Federal delegation outlines Farm Bill priorities, disaster aid and labor fixes for Vermont farmers

Haley Perro, outreach director for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, told a Vermont committee that Congress must update the Farm Bill to better serve small and diversified farms and to ensure conservation, research and rural development programs do not lapse.

"Senator Sanders believes the Farm Bill should strengthen sustainable and organic agricultural practices, conserve our natural resources, prevent food insecurity, support our rural communities, and address the existential threat of climate change," Perro said.

Perro said the most recent Farm Bill was enacted in 2018 and expired on Sept. 30, 2023, and that Congress has extended it twice since. She warned those extensions can cause immediate problems for farmers, including hitting per-farm payment limits under conservation programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), which can result in real income losses for producers.

The extension also leaves so-called "orphan" programs — research, conservation, energy and rural economic development efforts without baseline mandatory funding — vulnerable, Perro said. "Those programs are often called orphan programs and they are a concern for many farmers and producers whenever there's a Farm Bill…