NOFA-VT asks Senate Agriculture panel for $500,000 base funding, proposes Farm Security Fund for rapid disaster relief

Members of the Vermont Senate Agriculture Committee heard a presentation Jan. 14 from the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont about the group’s programs, certification work and legislative priorities for the session.

Maddie Kempner, policy and organizing director at NOFA-VT, told the committee the organization is requesting $500,000 in base funding for two local food-security programs — Crop Cash Plus and FarmShare — and is supporting a new bill, the Farm Security Fund, to provide “rapidly available relief” to farmers hit by climate emergencies and extreme weather.

The request follows one-time funding of $300,000 that NOFA-VT received for fiscal 2025, which the organization said helped run Crop Cash and FarmShare last year but was not sufficient to sustain an expanded Crop Cash Plus pilot launched in 2023. "When we get food and farming right, we get a lot of other things right," Kempner told the committee.

Nut graf: The funding ask would back programs that aim to make local food affordable to low-income Vermonters while supporting farm incomes, and would establish a standing emergency fund to get money to farmers faster than existing federal or state aid, NOFA-VT says.

NOFA-VT described the two programs in the funding request. Crop Cash doubles SNAP benefits at farmers markets; Crop Cash Plus (a 2023 pilot) expanded that incentive to cover SNAP-eligible foods beyond produce, including meat, eggs, dairy and bread. NOFA-VT said the Crop Cash Plus pilot doubled the number of farmers who benefitted and increased market revenue for some vendors, but the expansion was paused in 2024 for lack of funding. Joanna Doran, NOFA-VT’s local food access director, said Crop Cash requires a state match to draw down available USDA grant funds.

FarmShare subsidizes community-supported agriculture (CSA) shares for limited-income households, providing 25%–75% discounts depending on need, and has operated for about 30 years, NOFA-VT said. Doran said the organization served more than 800 households in the most recent fiscal year and reported a 13% increase in participants vs. 2022 and 150% growth compared with 2019.

NOFA-VT presented program-level details and financial context: the organization reported it currently certifies 725 farms and processors through Vermont Organic Farmers (VOF) and that, as of the end of 2024, 161,907 acres in Vermont were certified organic under its program, with combined gross sales of certified farms and processors exceeding $375 million. NOFA-VT said certified operations include about 117 dairy farms, 168 vegetable and fruit producers and 250 maple producers.

On certification costs, NOFA-VT said there is a federal cost-share program that reimburses up to 75% of certification fees (up to $750 per scope), which has helped smaller producers get and remain certified.

On the Farm Security Fund proposal, Kempner and staff described NOFA-VT’s long-running farmer emergency fund (in place since 1997) and argued current federal programs such as crop insurance do not meet many Vermont farmers’ needs after extreme events. NOFA-VT cited the Vermont Agency of Agriculture’s Recovery Task Force finding that about 70% of survey respondents impacted by recent flooding lacked crop insurance. The organization described the state’s Business Emergency Gap Assistance Program (VGap) as having provided meaningful help after floods, but said new legislation could tailor a fund to farmers’ needs and speed payments for payroll, cleanup and other urgent costs.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about how the $500,000 request would be allocated, whether the Farm Security Fund’s size had been determined and how previous appropriations were used. NOFA-VT said the requested additional $200,000 (on top of the prior $300,000 one-time appropriation) would primarily fund the Crop Cash Plus incentive dollars and minor administrative costs such as printing coupons. On the Farm Security Fund, NOFA-VT and committee members said they would await the formal bill text; senators indicated they would confer on details.

NOFA-VT also noted other programs and activities: a farm-to-school manager and farm-to-institution work, a climate-resilience and organic transition technical assistance program, an annual winter conference at the UVM Davis Center (Feb. 16–17), and a certification program accredited by the USDA that conducts annual inspections and handles transition periods for land and animals.

The presentation closed with committee members thanking NOFA-VT staff and indicating support for continued conversation as the session progresses. NOFA-VT staff listed colleagues who will engage with the Legislature this session, including Grace O’Dell (executive director), Jess Hayes Lucas (grassroots policy organizer) and Mikaela Stromp (farm-to-school manager).