Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Chair David Durfee]: Sort of the next part of the morning, we're gonna hear from from NOFA, from rural Vermont, from a farmer who is a NOFA farmer. Then we're going to hear from the Farm Bureau and some Farm Bureau members member, and then the agency. Then that then we'll wait for lunch. With that, good morning, Patty. Welcome back.

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: Hi, it's nice to see you all. Thank you, Chair Gurphy,

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: for continuing this meeting in the off season.

[Graham Unangst-Rufenacht (Rural Vermont, Co-Executive Director)]: We're really

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: grateful for that and for all of you who have

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: enjoyed listening to everybody tonight. I want to keep my remarks pretty brief because there's a lot

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: of us on the agenda, as you just heard. But I do want

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: to provide some reflections on behalf of NOFA about some major changes facing our community right now. In particular, I want

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: to speak to the ongoing drought, the upcoming extreme surge in health care costs, and the impacts on farm workers and lots of immigrant communities more broadly. So first, the drought, as you're all aware and some of you are experiencing personally, Despite increased rainfall and even some snow in the last couple of weeks, we are still in the midst of a historic drought. Six of 14 counties are currently facing extreme drought conditions, according to The US drought monitor. And on the heels of two years of catastrophic flooding and following an extremely wet spring that delayed planting, drought conditions this year have already cost farmers an estimated $13,500,000 according to the Agency of Agriculture's Drought Impact Survey. That number represents millions in lost crops or severely reduced yields, animals, and in some cases, whole herds sold. Millions of gallons of water hauled and hours and hours of farmers' time spent hauling it. It represents yet another season of farmers pivoting, adapting, figuring it out, and another season of economic, physical, and emotional strain for the people producing our food, providing jobs, and contributing so much to our state's economy and our communities. There are farmers in the room today, here and on Zoom, who can share their personal experience and the support that they need from the state to continue farming as extreme weather conditions persist. I thank you for taking the time to listen. I also want to take a moment and thank this committee again for voting to pass S-sixty, the Farm and Forestry Security Operations Special Fund, out of your committee earlier this year. Please continue talking with your colleagues about S-sixty and advocating to provide robust funding for the Farm Security Fund in the upcoming legislative sessions. The state has a substantial interest in securing our farms' futures and failure to support their recovery and survival puts Vermont's food security, really proud of these and climate resiliency, at risk. I also want to take a moment, you're going to

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: hear more from Ms.

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: C, who's on the screen, about this in a few minutes, but to address the significant and disproportionate impact that upcoming changes in health care costs are going to have on the Vermont's farming community. Access to affordable health care is and has always been critical to farmer success. As self employed people, farmers are more likely to rely on the ACA marketplace or Vermont Health Connect here for their health insurance more than the average person. Nationally, 27% of farmers and ranchers rely on the marketplace for healthcare, which is more than triple the national average of 8% of the population. Many, many farm workers and farmers in our community also rely on Medicaid or Medicare and will be impacted by the changes to those programs in the coming months and years. Lack of access to affordable health care is already a barrier to many people getting into or staying in farming as a career. Talk to almost any farmer in Vermont, And you'll quickly learn that hundreds of farm businesses and households are structured largely around access to health care, and that farmers are struggling to keep employees because they can't afford to provide it. These dynamics cause real impacts on a farm's ability to thrive and grow. They stop people from getting into farming as a career who otherwise would like to. And they have major compounding effects on our state's agricultural economy. We've heard from farmers recently who are considering leaving the state or the country in order to access affordable care. And on the human level, we're deeply concerned about the physical and mental well-being of many farmers who will continue to farm but will be forced to go without health insurance next year when premiums double or even triple. We all know by now that it's nothing short of a crisis in the making, but we also know that there are options for long term solutions that support everyone, and it's time to get serious about those. Speaking of which, lastly, I'm really grateful to know that you're going to be hearing later today from Naomi Wolfpack McCausland, who runs the Mega Health Programs currently based out of UVM Extension, including Bridges to Health. Bridges to Health provides direct healthcare support to over 1,000 farm workers on farms across all 14 counties of Vermont, as well as supporting families in accessing food and other basic needs. It is an essential resource to ensure those working on Vermont's farms and dozens of other professions can access the care that they need and deserve. The program is facing serious funding challenges and uncertainty largely as a result of federal policies and may be forced to end if funding support in a long term home program are secured. NOPA Vermont is requesting on behalf of the population served by Bridges to Health and the broader farming community that this committee supports state appropriation in the FY twenty six Budget Adjustment Act to ensure that their critical work can continue without interruption. Thank you again for your time today. I am happy to answer any questions, and thank you for supporting the success and well-being of everyone in Smutz farming community.

[Chair David Durfee]: Thank you, Maddie. Just before we turn it over to Missy, you mentioned just a moment ago in the testimony that nationally, 7% of farmers are participating in the marketplace or something comparable in other states for health care. Do you know anything about the Vermont number?

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: I don't have statistics specifically on the farming population in Vermont. I do know that Vermont of any state in the country is going to see the biggest increases of any state with the expiration of the ACA tax credits.

[Chair David Durfee]: Dollar increases.

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: Can you just say that again?

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: Vermont is going to experience the biggest cost increases for any state in the country because of the expiration of that ACA tax credits. And also, I don't know if anybody who was attending the BVSR legislative breakfast last week, but there was a stat that came up during that meeting that since 2018, health care costs over the country have risen on average in other states by 12%, and in Vermont, it's been 92%, which I

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: think we all probably experience directly to some degree.

[Chair David Durfee]: This afternoon, Mike Fisher is planning to be here. He's the healthcare advocate, and he's my go to guy for questions about that. I don't know that he'll have data by sector, but it would be interesting to know if anybody's listening whether we know what percentage of farmers are participating in that. If it's okay then, Missy, can you hear us?

[Missy Axelrod (Roxbury farmer and educator)]: Yes, I am here.

[Chair David Durfee]: Good morning.

[Nicole Dubuque (Operations Director, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: Good morning.

[Chair David Durfee]: Thank you for joining us. And if you would, I guess, just introduce yourself to us and tell us where you are, and then we're interested in hearing whatever you've got to share with us.

[Missy Axelrod (Roxbury farmer and educator)]: Yeah, good morning, everybody. Thanks for inviting me. My name is Missy Axelrod, I'm a farmer and educator in Roxbury, Vermont. Thanks for the opportunity to share my story and my concern regarding the recent changes to the Vermont Health Connect insurance plan costs. My spouse and I are both independent workers. We farm and create art and farm based education programs here in Central Vermont and throughout Vermont. Our work contributes to our local food system, the world economy, the cultural fabric of our community. Like many small scale farmers and artists, our income fluctuates seasonally and year to year. We do this work because we believe in Vermont's values of sustainability, resilience, and community, but we also depend on affordable health insurance to continue being able to do this. Until now, Vermont Health Connect has been a lifeline for us. It's allowed us to access healthcare while maintaining our independence as small business owners. However, with the recent rate changes, our monthly premium is projected to nearly triple. This drastic increase makes it impossible to afford coverage. We're now faced with an impossible choice. Do we pay for insurance that consumes a huge share of our income or do we go without it and accept significant personal and financial risk? Without affordable health coverage, we are left vulnerable. A single medical emergency could threaten not only our health, but also our farm and our livelihood. This situation undermines the very resilience Vermont strives to foster in its people, its farms and its local economies. What I want to emphasize today is that Vermont's independent workers are not just working for ourselves, but we're also working for the fabric of the state. We are the people who keep small towns viable where there are no large employers. We are the artisans, the trades peoples, the farmers who bring life to the community centers of our small villages. I urge you to consider the real impact that these changes have on small scale farmers, artists and our independent Vermonters. Please work to ensure that Vermont Health Connect remains accessible and affordable for those of us who contribute to our communities outside of traditional employment structures. Thanks for your attention and your ongoing efforts to support Vermont's agricultural and creative communities.

