Vermont lawmaker outlines bill to create permanent farm, forestry disaster fund

Representative Molly Burke of Brattleboro introduced H.229 on the House Agriculture Committee agenda, saying the bill would establish a Farm and Forestry Operations Security Special Fund to provide financial assistance to farms and forestry operations that experience qualifying losses due to weather conditions.

Burke said the proposal grew from farmer-organized meetings after back-to-back rounds of severe flooding in 2023 and 2024. "Immediate is a really important word here," Burke said, adding that many farms cannot afford to weather repeated extreme events. She said federal insurance and disaster programs are "woefully insufficient" for many small and diversified operations and arrive too slowly when they do.

The bill sets up a special fund, to be administered by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets, and awards grants for eligible losses. Under the draft language Burke described, grants would reimburse up to 50% of uninsured or uncovered losses from eligible weather events, with a maximum award of $150,000 per operation. The secretary of agriculture would consult a review board and make awards; the bill instructs the secretary to develop a streamlined application process intended to accelerate payments. Burke described an expedited timetable in the bill: review-board recommendations within one week of a complete application and secretary awards within two weeks of that recommendation.

Eligibility language in the bill would define qualifying weather conditions and allows verification through certified weather data sources such as NOAA. The special fund would consist of General Assembly appropriations, public and private contributions, and available federal funds for state support of farmers who suffered income loss. The bill also sets a statutory recommendation that the fund receive an annual appropriation equal to 50% of the average documented farm losses from eligible weather conditions averaged over three years; the review board would recommend a figure each January 15 to the relevant House and Senate committees.

During committee questions, a member asked whether the board could award grants retroactively for prior disasters; Burke said the question of retroactivity "could be discussed" as language is developed. A staff member identified as Maddie told the committee an appropriation would be requested in the fiscal 2026 budget to start the fund, and Burke acknowledged some stakeholders had discussed a one-time ask of $20,000,000 for the first year; a committee member noted that $20,000,000 is not explicitly in the bill.

Burke said the bill was developed with farmer organizations and named partners including NOFA Vermont, the Center on Rural Innovation and Economy (as stated in testimony), the Vermont Farm Bureau, Farmers Alliance, Rural Vermont, the Intervale Center, and the Vegetable and Berry Growers Association. She said the plan was intended to be equitable, easily accessible and to reflect the needs of small and medium-scale farms.

No formal motion, vote, or committee decision on H.229 was recorded in the transcript. The committee moved on to discuss other agriculture bills and scheduling for testimony.

Ending: The committee accepted the presentation and reserved time for further drafting and testimony; staff and members discussed next steps for budgeting and for soliciting additional stakeholder input.