Agriculture committee ranks FY2027 priorities, adds Salvation Farms funding and defends farm-to-school spending
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Summary
The committee moved Salvation Farms to its priority list and reaffirmed support for the governor's proposed farm-to-school ($500,000) and early-childhood ($500,000) grants while discussing working lands and conservation district funding during its April 7 meeting.
The Senate Committee on Agriculture used part of its April 7 meeting to rank FY2027 budget priorities and to adjust its request list for the governor and appropriations process.
Chair and members discussed moving Salvation Farms up on the committee's priority list and proposed a $100,000 allocation for that program. Members also affirmed support for $500,000 for the farm-to-school program and $500,000 for early-childhood grants as reflected in the governor's budget. Committee members debated ordering and whether to protect historic funding lines while advancing competitive working-lands grants and conservation district support.
A committee member noted the agriculture industry contributes roughly "$9,400,000,000" to the Vermont economy and characterized the committee's request (about $6,372,000) as a small percentage of that total. Members corrected a decimal-point error in the memo and discussed which items come from capital funds versus the general fund.
There were no recorded votes on funding priorities in the meeting; members agreed to draft language for the committee's memo and to circulate it by the stated deadlines. A staff member later informed senators that the capital bill had passed third reading in the House.
Next steps include finalizing the committee's ranked list and circulating the drafting language to members for review.