[Chair David Durfee]: Thank you, Missy.

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: Any questions?

[Chair David Durfee]: Any questions from the committee? We appreciate your sharing your your situation, Missy. Thank you.

[Missy Axelrod (Roxbury farmer and educator)]: Thanks for listening. I appreciate it.

[Chair David Durfee]: You're welcome to stay on the call. Think, Graham, are you next on the list?

[Representative Richard Nelson]: I think so.

[Chair David Durfee]: You do come on up then.

[Graham Unangst-Rufenacht (Rural Vermont, Co-Executive Director)]: Good morning, everybody. My name is Grandinx Group Month. I work here for all of a month. I don't think I need to say

[Representative John O'Brien]: anything more

[Graham Unangst-Rufenacht (Rural Vermont, Co-Executive Director)]: about that now. I do want to thank you for holding this meeting today on all these subjects. I think World of Vermont is consolidating with almost everybody on the list I see today, and echo a lot of what they bring to the table. Similar to mine, there's a number of changes federally we're concerned about. You could do a laundry list. Would just, a few things I wanna mention, this EQIP caps something we're talking about. It's a big deal for small farms. We already heard from NRCS before this that propensity is to distribute as much money as possible and start for the biggest contracts first, fewer contracts to larger farms. So we're looking for the caps to help facilitate and ensure that the money that's spread out can make processing that farms. Layoffs of USDA staffers, the proposed reorganization of the USDA, which wasn't mentioned, but I can also give you a statement from the National Canadian Farm Coalition about the impacts of that and concerns. The elimination of agricultural initiatives and programs can address systemic inequities related to gender. Migrant farm workers and other immigrants of various statuses throughout our food and working lands. I just want emphasize this is not just migrant workers on dairy farms. We have migrants of various tests throughout the food system. We have heard from them who aren't willing to be here today because it's too big of a risk. Food or food coming to us and talking about the risks they're under and the threats they're facing. Changes to SNAP. The recent hemp language, I'd love to put you all in touch with Jeffrey Pizzutello from our Growers Association. I talked to him yesterday about this and they're really concerned about some of Vermont's hemp producers. One positive piece I just want to emphasize is the Local Foods Act. That is the legislation in rural Vermont's been working on with the National Family Farm Coalition and others at the federal level to basically protect Vermont's on farm slaughter laws across the country. We now have called trichameral support in both chambers federally. So we have Senator Sanders, Welch, and Republican on the other side of the aisle in the Senate. We have the House. We have progressive Republican and Democrat support for those bills as well. So we're hoping to see that legislation move the next couple of years or a year ideally. That would be a great thing for Vermont. I'm mostly here to talk about healthcare, which I think is the place where Rollman has the most experience to talk about these subjects. It's nice to have brought a lot of great things to the table. What I've handed out to you all today is the Vermont Food System Plan Issue Brief on healthcare. Royal Vermont was the lead author of this brief myself and Molly Wills in 2020, I believe. And we got involved with this issue at the time because we started realizing healthcare is not traditionally seen as an agricultural subject, but affecting healthcare, childcare, eldercare, things like this might be more for the agricultural community than affecting any particular agricultural policy. Just reading, well, I won't read it initially. I also note for you that Naomi Wilkreb Coslin, who's registered health, was also one of the contributing authors to this. And Mike Fisher, who you mentioned in the Office of Healthcare Advocates. So these are the types of folks we worked with to inform this brief, which really describes the situation of Vermont farmers and the farmer perpetuated to healthcare as of five or six years ago. So I'm going to read just the first part of this just so we contextualize a little bit at that time. It says, Access to physical and mental health care is directly connected to farm viability and quality of life. And this is really what we want you all to understand. Healthcare costs and the cost of living have far past gains and farm based income in other forms of income in Vermont. This affects farmers, farm workers, consumers, ramifications for food access to farm operations. Farm families and farm workers have difficulties accessing health insurance and healthcare due to high cost of insurance, including deductibles, probates and policy costs, lack of or inadequate insurance coverage and limited access to rural providers. Lack of access to affordable healthcare can impact farm productivity, hiring of farm workers, farm risk management strategies, farm transition, land access and the need for off farm income. In a national study, this was five years ago, a majority of, or much more than this, this study was longer ago, a study, a majority of farmers reported they couldn't withstand a major health crisis without going into debt or selling off their farm assets. In the first century, exception to Vermont farmers report the cost of health insurance as a major barrier to farming full time, farming long term, or hiring on family employees. I'll leave that there for now, but that's just a little bit so you understand this is a part of Vermont's state agricultural plan, agency of ag and otherwise. That includes the recommendations here. So given some of that context, I mean, another thing want to plan out is the recommendationary healthcare for farm workers, given that Naomi will hear later. That's in backside, I think number three, devote resources to working with migrant and immigrant farm workers and advocates to address individual structural challenges, barriers, and disparities in access to healthcare, and improve effectiveness, safety and efficiency of healthcare services for these farm workers. That is the work of Bridges to Health. So I'm so excited that she'll be here later to talk about that. I hope that we all can find ways to support that program. Given some of this context, I came today talking what you all have been talking about, the loss of these advanced credits, the impending healthcare crisis. As Matti said, Vermont is anticipating the loss of these premiums. We're anticipating some of biggest losses in the country. Public Assets Institute right down the road here has put out a paper on that. And we already have the highest premiums in the country, which they've also put a paper out on. According to the Public Assets Institute, middle income participants on the exchange of Vermont are looking at an additional 10,000 a year for an individual plan of 32,000 for a family of four. Vermont Digger reports that Vermont premium prices have doubled or more, and farmers and small business owners are some of the demographics most dependent, as Maddie rightly mentioned nationally, the numbers around that. And I wanted to bring, we couldn't get a farmer in here, but I'd have some anonymized testimony. This is one farmer writing. As I am one of the many self employed people likely to lose my health insurance from January 1 without the subsidy to make the policy affordable, I've been doing some research on what my options might be. I own a farm, so I don't want to go uninsured. Similar situation for a bunch of farmers I do agronomy and business planning consulting with. This is someone who also works as farmers. Described the increasing costs for the only two healthcare providers forecast on the exchange as out of reach for many of us, plus it's fairly useless unless we have a health catastrophe. The self employed farm consultants and farmers won't have the income to pay those premiums if they are too sick or injured to work. So it's still debatable how useful the insurance is. The three other potential ideas she explores are buying a catastrophic plant, which would at least have a lower premium, joining a religious organization which self insurers instead of hoping for the best and it never happened, leaving Vermont to live in adjacent states of Canada, which healthcare is more affordable. She says, I have a couple more quotes here, that Medicaid funds Green Mountain Care, which many Vermont farmers get their insurance through. Health insurance subsidies provided through the Affordable Care Act the only way that thousands of farmers and other self employed providers are able to afford to see extremely high premiums or Vermont Health Insurance. If the state doesn't either allow health insurance to offer a huge deductible plan with a smaller premium or if the state doesn't figure out how to kick in some pretty substantial subsidies, a lot of us buying insurance we exchange while Health Connect will be uninsured at beginning of next year. And our local hospitals and clinics may close our limited services. He says, moved to New York, I could get the same insurance for a fraction of the cost we have to pay here. So on top of affordability, she mentions the other concerns around hospitals and access. And I think you're all aware that we're seeing loss of access to essential services in South Berlin Center, Copley Close, South Burlington inpatient, I believe, mental health facility close, we're seeing others being threatened to close. We're seeing fewer providers rarely, and we're seeing overburdened care workers at hospitals and otherwise. And we also see these coming changes to Medicaid on the horizon. So we feel like we got to both support people in navigating this moment in the various ways we have. That's reducing harm on the ground. So the Office of a Healthcare Advocate in Nova Vermont, rural Vermont, we're working with them to build some webinars to support farmers with enrollment, understanding changes to Medicare, and also as a tax support, where we're talking to Bridges of Health about how we can support them and otherwise. So there's this place on the ground where we can sort of do work to sort of navigate things. But I definitely want to elevate see the recommendations of the state aggrieve, again, is part of the state plan, includes universal publicly funded healthcare. We also have an existing statute Act 48, established a framework for health by the universal healthcare system in Vermont. Among its principles existing in law right now, say Vermont must ensure universal access to coverage for high quality medically necessary health insurance for all Vermont. Systemic barriers such as cost must not prevent people from accessing necessary healthcare. So I think from our perspective, we are just encouraging you all to both support people navigating things on the ground, but also to be bold and look at these large structural issues that have existed for a long time. These credits were already being a mandate from a broken system. So we're just asking you all to reject austerity efforts to look at progressive and equitable revenue generation as alternatives, whether that's the fair share coalition, natural equitable taxation such that working class folks like farmers aren't paying more than wealthy people, their fair share of taxes in this state and otherwise. Otherwise, happy to take questions. I'm really glad that you're hearing from the Office of Healthcare, the information to help about SNAP, etcetera, later, and also from the folks working with our integrated farm workers, Thomas.

