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Vermont conservation districts ask lawmakers for $948,200 to sustain locally led farm assistance and leverage federal grants
Summary
Michelle Monroe and county conservation district managers told the Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry panel that $948,200 in state support would sustain operations that historically help districts leverage roughly $9 in federal or project funding per state dollar; they described projects from veterans incubator farms to chestnut agroforestry and an EPA PFOA proposal.
Michelle Monroe, executive director of the Vermont Association of Conservation Districts, asked the committee to include $948,200 in legislative funding for the state’s 14 conservation districts, asking the panel to fold prior one‑time funds into the base and to provide a modest increase to cover rising costs such as health care for staff.
Monroe said districts provided technical assistance to 452 farms in fiscal 2025 and ran 222 outreach events; she said base state funding historically leverages about $9 in additional public and private funds for conservation projects. "For every dollar that we've historically ... that has allowed us to draw down an additional $9 in funding," she said, and urged the…
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