vermont agriculture agency warns federal cuts would hit local food programs, produce safety and staff

Anson Tebets, secretary of the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, told the House Appropriations Committee on April 17 that federal funding accounts for roughly 40% of the agency’s proposed $60 million budget and that recent federal decisions are creating “a bit of a holding pattern” for several state programs.

“We were anticipating continued support through ’25 with about 1,700,000.0 in additional funding,” Tebets said of the federal Local Food Purchase Assistance program, but he added that “USDA terminated our cooperative agreement for those funds on March 7.”

Tebets said federal support also funds cooperative programs such as the state’s meat inspection agreement with the federal government, which “has not seen any disruptions as of today.” He added, however, that the Food and Drug Administration has informed Vermont the produce safety program faces “significant cuts, potentially as much as 40%.”

Amy Mercer, the agency’s financial director, provided a narrower figure for the produce safety line: “It’s like 287,000, I believe,” she said when asked how much federal support the agency receives for that program.

Committee members pressed agency officials about the immediate and personnel impacts of funding changes. The agency said that, across programs, about 28 full-time equivalent positions are funded in whole or in part with federal dollars and that many employees perform multiple roles funded by a mix of state and federal grants.

“Most of these programs are in our economic development division,” Tebets said. He told members that staff who manage grants and cooperative agreements often cover multiple programs, which has thus far allowed the agency some flexibility to maintain operations even as individual cooperative agreements lapse.

Officials described several federal programs and grants under pressure or in transition: the Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA/LFPA Plus) cooperative agreement (terminated March 7, FY2025 award of about $1.7 million noted by the agency); the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (funding in place for the next couple of years but pending reauthorization); the specialty crop block grant and the organic certification cost-share program (the combined grants totaled about $577,000 last year, and the organic cost-share was not included in the December federal budget); and SNAP-related funding debates in Congress that could affect food access and markets for farms.

Tebets and committee members also discussed supply-chain and trade risks affecting Vermont producers, including possible tariffs on imported grain and equipment, the international market for maple syrup (including Quebec’s reserve practices), and fertilizer supplies such as potash. The agency cautioned that many federal staffing and program decisions in Washington are still unresolved, and that some USDA offices and sub-agency leadership positions remain unfilled.

On staffing contingency planning, Tebets said the agency would follow existing collective-bargaining and state human-resources rules if reductions were required; the committee was told earlier in the hearing that the 28 FTE figure represents positions supported across multiple funding sources rather than 28 discrete jobs tied to a single federal pot.

The committee received a larger spreadsheet of federal funding exposures from the secretary’s office; staff agreed to print copies for the committee. Agency officials said they will continue monitoring federal developments — notably the pending Farm Bill and appropriations processes — and will report back if additional program changes or personnel impacts become likely.

Without formal votes or committee action recorded at the April 17 hearing, the meeting closed with committee members noting they would hear a presentation on tariffs from Pat Titterton the following day.