[Chair David Durfee]: Thank you, Graham. Any questions? Yes, yeah, we'll scan this and post this.

[Graham Unangst-Rufenacht (Rural Vermont, Co-Executive Director)]: Thank you, Austin. Yeah. All

[Chair David Durfee]: right, Mary White, good morning.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau; dairy farmer)]: Good morning, everyone. Can you hear me?

[Chair David Durfee]: We can. Yeah. Thank you for waiting patiently. Absolutely. I'm not sure whether we've met before or whether you've testified, but you're now with the Farm Bureau.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau; dairy farmer)]: Yes. So I've testified before in many different aspects. I'm also a dairy farmer and a crop insurance agent.

[Chair David Durfee]: Okay. Good. Yes.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau; dairy farmer)]: Wear many hats.

[Chair David Durfee]: Well, we've got, I think, some written testimony from you. No. Well, if you've got written testimony, and Graham, this goes for you too. If you want to submit it, we'll post it. Mary, welcome.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau; dairy farmer)]: Thank you. Yes. So Amber does, or maybe you have them already in inbox, there was some fact sheets that we sent over from USDA for the current drought relief programs that are available. So I will reference those as well. But today, I really want to paint a picture of where our farmers stand in terms of this drought, how the shutdown impacted, how the changes that were referenced today in the one big beautiful bill have changed some of these programs, and where do we go from here? So again, my name is Mary White. I am now the president of the Vermont Farm Bureau. I am also a small dairy farmer in Orange County, and I've worked in the agribusiness insurance industry for fifteen years. As many Vermonters felt uncertainty and frustration with the government shutdown, Vermont farmers were faced with market implications, lack of resources, critical data, and left in limbo during the worst drought conditions since 1908. It couldn't have come at a worse time for the Vermont farm economy and the national economy. Our farmers are facing an economic storm right now and are barely holding on. We've had many producers and members contact us with testimony to those exact words. Production expenses are at record highs throughout all sectors of agriculture. Dairy producers watch milk prices drop by $2 a hundredweight almost overnight. Corn, soybean, and other farmers are facing low yields from drought conditions in a wet spring, and some combined with low pricing for their products. Crop insurance is a federal program. There are two main types of crop insurance program. The first is multi peril crop insurance, which is called MPCI, and this is sold through private insurance carriers. The main crops that covers in Vermont are corn, soybeans, as well as some apples and barley. These coverages and lost payments were not impacted by the shutdown due to the fact that they are controlled by private insurance carriers. So those coverages were not disruptive from the shutdown. This would also include programs such as pasture rangeland and forage, which is calculated off a rain grid, not your actual harvest data. And I will note why we're talking about hemp. Hemp is an eligible NPCI crop, but not in Vermont. We should really work towards that, but there are 20 other plus states that have hemp as an eligible crop. Vermont is not one of them. The other insurance program I think you're all familiar with is NAP, Non Insured Crop Disaster Assistance, which is administered by the FSA. NAP is available for most crops that aren't eligible in the previous program, including vegetables, fruit, hay. We see a lot of pumpkins as well. NAP was directly impacted by the shutdown. Claims could not be processed or paid. They are now working diligently and hard to get these claims processed, but many farmers are struggling to offset these losses out of pocket. The closure of the USDA offices during harvest time created difficulties for many farmers. Vermont farmers operate in a very tight growing season. These decisions cannot be put on hold. The lack of market reports and access to funding greatly impacted farmers' decisions on planning for twenty twenty six crop year, from seed to fertilizer to insurance and limited borrowing capacity. The current Drought Relief Program fact sheets have been provided to you. There are three main programs available. The first is livestock forage disaster program, which previously required eight consecutive weeks of drought conditions to be eligible. The One Big Beautiful bill did change this to allow for one month of ineligible payment from a four week drought and a second payment for an eligible eight consecutive weeks. This requires acreage reporting to FSA as well as written lease agreements for all these grazing, and it is only for grazing herds. So the main diet contributor for those livestock have to be from grazing. There is also an emergency conservation program, which is a great program, but this requires environmental review prior to the project. We are again, grateful for these programs, but most farmers this summer were faced with the reality of drilling a well or selling the livestock. Awaiting was not an option for them. And I think we all learned or have heard that well drilling is expensive. It can start anywhere from 15,000 and run up to 30,000. While we appreciate the return to work for USDA employees, critical disaster programs were halted and some pushed out from original payout dates that producers were counting on while looking at the volatility of these markets. Open enrollment for the Emergency Livestock Relief Program for the 2023 and twenty twenty four floods are still open. So, that is expected to close. It was supposed to close in October, and now it is extended to November 21. But that is the reality these producers are living in, is that we are still looking at funding from the floods, And if we do see a drought regulation, it is going to be into the 2026 crop year, if not beyond, before we see any relief when producers are struggling on the farm to pay for these things out of pocket to keep their farms and their families viable. We applaud the extension of the Farm Bill as a result of the reopening of the government with continued support for these programs as well as DMC. But we need to also realize the market implications created by the potential lapse of SNAP funding that directly impacted some of these markets, including dairy. A farmer's first priority is to provide food, and SNAP is the largest portion of the Farm Bill. Food availability and security needs to be a priority, starting with the farmers that produce these products. This government shutdown undoubtedly showed why funding for the Vermont Farm Security Fund is vital for Vermont farmers, the farm economy, and Vermont's food security in real time. I'll take any questions.

