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Agriculture committee reviews FY27 funding requests, hears $15.6M farm‑security ask and food‑bank appeals
Summary
During the March 12 session the committee reviewed FY27 funding requests: presenters asked for $15.6 million for the farm security fund, a working‑lands coalition sought up to $5 million, the food bank network sought a total package near $5 million (including a $2M pass‑through), and several smaller agriculture and local‑food programs were discussed.
The committee shifted March 12 from technical drafting of S.323 to reviewing FY27 funding requests for agriculture and related programs, asking staff to verify what has already been included in the Budget Adjustment Act (BAA) and to prepare a clean list of outstanding requests.
Maddie Kempner, a NOA representative, told the committee the farm security fund request for FY27 is $15.6 million. Kempner said that figure follows the bill’s formula — a three‑year average of documented losses divided by two — and that it covers both farm and forestry businesses under the current bill language.
Committee staff and presenters reviewed food‑bank funding lines. Committee discussion and a fiscal office note identified $1 million in general fund support for direct aid to the Vermont food bank network and roughly $900,000 for a grant supporting Vermont Feeding Vermont (together about $1.9 million already in recent action), while advocates renewed a $5 million total request that includes a $2 million pass‑through to network partners and a $1 million "ready response" partnership with emergency management.
Conservation districts asked the committee to fold a prior one‑time allocation ($250,000) into their base budget; presenters said the governor recommended $612,000 in base funding and that the districts’ request reflects a need near $948,200 to preserve services across 14 districts after staffing reductions.
Local food programs were discussed as separate lines: farm‑to‑school grants (agency of agriculture) and local food incentives (agency of education) were both identified in the governor’s recommended budget at $500,000 each. NOA representatives described a consolidated request for crop cash, crop cash plus and farm share totaling $500,000 (these programs previously received one‑time support of $450,000).
The Working Lands Coalition requested a significant increase to program funding, outlining an ask near $5 million (the governor recommended a $1 million base and additional one‑time amounts); coalition members listed 14 member organizations and asked the committee to consider a larger pot to fund multiple grant buckets, including direct business grants and infrastructure grants.
Jackie Bolson (fair representative) described a longstanding $110,000 stipend that is divided among state fairs (14 fairs were referenced). Bolson said that stipend typically yields about $7,000–$11,000 per fair depending on attendance and asked the committee to consider a modest increase if possible. Capital grant lines for fairs were discussed separately.
Next steps: committee staff will cross‑check the governor's recommended lines and the BAA for overlap, draft language for the committee's list of recommendations, and circulate the package; members said they have limited time before the next meeting and asked staff to prioritize items the committee is likely to fund.
