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NOA Vermont urges $15.6M farm-and-forestry relief fund and $500K for market nutrition programs
Summary
NOA Vermont asked the committee to fund a $15.6 million Farm and Forestry Operations Security Special Fund and requested $500,000 for Crop Cash, Crop Cash Plus and FarmShare food-security programs, saying state dollars would leverage federal funds and support producers and low-income shoppers.
Jess Pace Lucas, grassroots policy organizer with NOA (Northeast Organic Farming Association) Vermont, asked lawmakers to include $15.6 million in the FY27 budget to support the Farm and Forestry Operations Security Special Fund established by Act 78 (Senate 60). She said the fund would help document and cover a share of working-land losses from extreme weather and help track ongoing impacts to farms and forestry operations.
"We're asking to please include an appropriation of $15.6 million in the 2027 budget memo to support the fund's implementation," Pace Lucas told the committee, linking the requested sum to recent documented losses and the fund's intent to cover 50% of documented losses.
Joanna Doran, NOA Vermont’s local food access director, told the committee NOA seeks $500,000 in FY27 for three food-security programs — Crop Cash, Crop Cash Plus and FarmShare — that double SNAP purchasing power at farmers markets, expand eligible purchases and subsidize community-supported agriculture shares for low-income Vermonters.
"Crop Cash doubles SNAP dollars at farmers markets," Doran said, describing how the state investment acts as a match to draw down additional federal funds and leverages private support to increase revenue for local producers.
Committee members asked about overlap with the Senate and Agriculture Committee priorities; NOA noted the Senate Agriculture committee recommended $1 million toward the operations security fund and that the full $500,000 for Crop Cash programs appeared in both the Senate A and House requests. Members also questioned the relationship between the proposed fund and federal crop insurance programs; presenters said many Vermont farms are diversified and federal crop insurance does not adequately cover their losses.
Next steps: presenters asked the committee to consider the budget insertions and to weigh how state funding could be structured to maximize federal drawdowns and short-term relief to producers while the broader working-lands policy work continues.