[Abby Willard (Director of Agricultural Development, VT Agency of Agriculture)]: Thank you, Mary.

[Chair David Durfee]: Representative Bragg.

[Representative Bragg]: Mary, what's happening with the American Farm Bureau? Because there are droughts everywhere, there are certainly weather incidents similar to Vermont, both too much water, too little water. So how Vermont's role in that and vice versa work?

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau; dairy farmer)]: Yes, so we're working with AFBF on several things. One is, one big thing was encouraging the reopening of the government and getting that extension for the Farm Bill to specifically open some of these programs for producers. We are also looking towards the One Big Beautiful Bill changes to some of these commodity prices that have been adjusted as a result and on these programs. There was a significant portion, not significant, but there was also increased subsidy as part of the crop insurance programs, which is encouraging producers to hopefully sign up. They also increased the beginning farmer rancher thresholds to allow farmers an offset in premium for, I believe, ten years instead of five. So, there are things happening on the national level to help support producers in an event of a disaster like this to help make resources more available and more affordable.

[Chair David Durfee]: Other questions? All right. We have more testimony. Thank you, Mary. We've got more testimony from the Farm Bureau of the Enbridge.

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: I have those programs that Mary was discussing about this day here, so I

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: can just leave them. Okay. I will keep my testimony to words. For the record, Amber Perry, Vermont Farm Bureau. I serve as the administrator and the policy director.

[Amber Perry (Vermont Farm Bureau, Administrator & Policy Director)]: This past spring season has been extremely hard for our Vermont farmers. The drought affected nearly every sector of Vermont agriculture, dairy, efines, produce, hay cropping. I do want to note that we don't know the impacts on maple land. I'm sure we'll be learning about that in the spring, so I want everyone to be aware that we should be monitoring that closely as well. The federal government shutdown compounded the struggles of our farmers. Where do they turn when they need someone? They turned it to the USDA. They couldn't turn there, so they were battling these challenges alone. And I also want to urge just something that we should think about. The average farmer in Vermont is 57 years old. 25 of our Vermont farmers fall in the 65 and older brackets. When we are trying to engage or figure out their struggles, we need to do so in a way that reaches them. Some of them won't pick up a phone, some of them won't use a computer. So how else are we getting that information from them? We urge the committee to continue advocating for both federal and state level solutions that can provide short term and long term stability. This includes investment in water structure, drought preparedness, emergency support programs that keep our farms operating when our federal systems go unavailable. I thank you for taking the time to hear from us today, and I think the most important are the three stories I'm going to share with you from our members. Darryl is a livestock farmer in Rutland County. He saw impacts on pasture, bay, and water. His words: I do try to plan for a drought by banking some pastures. Regrowth was the issue for hay and pasture. I had to move cattle to our other farm across the town for a couple of weeks of pasture before having to start feeding hay early. This year, I had to purchase about $800 of hay to supplement my beef herd. I would normally have extra hay, but the second cut was pretty miserable and I had to graze the sheep on what would normally be my third cut. I was pulling water out of my stream as my upper well dropped down to about nearly 60 gallons a day. I was fortunate that we got some rain, which got the stream running again. I used a sub pump to fill a tank and then fill the water tank in the pasture. My HomeWell is good for our home, and I try using it sparingly as it's a poor producer. I do use it for yearly sheep household in the barn. I also have a 5,000 gallon underground cistern. Livestock, but it's almost empty and I'm holding off buying water unless I have to. I have a good well in my winter feeding area. I know there are plenty of other farmers that have it much worse than I. And then I will share a story from View Farm. They are an agriculture service. They do custom cropping and manure application. I'm writing on behalf of Kelly View Farm Inc, an agriculture service provider serving producers across the Northeast Kingdom and Northern New Hampshire. I wish to inform you of the significant impact that the ongoing drought has had on our business operation, as well as the broader agricultural economy and our area. Over the past four months, the persistent lack of rainfall has resulted in a reduced crop acreage, lower yields, and a financial strain on many of our dairy producers. As a result, we have experienced a marked decline in sales of essential agricultural inputs and services, including manure application, grass harvesting, and corn harvesting. Compared to the same period last year, our sales have decreased by approximately 11% in the harvesting sector and 25% in the mutual application sector, directly reflecting the challenges faced by local farmers. Beyond our company's immediate financial challenges, this downturn has a wider economic impact. Reduced agricultural production affects local employment, supply chains, and rural economies that depend heavily on farm related activity. While our team continues to work closely with producers to manage input costs and to maximize limited resources, the ongoing drought has placed a sustained strain on both producers and service providers alike. Despite these challenges, we remain committed to supporting producers through flexible service options and resource management guidance, and we wanted to bring this matter to your attention, as the situation underscores the continued need for drug relief initiatives and agricultural support programs at the state level. Any assistance or consideration that you can provide to help offset these adverse conditions, whether through emergency funding, loan flexibility, or drought recovery programs, would make a meaningful difference for both ag service providers and producers we serve. Thank you for the attention to this issue, for your continued support of agriculture community, and we would gladly provide any further information for me and discuss local impacts of the drought in greater detail. My neighbors.

[Chair David Durfee]: That test one, yeah.

[Jed Lipsky (Committee Clerk)]: Mine has raised their hand, but it's not indicating it on the screen.

[Chair David Durfee]: Oh, who is it?

[Jed Lipsky (Committee Clerk)]: It doesn't tell me, it's just a gentleman raised hand.

[Chair David Durfee]: Okay. Mary, do you want us to, yeah, okay. Well, Representative O'Brien. This might be

[Representative John O'Brien]: a better question for Michael Fisher, but you, Amber or Mary may know. It was really interesting about how our average farmers, 25% of them are 65 or older. So is there actually an advantage with Medicare being better coverage than Medicaid when you actually get to that I

[Amber Perry (Vermont Farm Bureau, Administrator & Policy Director)]: don't know the answer to that.

[Representative John O'Brien]: Because in general you hear Medicaid is always under attack, whereas Medicare may be less so, but I don't know. We'll know in a few more. Hang in there, Richard.

[Representative Richard Nelson]: But it's nice to be above average anyway. A hurry, John.

[Amber Perry (Vermont Farm Bureau, Administrator & Policy Director)]: And then I have one more story from a Jerry Marker. Hello, my name is Catherine Rowley Fosley, recently married, a fourth generation dairy farmer on my family's farm in Milton, Rowley Brothers' Harry. Our farm recently rebuilt following our devastating fire in

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: the 2024.

