Vermont Agriculture Agency outlines largely level FY26 budget, highlights grants, lab fees and bird‑flu testing

Secretary Anson Tebbetts, head of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, and agency finance staff presented the agency’s fiscal year 2026 budget and program updates to the House Appropriations Committee on Feb. 6.

The agency requested a total FY26 budget of $59,994,387 and described the proposal as “a bare bones budget” that contains no new one‑time asks and is intended to maintain essential programs, Secretary Tebbetts said. “Our mission is to facilitate, support, and encourage the growth and viability of agriculture while protecting the working landscape, human health, animal health, plant health, consumers, and the environment,” he told the committee.

Nicole Dubuque, the agency’s chief operating officer, gave a line‑item overview. “Fiscal year 26 total budget is 59,994,387,” she said. She reported roughly $12.7 million in general‑fund support, about $23.99 million in federal funds, roughly 35% from special funds derived primarily from licensing and lab fees, and interdepartmental transfers tied to lab services.

Amy Mercer, the agency financial director, told members the agency’s federal funding picture is mixed but that one key change is a reduction tied to the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center. “I think, the the biggest change in federal funds is due to the Dairy Business Innovation Center. They’re lowering their contract and grant amount for this year,” Mercer said.

Committee members pressed for context on major program lines. The agency said demand for competitive grants has far outpaced available dollars: in fiscal year 2024 the agency fielded roughly $108 million in requests across programs and awarded about $11.4 million to roughly 280 farms and businesses. For a sector‑specific meat, maple and produce solicitation, the agency said it received about $44 million in requests from about 500 applications and awarded roughly $2.1 million to about 25 projects.

Agency staff reviewed several recurring programs that are included in the agency’s base: Working Lands (base $1,000,000), farm‑to‑school ($500,000), farm‑to‑plate ($235,000), and fair stipends ($110,000). The Working Lands Enterprise Initiative reported cumulative impacts to date including about $18.8 million invested, 555 projects, roughly 540 new jobs created, about $92 million in sales tied to grantees and nearly 25,000 acres kept in production, according to the agency presentation.

On the Vermont Agricultural and Environmental Laboratory (VAEL), staff explained how lab revenue and interagency billing are recorded. The agency said tests performed for the Agency of Natural Resources and other partners are billed into a lab special fund and used to cover lab staffing, supplies and the lab’s fee‑for‑space costs; those transactions are processed as revenue into the lab special fund rather than as a standard interdepartmental transfer. Committee members asked about recent decreases in a fee‑for‑space line and about planned capital work for the state’s exhibit building at the Big E fairgrounds.

Public‑health concerns were a major topic in the Q&A. Secretary Tebbetts described an expanded surveillance program for highly pathogenic avian influenza strains that have appeared in dairy in parts of the country. “We are continuing to test raw milk at the holding tanks, the bulk tanks across Vermont. We hope to get to all our farms at least, once a month,” Tebbetts said, and the agency reported no positive detections in Vermont to date. The agency said USDA is providing materials and funding for sample collection and that temporary staff have been hired to increase sampling capacity.

Members also asked about water‑quality grant lines and mitigation fees tied to Act 250 development reviews; the agency said mitigation fees collected under Act 250 are routed to conservation programs such as the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and that off‑site mitigation occurs under established formulas. When Representative Tom Stevens asked, “Is that clean water related? The Lake Champlain Basin?” staff confirmed Lake Champlain Basin program funding is tied to clean‑water work and noted a $450,000 increase in MOU funding for that program in FY26.

The presentation closed with the agency offering to follow up with more detailed performance measures and a dashboard of program impacts. Committee members and agency staff agreed to additional briefings; no committee votes or formal actions were taken during the hearing.

Ending: The committee did not act on the FY26 request at the Feb. 6 hearing; the agency said it would provide follow‑ups on performance metrics, the status of federal grants and the lab fee accounting as the appropriations process continues.