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NOFA, farmers urge $20 million Farm Security Fund to deliver rapid disaster relief
Summary
NOFA Vermont and a group of farmers urged the House Agriculture Committee to pass a new Farm Security Fund — a proposed onetime $20 million appropriation to provide quick grants to farms hit by extreme weather — and outlined how a nimble state mechanism could fill gaps left by federal programs.
Maddie Kempner, speaking for NOFA Vermont, told the House Agriculture Committee the organization will ask the legislature to create a Farm Security Fund and seek a one‑time $20 million appropriation for fiscal year 2026 to provide rapid relief to farms affected by climate disasters.
"Yes. We are seeking a $20,000,000 onetime appropriation for f y 26," Kempner said. She said the bill would set a formula for future base appropriations and create a review board to help administer the fund in partnership with the Agency of Agriculture.
Kempner and other witnesses told the panel that federal disaster programs can be slow and poorly matched to diversified, small‑scale Vermont farms. The Agency of Agriculture's 2023 survey, cited by NOFA, estimated $44.7 million in farm business damages in 2023 and $14 million in farm losses in 2024; NOFA said total food‑system damages in 2023 were about $69 million.
NOFA said the bill would direct the Agency of Agriculture to administer the fund and include a review board with farmer representation. The draft language would require payments approved by the review board to be disbursed within two weeks. NOFA contrasted that timeline with its own emergency fund turnaround: "With our emergency fund, our average turnaround time to get checks to farmers once we had received and processed the application was 8 days," a NOFA speaker told the committee.
Farmers who spoke to the committee described on‑the‑ground recovery needs and the administrative confusion that can follow a flood. Joe Boston, a NOFA board member and food‑manufacturing business owner, described a flash flood on Aug. 9, 2023, that transformed a small stream into a gravel and log field, destroyed plantings and damaged infrastructure on his Warren farm. He said he struggled to determine which permits, if any, were needed and which agencies to contact to repair stream channels and access roads.
Becky Madden, a NOFA board member and UVM Extension soil health specialist, noted the financial strain on farms after disasters: "The average loss was 28% across all firms in that year who reported damage," she said, citing survey results and her field work. She and other witnesses told the committee that rapid payments can allow farms to keep payroll and begin urgent repairs instead of relying on loans or prolonged federal processes.
Committee members asked about funding sources and whether federal appropriations could substitute. NOFA noted a separate December federal package expected to provide national assistance to small‑farm states (NOFA reported roughly $220 million nationally with an estimate that $66–67 million might reach Vermont, but that those funds would be retroactive and likely cover 2023–24 losses).
NOFA said the Farm Security Fund language is being circulated and that a broad coalition of farming organizations supports the approach. NOFA asked the committee to schedule the bill for future hearings where the agency and additional farmers could testify.