[Amber Perry (Vermont Farm Bureau, Administrator & Policy Director)]: As we have collectively wanted to continue farming and pass the legacy on to the next generation. Following the unexplainable turmoil and the hardship of not producing milk for nearly nine months without making an income, managing our cattle between nine farms across the state and continuing to care for and raise for our young stock, we were finally able to bring the cows home. We are excited to be in our new facility and we continue to remain optimistic for the future of Vermont agriculture. While we continue to work through the challenges that are out of our control. Due to the drought, we had to drill a new well to feed our cattle, which at large was an unexpected expense on top of the ever climbing expenses to allow us to properly care for our cattle and land and to continue to produce our product. In addition, our corn crop is stunted and we have less hay than in years past. As the milk market is so incredibly volatile, we are another multi generational firm that is working each and every day to produce high quality food without the means to pay ourselves and our bills. There are federal relief programs that could help us with these circumstances. However, with the government shutdown, we were not able to apply or access this funding and to help our farms stay afloat during unusual trying times. Due to the shutdown, we were also unable to contact FSA employees to ask about the dairy margin coverage to help with the decrease in health care costs. We as dairy farmers are internally optimistic. We take pride in making each day bright and early to care for our animals, our lands, and our image. With a full heart, I can say that I love dairy farming. It is more than just a job, it is who I am. However, as we continue to face new challenges, it's becoming increasingly hard to survive and weather the literal and figurative storm, or lack thereof.

[Chair David Durfee]: Thank you, and thank you to everyone who shared All those the new farmers.

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: We just wanted to make sure we shared their stories.

[Chair David Durfee]: So we talked a little bit about S60, which is just as a reminder that this is the Farm and Forest Relief Fund bill that's in appropriations, in house appropriations. And then there have been a couple of other suggestions, I think, in the testimony that you read. Amber and Mary, you may have also alluded to a couple of other things that we could do as a state. I'm wondering whether the Farm Bureau specifically has been in touch with the if there's anything you'd like to share with

[Graham Unangst-Rufenacht (Rural Vermont, Co-Executive Director)]: us

[Chair David Durfee]: about specific things that you'd like to see happen next year that might end up in the budget or the budget adjustment.

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: We strongly would love for F-sixty to pass. Maybe we should reconsider. I'm not sure if, even if caught off top of my head, if we had the custom harvesters, I

[Jed Lipsky (Committee Clerk)]: have frenzies, would have been that

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: because they're obviously taking a financing that does well.

[Chair David Durfee]: Yeah. I'm not I I don't know whether they were We talked about it. I can't remember. Yeah. I I feel like they're not specifically in the language, but I don't know whether they would qualify or not the way that it's written. But something to look at then. Okay. Representative O'Brien?

[Representative John O'Brien]: What can you just give us an update on where that was at? Like, I I was interrupted past, but it was unfunded, or is it just marooned and Yeah. That's as far as it got.

[Representative Richard Nelson]: Not public. Yeah. Perhaps it's an outsider.

[Chair David Durfee]: Yeah. The we we you may remember, took some testimony on a proposed amendment that we we I think in the straw poll, we're okay with the language. And and and while it's this is after we had voted it out, and it was in appropriations. And when we get back in January, it's possible that appropriations will be interested in looking at that bill, and perhaps more so given the the the testimony we're hearing today, but also just everything that's out there. So that may be encouraging.

[Representative Richard Nelson]: I had farmers emailing a certain member of the corporation just letting them know how wonderful this year was going.

[Chair David Durfee]: Any other questions for Amber or Mary? Alright. Thank you very much. Now I see Sydney Collier has joined us. And I recognize the last name.

[Graham Unangst-Rufenacht (Rural Vermont, Co-Executive Director)]: Steve. Oh, okay, good. Steve,

[Chair David Durfee]: hi. Good morning. Morning. Are you with your colleagues or are you in a separate Well,

[Steve Collier (General Counsel, VT Agency of Agriculture)]: I'm out of the country on vacation and they are about trying to sign on from Waterbury right now.

[Chair David Durfee]: Okay. Well, that's very generous of you to take time away from your vacation to

[Steve Collier (General Counsel, VT Agency of Agriculture)]: Well, join us this thank you. I'm sorry that I'm in a t shirt, but that's what I had.

[Chair David Durfee]: I wasn't gonna point that out, but. I think the rest of You can fill in while we're waiting here, Steve. I think the rest of the agency, those of you who are working today are on retreat or in an all staff meeting? Correct. Yep.

[Steve Collier (General Counsel, VT Agency of Agriculture)]: They purposely scheduled it when I wouldn't be there to ruin it.

[Chair David Durfee]: And my understanding was that despite that, that some of the folks would would be able to join us from Waterbury where they're meeting. So Right. Yeah. Maybe maybe they're trying to get on now.

[Jed Lipsky (Committee Clerk)]: Not yet.

[Chair David Durfee]: Not just yet. Okay.

[Steve Collier (General Counsel, VT Agency of Agriculture)]: I I know they're trying, mister chair. I I did get a text from people that they're working on it.

[Chair David Durfee]: Okay. Alright.

[Representative John O'Brien]: Good question. Either I'm sure the ag agency knows. But, Maddie, what what are the six counties that were qualifying

[Representative Richard Nelson]: for drought? Do know?

[Chair David Durfee]: Oh, the

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: Northeastern ones. But, like, down to Orange, believe. Yeah. And up to Essex and Orleans. But it's only part of some counties and entire counties. Think only just So

[Representative Richard Nelson]: right down to Greens, you know, everything to the East, Orleans, Essex, Caledonia, probably a little while. Washington Orange? Maybe it's probably Washington and Orange.

[Representative John O'Brien]: But not your way.

[Graham Unangst-Rufenacht (Rural Vermont, Co-Executive Director)]: That's it.

[Chair David Durfee]: Yeah. We've actually, Bennington County is, I don't know what color it is on that map, but it hasn't been as dry. Oh, in Franklin County, the

[Representative Richard Nelson]: sons of Doug. Had corn out of the ground, they had corn in the bag and their corn went right fast because they get more GDUs and then they got rained if we didn't get.

[Jed Lipsky (Committee Clerk)]: It means someone who joined under just a period.

[Chair David Durfee]: Yeah.

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: So perhaps that's

[Chair David Durfee]: Oh, there we go, Alison. Hi,

[Deputy Secretary Alison Eastman]: Good morning, Anson says they are hopefully logging on soon.

[Chair David Durfee]: Okay, all right.

[Deputy Secretary Alison Eastman]: We had our all agency staff meeting today. So Yep. They're actually waiting at human services to get, like, in the door of the bill.

[Chair David Durfee]: Okay. Well, we're glad to see you, Alison, and we are I don't know whether you had any testimony. If you we we can go ahead and and have you start if there's anything that you've specifically wanted to say.

[Deputy Secretary Alison Eastman]: Yeah, mean Anton was prepared to kick us off.

[Representative Richard Nelson]: Don't feel

[Deputy Secretary Alison Eastman]: his thunder, but I certainly could.

[Chair David Durfee]: Well, hang on one second here. Yeah. There I see. Yeah. Good. Alright. Good morning, Anson, mister secretary.

[Secretary Anson Tebbetts (VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: Good morning. How are we all doing?

[Chair David Durfee]: Good.

