NOFA Vermont urges $15.6 million FY27 appropriation to activate S.60 farm and forestry disaster fund
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Summary
NOFA Vermont told the Agriculture, Food Resiliency & Forestry committee to include $15.6 million in the FY27 budget memo to implement S.60, citing about $94 million in documented farm and forestry losses from 2023–2025 and a bill formula that would allocate half the three‑year average of losses.
Maddie Kempner, policy and organizing director at NOFA Vermont, asked the committee to include a $15,600,000 appropriation in the FY27 budget memo to support implementation of S.60, the Farm and Forestry Operations Security Special Fund. "Please include an appropriation of 15,600,000.0 in your FY27 budget memo to support the fund's implementation," Kempner said during testimony.
Kempner said Vermont agencies have documented more than $94,000,000 in farm and forestry losses over 2023–2025 from events including a late‑spring freeze in 2023, summer flooding and a historic drought. She told members the bill's formula — as written — requires agencies and a review board to report a figure equal to half the average documented losses from eligible weather events in the previous three years, which is the basis for the $15.6 million request.
"Without an appropriation in the FY27 budget, the fund will not be implemented for the upcoming fiscal year based on the current language," Kempner said, arguing state funding is needed because federal disaster support is often delayed or unreliable.
Representative O'Brien and other members asked how the formula would work in practice and whether the $15.6 million is meant as a one‑time catch‑up. Kempner clarified that, under the bill language, annual appropriations would be based on the immediately prior three years (averaged and divided by two) and that individual applications would generally look back one year for eligibility; payments under the program are intended to cover up to 50% of otherwise uninsured or uncovered losses.
Committee members also noted a small typo in the bill language that does not change the $15.6 million headline figure. Kempner and members agreed the committee will seek further materials from agencies to verify data and to consider how an appropriation would fit within broader budget constraints.
S.60 was described in committee testimony as still in the Senate Agriculture Committee and not yet voted out. The committee took the testimony and scheduled additional budget witnesses for later sessions.
The committee has not taken formal action on the appropriation request during this meeting; the matter remains under consideration.