Champlain Valley Farmer Coalition urges better recording of farmer-funded conservation practices, warns of funding gaps

Champlain Valley Farmer Coalition representatives told the Agriculture, Food Resiliency & Forestry committee that farmers are implementing many conservation practices out of pocket and those efforts are not fully captured in state and federal water-quality accounting unless they are recorded.

"I've recorded 13,000 acres of conservation practices," said Steve Longfield, executive director of the Champlain Valley Farmer Coalition, describing the group's field-verification work since 2022. Longfield and other coalition members said the group enters those farmer-funded practices into the Vermont agricultural partner database so associated nutrient reductions can be reported to the Agency of Agriculture and, ultimately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The coalition framed the work as both a technical and a funding problem. Tim Cahart, a dairy farmer from Addison and coalition co-chair, said many farmers also self-fund practices—cover crops, no‑till drilling and manure incorporation—and that program grants rarely cover labor, fuel or the full seed costs on large operations. "We use it 100% to buy seed," one farmer said of a $10,000 seed grant, adding that labor and fuel remain on the farm's expense ledger.

Coalition members argued that without systematic recording, the state and EPA do not see the full extent of on‑farm nutrient reductions. Longfield said some farmers are already entering practices but that conservation districts and extension lack personnel to scale field verification and database entry across watersheds. "If we're really going to rely on this data... we want that data to actually reflect what's happening on the ground," he said.

The witnesses also urged sustained and deeper funding. Speakers cited the Farm Agronomy Program (FAP) seed assistance and equipment grants as helpful but insufficient for large-acreage farms. They recommended more support for local conservation districts and for staff whose work would verify and upload farmer-reported practices.

Committee members asked about cross-border coordination with New York and whether other watershed groups record similar self-funded practices. Cahart said most of the coalition’s reporting is within Vermont; he noted limited cooperation with Essex County Soil and Water in New York but said the Vermont-side work is what the coalition primarily records.

Panel members also raised an urgent aid question. A committee participant said a roughly $31,000,000 federal relief package intended for farmers who experienced losses in 2023–24 has been appropriated and is awaiting release. Witnesses warned that delays could leave some farms without feed this winter and urged quicker distribution or complementary state action to get money to affected producers.

The coalition asked to remain an active source for committee testimony and said it has retained a legislative consultant to provide weekly session updates. Longfield said the group is prepared to testify on bills affecting agriculture and to help the committee understand implementation costs and farmer perspectives.

The committee recessed for a short break and planned to return to consider another bill.