[Graham Unangst-Rufenacht (Rural Vermont, Co-Executive Director)]: Good.

[Chair David Durfee]: Are you all going to be on separate

[Secretary Anson Tebbetts (VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: I'm in Waterbury and in the same room with me is Pammy Willard and Nicole. And when it's appropriate, can shift to them for their part of the program. We also have, remotely, deputy Eastman and also Steve Collier. They're in two different locations.

[Chair David Durfee]: They've already checked in. Okay. And we might as well jump right in. I I know that you you've got a lot to share. We've I will just say that we've heard testimony this morning. You've probably seen the agenda, but we've we've had our conversations have been about the drought, about the pending loss of the premium tax credits on the impact on farmers. We heard from the federal delegation with some some detail on what's in the bill that did pass the House and Senate earlier this week, and how that will impact the the agriculture community in the state. But and and we're happy to hear on all those subjects and any others that you've got. We're we're as I've said at the start of the day, we have a lot and not enough time to cover all of it today. So while we would hope to wrap up around noon, if we get to noon and there's still important things that you need to share with us, we will try and accommodate.

[Secretary Anson Tebbetts (VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: Fantastic. Well, thank you all. Thank you for allowing us to be with you remotely. Today is our all agency meeting, so the entire agency is meeting in the Waterbury Complex, and we're joining you from Human Services today. So thank you for the accommodation, allowing us to testify remotely. Again, for the record, I'm Anson Tebbetts with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets. I want to just update you on a few things related to disaster relief, the drought, and some federal issues. I'm joined here in Waterbury with our Ag Development Director Abby Willard and also Operations Director Nicole Dubuque. Joining us remotely is Deputy Secretary Alison Eastman our and General Counsel Steve Collier. Let's begin with some recent federal news. Federal government is now open again, and that is good news for the agency, for Vermonters, and everyone that's related to USDA involvement. Under the bill passed and signed into law Wednesday night, the farm bill receives a one year extension. That means if there are future disagreements or potential shutdowns, USDA will remain funded through October 2026. This provides some, much needed predictability and stability for our farm community and those that rely on the federal USDA programs. We are still reviewing, the details of the bill, but overall, it's encouraging news ensuring again predictability, until at least October 2026. The shutdown did temporarily impact our negotiations over a block grant that's coming to Vermont in response to the severe weather of the '23 and '24. Despite that, we are pleased to report the agency successfully negotiated a $30,000,000 assistance package that will be for 2324 disaster relief. These funds will eventually come to the agency of agriculture and be distributed back to the farm community. We still have a few steps to finalize in that package, but work continues on that contract, and we will resume meetings with USDA beginning next week. I want to highlight that USDA FSA also has their own agreements that may be helpful in the meantime for disaster relief. This is above and beyond that, so there may be instances where FSA, USDA may be able to step in and help what's happening now with drought, and also other programs through 2023 and 2024. But this is a separate block grant that will come to the Agency of Agriculture, and then we'll distribute those funds to farmers in the farm community. FSA, USDA may have some other programs that they will be doing over the next year or so. Back to the drought, unfortunately the '25 was not kind to our farmers and our producers. We did experience a severe drought, and although recent rains have helped somewhat, the growing season has ended and the losses, remain significant. The agency currently has a a survey, to assess the full impact of the drought, and Abby Willard, will share some of the details a bit along in this program in a moment. In addition, the legislation that you did approve last session and was supported by the governor and the agency is already being implemented to address severe weather impacts. VITA launched a relief program two weeks ago to assist farmers affected by the drought. Farmers can apply for up to a $100,000 in assistance to help with that recovery. Anyone interested should contact VITA directly. But that program is up and running, and if farmers or producers need some assistance in the meantime, VIDA has that program up and running. Those are a couple of our highlights. If it's appropriate, mister chairman, I could turn it over to Nicole or Abby for some more details on the block grant that is coming, or also if you want more details on what we're hearing about the drought and the impact, it is significant. It is going to be a multimillion dollar loss to our farm community. In some areas, it hit harder than others, but essentially it's it's a statewide impact. Happy to do that and I'm happy to take any questions you might have for me at this time.

[Chair David Durfee]: Okay, thank you. And yes. I think we would love to hear from both Nicole and maybe start with the good news, the block grant.

[Secretary Anson Tebbetts (VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: Yeah. Gonna switch seats here, and everyone, this is you know, Nicole knows she's our operations director in New Jersey. She's going to take the chair here, and she can give you an update of how the negotiations are going on with USDA FSA. Those began essentially today,

[Chair David Durfee]: and we're going

[Secretary Anson Tebbetts (VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: to have a meeting with the Washington folks next week. So I'm going to turn it over to Nicole.

[Jed Lipsky (Committee Clerk)]: Hello.

[Chair David Durfee]: Good morning.

[Nicole Dubuque (Operations Director, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: Good morning. First testimony of the year. So for the record, Nicole Dubuque, Operations Director for the Agency of Agriculture. I can start by talking about the disaster relief block grant, which myself and the rest of New England, we refer to it as the two twenty block grant because it comes from an allotment of funds that were in the continuing resolution in December 2024, specifically for $220,000,000 for disaster relief for 2023 and 2024 weather events that happened in New England, Hawaii, and Alaska. So we have been working with our other New England states kind of working out what what we need and developing plans with the Farm Service Agency, including providing data for what the total losses and damages were for Vermont. Ultimately, were tentatively awarded $31,700,000 that we are currently negotiating with USDA to put into a grant. And once the grant is executed, we would be able to access the administrative funds as part of that grant, and then be able to move forward with establishing the program and getting that up and running. The eligibility criteria for that funding will specifically be for any producer that incurred damage or loss due to weather events that happened in Vermont during calendar year 2023 or calendar year 2024. As I said, we haven't established the full work plan yet. So as far as what the maximums will be and what we will need as far as supporting documentation for that. That has not been established or approved by USDA at this time. But ultimately, the main focus of this block grant will be on infrastructure loss and then also on market loss. And there are some other subcategories that that we could talk about as we get further into the work plan. I do want to also mention just outside of the block grant, because I know that you all might question why aren't we directly covering crops when that was a huge loss for us. And that's because USDA also has another program that they're running in Vermont called S DRP, which is the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program. And that is a program that's run directly from Farm Service Agency, and producers would go to them to apply for that program, and the focus of that is crops. So that's my summary. I'm happy to take any questions.

[Chair David Durfee]: Great. Thank you. Representative O'Brien?

[Representative John O'Brien]: Nicole, so would that cover that early frost that was so devastating to mortars and fruit, or would they would those producers more likely have to apply for the that second federal program you just mentioned?

[Nicole Dubuque (Operations Director, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: Nope. Any weather event that happened in calendar year 2023. It does not have to be specific to the flood. So, yes, if there were infrastructure damage or loss or market loss due to the, the frost, we could absolutely cover that. And I think we'll probably see that from a lot of orchards and vineyards.

[Chair David Durfee]: Right. Can you explain a little bit more the distinction between market loss and crop loss?

