Vermont Farm Bureau backs S.60 farm relief fund; insurers and lawmakers warn crop programs leave many farmers exposed

Montpelier — Supporters of S.60 told the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry on Wednesday that the bill to create a state farm relief fund should be administered by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and include forestry losses under narrowly defined conditions, while witnesses and lawmakers warned that federal crop-insurance and disaster programs leave many Vermont farms without timely or sufficient aid.

"This is a program to get money into the hands of farmers immediately so that they can continue with their livelihood," Jackie Bolsom, president of the Vermont Farm Bureau, told the committee. Bolsom said the Farm Bureau coalition supports housing the fund at the Agency of Agriculture and keeping a farmer-majority review board to assess claims.

The bill as drafted would set up a relief fund for farms; the committee discussion focused on whether to explicitly include forestry and how to structure decisionmaking and eligibility. Bolsom said the coalition has favored including forestry but suggested limiting forestry claims "possibly to include forestry only if there is a contract between a logger and a property owner," so a landowner could document a loss that also harmed the contracted logger.

Why it matters: Supporters said the fund would supply rapid, short-term aid after a calamity, distinct from longer-running federal…