Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Vermont officials detail drought damage, negotiate $31.7M federal block grant and urge state support for Farm Security Fund
Summary
Agency officials told a legislative hearing that severe 2025 drought and prior disasters have produced wide farm losses, a live survey shows thousands of impacted acres and millions in damages, and the state is negotiating a roughly $31.7 million USDA block grant while urging continued support for the Farm Security Fund (S60).
Anson Tebbetts, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, told a legislative hearing that the federal farm bill has been extended through October 2026 and that the agency is negotiating a regional disaster-relief block grant to help producers recover from losses in calendar years 2023 and 2024.
Nicole Dubuque, the agency’s operations director, said Vermont was tentatively awarded $31,700,000 from a $220,000,000 regional allotment and that the funds would focus on infrastructure and market losses once the grant is executed and a work plan is approved by USDA. ‘‘We have been tentatively awarded $31,700,000 that we are currently negotiating with USDA to put into a grant,’’ Dubuque said. She added that specific eligibility rules, documentation requirements and…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