[Nicole Dubuque (Operations Director, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: Sure. So market loss is less about the actual crop being lost and more about exactly what it is, market loss, sorry, not to be too obvious, but if we're talking about orchards, for example, right, a lot of them run on a pick your own model, and so it's not necessarily about them losing the apples, it's about there was damage to the area of the orchard that made it so people couldn't walk down there, they couldn't do different activities that would get people to come in and pick the apples and buy the apples, that's kind of my standard example that I give. So they lost that market essentially, right? They couldn't do their pick your own for the year. They couldn't bring people in or open their farm stand during that time, so they lost a market of people that would normally come in and buy the value added products and pay for the pick your own, that type of thing. So

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: it can be a little

[Nicole Dubuque (Operations Director, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: bit of a gray area, and we're working on making sure that our definitions are clear.

[Chair David Durfee]: Sticking with the apple orchard illustration then, if you had a different orchard model where the business model where there was no pick your own or no farm stand, but they just sold all they produce to wholesaler retailers, are they going to be eligible for the block grant funding, or would they have to turn to that other program?

[Nicole Dubuque (Operations Director, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: So that's a kind of a nuanced question. So I think if if we could say there was a market loss because they couldn't, you know, sell the item or they couldn't access the crop, then we could talk about how that works. But generally speaking, if they had normally been doing like a wholesale operation, for example, and they just lost the crop and couldn't fill their contract, they would likely have to go to SDP. But I think it's going be very individualized.

[Chair David Durfee]: Representative Nelson, thank you, Nicole.

[Representative Richard Nelson]: Nicole, so with people that got flooded out, let's say up in up and down the Winooski River with the vegetable farms and they they lost their crop and there is no federal insurance program for that they lost the ability to have farmers markets or their farm stands. Is this program for, to help fulfill that law?

[Nicole Dubuque (Operations Director, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: So if they weren't able to participate in the farmers market or the farmers market that they would normally sell their crop at can't happen?

[Chair David Durfee]: Is that

[Representative Richard Nelson]: the could they had no crop to sell. Yeah.

[Jed Lipsky (Committee Clerk)]: So that's There what

[Representative Richard Nelson]: is no insurance program for them, I don't know if they follow fall under the disaster relief, whatever acronym they pulled out of NASA for.

[Nicole Dubuque (Operations Director, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: So my understanding is that if it is purely a crop loss, either they couldn't grow it or they lost the field and they couldn't ever, you know, they never got to the point of harvest, right? That my understanding is that they would go to SDRP if they in fact had some of the crop and they can show that the farmers market that they normally sell it at could not be held because of weather events, that would be more of a market loss. And I just I wanna be clear, we're still working on the definitions of this. So I I don't wanna go too too far in the weeds and confuse people, but I I think that's kind of where the line is. It's like, can they show that a market was lost for the the product that they're growing or the the commodity that they're growing?

[Chair David Durfee]: In terms of eligibility then, Nicole, it sounds like I I know I'm thinking back to 2023, July or August. So not not the heavy frost, but the the heavy rain. And we the agency began seriously reaching out, collecting loss data. And then the BGAP program, I think, a response to that. If someone didn't participate in that or didn't submit any information at the time, would they still be potentially eligible qualifying?

[Nicole Dubuque (Operations Director, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: My understanding from Farm Service Agency is yes, that they are really focused on making sure that somebody isn't double dipping, so to speak. Like they're not using two USDA programs to get paid for kind of the same loss. But as far as them participating in a state program, that doesn't change their eligibility to participate in the federal program, is what we received for an answer on that question.

[Chair David Durfee]: Okay. Interesting. Any other questions or anything else you wanted to add, Nicole?

[Nicole Dubuque (Operations Director, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: I I don't think so. I I'm very excited that we're gonna start conversation again and have our weekly meetings again with USDA next week, and happy to keep you all as updated as possible as we go forward. I think we're pretty close to having a a grant agreement.

[Chair David Durfee]: Okay. Well, we're not gonna hold you to that just because we've been hearing about this for a while.

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: I know.

[Chair David Durfee]: It will be nice if that actually happens. Alright. Representative O'Brien.

[Representative John O'Brien]: Just quickly, Nicole, does the agency have estimates of how how much was lost on the farm side during those two years?

[Nicole Dubuque (Operations Director, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: Yeah, so we estimated it between 50,000,000 to $60,000,000 and we've really held to the 50,000,000 kind of being

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: what we would say is

[Nicole Dubuque (Operations Director, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: a really solid estimate of actual losses. That said, you know, there is a ripple effect, right? And if you don't have a market one year and you have to get back into it and you have

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: to get your field back in order

[Nicole Dubuque (Operations Director, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets)]: to grow, all of those things that I'm sure you guys are all aware of. So, you know, we've got estimates of kind of the total damage being much higher than that, but that was our ask of USDA was 50,000,000.

[Representative John O'Brien]: Great. Thank you.

[Jed Lipsky (Committee Clerk)]: Thank you.

[Chair David Durfee]: Alright. Well, then maybe we could have you turn it over to Abby. And I I know that the agency has set up a drought, a survey, and a website that shows in real time the results or the information that's been turned in there. And I think Abby's gonna talk a little bit about that and maybe other things. Morning.

[Abby Willard (Director of Agricultural Development, VT Agency of Agriculture)]: Good morning. Yeah. For the record, Abby Willard, Agency of Agriculture. Nice to see you all. And, yeah, it feels early to begin testimony, but speaking about the breath, the droughts were in factor to give you an update on. So there's a few pieces I can speak to around kind of national conditions that we know and national data around how Vermont fares nationally. So we are third in the nation currently based on national drought monitoring index, for the impact of this past growing season. That puts us just behind Maine and New Hampshire, but ahead of states like Arizona and New Mexico. So that gives you a sense of the severity of the growing season and the summer season that we had here in Vermont. Producers started communicating at least with our agency, in July that they were starting to see effects from the flood, even though when you look at precipitation rates, we were in some degree of a drought over the winter. So in January, February 2025, and then we had our spring rains, and we got a bunch of water in Vermont. And then beginning in August, September is when we started to move into extreme drought. Currently, our current conditions are that 41% of the Vermont is still in an extreme drought and 99% of the state is considered to be in a moderate drought. Early in the summer, we knew that, we would do a survey to capture ag drought impact data to be self reported by the ag community. And we chose to wait until later in the summer after later in the field season, after businesses would have an actual sense of what the loss was that they were experiencing on the farm. And so we made a decision to release the ag drought impact for 2025 survey on October 17. And prior to that time, I just think it's important to note that we received many calls at the agency of agriculture and lots of inquiries about, the need for water. So there were a lot of wells that were dry, lot of water hauling needs that were requested by the industry, and concerns about feed quality and quantity. So we also relaunched our feed finder directory for helping businesses be able to respond to both of those kind of like immediate needs that were being experienced throughout the summer. The survey that was launched in October was really targeting the agricultural community that were growing crops or raising livestock for sale and consumption beyond their families. So really not targeting kind of like a backyard operation for personal use. It did capture equine operations, so other livestock that wasn't intended to be consumed for food, but not the forestry sector. So that kind of gives you a sense of the audience that, the survey was targeting. And then ten days later, we launched a live dash board. So both the survey, which is still active, it's open until December 15, and a live dashboard that shows the results as they're coming in daily are available on our website. So you can get to it by going to agriculture.vermont.gov and then backslash drought. So in early January, I think we could feel prepared to share a final report that can kind of capture all the anecdotes and all the collective data once the survey is closed. But I wanted to share we wanted to share a few of the highlights that we've received in responses to date. So as of this morning, there's a 163 responses to the survey. There's responses from every county but Essex. The majority of their responses are submitted from Addison and Rutland Counties. And when asked about the impact of the survey, most respondents are saying it's a loss of crop yields for either feed or for market and insufficient pastures for forage, which both of those are challenging conditions going into winter and towards the financial viability and health of our ag businesses. There's quite a few references to livestock, water and crop irrigation challenges throughout the season as well. 56 folks that have responded to the survey, reported, having to haul water throughout some portion of this growing season, and some were forced to pump from alternative water sources because their primary or available water sources had gone dry. The 163 responses self report, over 65,000 acres of impact due to the drought this season with a total estimate of over $13,000,000 in losses. 60% of the respondents claim that this is the worst drought they've ever seen in Vermont. And 55%, so just a simple majority of the respondents claim either moderate to severe feed shortage impacts, which means that they'll either need to buy more feed or the loss of feed or the poor quality of feed will impact their business viability. When we look at the responses, a majority, about 75% of the responses come from an equal split of livestock, dairy, and produce operations. And then the remaining 25% is a mix of diversified farms and, the maple industry and then folks that are just cropping, hay, soybean, you know, other crops. 53% of the respondents so far are small farm operations. So, a mix of the size, but still a majority being our small farms. 64% of respondents claim they don't have crop or livestock insurance. And 72% of respondents haven't yet reported their drought impacts to other entities. We ask two questions about kind of like the impact that this drought may be having on their business for businesses to kinda just like give us a sense of what the any anticipated business changes that they anticipate making. Some of the top, answers have been investing in water resource management practices, so either irrigation, digging additional wells, of looking at their long term water resource availability. Others recommended or considered purchasing surplus feed beyond the needs that they might typically anticipate, with the assumption that we'll see similar weather patterns like this into the future. Some respondents are acknowledging that they plan to make changes to their herd size, so calling animals going into the winter or changing the scope of crop production in response to the difficulties of this drought season. Others talked about planning to implement new soil building conservation practices as a way to try to kind of retain and best utilize, soil and moisture retention in their in their cropland.

[Jed Lipsky (Committee Clerk)]: And

[Abby Willard (Director of Agricultural Development, VT Agency of Agriculture)]: then a few another question that was that could be a value, I think, to this committee is the supports that businesses claim that they could benefit from. A few comments around, needing to look at some new seeding of drought tolerant species in forage varieties. So not really sure what the long term impact of drought conditions may be on their, pasture or cropland, but starting to look at some different seed, and specie compositions. 50% of respondents said that financial assistance will be helpful to their business. And we ask a question around how quickly they anticipate, heading into a financial circumstance where they won't be able to recover. And you can see some of those response ranges on the dashboard. There was comments about the concern of lingering effects of the drought into the next year that could affect soil health, whether they did any overgrazing this fall, and how long it will take for water resources to recover for surface water or groundwater. Few comments about needing to use a line of credit to purchase additional feed to make it through the winter and then needing to pay down that line of credit and with low milk prices feeling like that'll be difficult to do. So those are some of the overarching themes. And then if you're open, I have about a half a dozen kind of, like, anecdotes that I wanted to share from different types of operations located throughout the state that I think could also kind of capture some of the conditions that that we're hearing from survey respondents. One is a livestock operation in Derby. And so, again, these are kind of their narrative responses in the survey. We attempted to re dig our spring excuse me. We attempted to re dig two springs, had to haul water twice a week for thirteen weeks. We had a well drilled that didn't have water after six zero five feet, and then we had to frack the well and received three gallons per minute to supply both the farm and the farmhouse. Another small dairy farm in Pollet said they just harvested a 125 acres of soybeans, and their yield was 38 bushels per acre. And they typically see yields over 55 bushels per acre having grown soybeans in Vermont for six years now. Their corn harvest was two thirds their normal harvest. And estimated losses at that farm on over 700 acres. A crop and livestock farm in Hardwick said that their spring went dry during this field season and the spring has never gone dry in over a hundred years of cultural memory on that farm. They normally graze stockpiled forage until snowfall, which usually happens around the November. And this year, the farm needed to start feeding hay on October 10. Our produce farm in Chittenden County reported these climate conditions are testing the viability of farms in Vermont. We have drastic yield reductions from late summer on and picked impacting our volume and quality. We stopped going to farmer's market and we and reduced our wholesale presence as well. We have minimal frozen products, Derek, stored for winter sales and for income of our value added products. Just a few more. Addison County crop farm reported over $400,000 loss in production losses and over 200,000 in incurred costs on over 1,700 acres. Private crop insurance doesn't touch the levels needed to continue our operation. We indicate going negative in cash flow in less than one month. Our business was also impacted by the twenty three flood, the 24 windstorm, the 2025 spring rains and early frost. A Christmas tree producer in Orange County, we're a startup Christmas tree farm and just planted three years ago. We lost every tree that we planted this year due to the drought. Last two, if we can handle two more. An Addison County dairy reported this drought is double whammy for the pasture dairy industry. Pastures were completely dormant by July 10 this summer, which reduced our cash flow for summer by about $600 per week. We'll go through winter feed we'll go through winter with no second or third cut hay. And so our winter production, you know, milk production will be reduced as well. We don't have money for purchased hay because the summer impacts on cash flow have already shrunk our bank account quite a quite a bit. And then the last example I wanted to share with you was from a Franklin County sugar maker that says that the lands of their sugaring operation were saturated until the second week in July, and then it quickly turned dry in August. This severe drought will affect the amount of sap we'll likely receive in the spring, which will either shorten the season or we may produce less syrup, which will be a devastating loss to our business. If we see some weather change and get some rain now through November before the trees freeze, we may be spared, but we've not had the rain we need to put more moisture into the ground for the trees to absorb. I can't put a dollar amount on the previous question of the total losses for our business until we see what the season brings. So those are the most, like, you know, disheartening, but also descriptive examples of some of, I think, the worst case, but also commonly occurring experiences that we were hearing and seeing reported across the state around the impact of 2025 on top of, you know, two previous years and calendar years of challenging natural disasters and weather events as well.

[Chair David Durfee]: Alright. Thank you for sharing those. I think it's very helpful to hear specific stories. So when we hear the drought and it's causing harm and and difficulty for folks, but hearing specifics is great. Many members have questions about any of that? The survey is still open, Nicole, or sorry, Abby?

[Abby Willard (Director of Agricultural Development, VT Agency of Agriculture)]: Yes, yeah, the survey is open until December 15, so for another month.

[Chair David Durfee]: Representative Nelson.

[Representative Richard Nelson]: Just a couple of statements, want to thank Abby and the whole team at the agency for being proactive with this drought and getting the word out and trying to find a help and you know when advocates say you know doing the work they've done and

[Chair David Durfee]: I think they're gonna,

[Graham Unangst-Rufenacht (Rural Vermont, Co-Executive Director)]: I'm hoping you

[Representative Richard Nelson]: know down the road there's relief from the federal government. Also last week was the American Dairy Expo and Abby was Aaron Anson, Laura Ginsburg and Cheryl Kelly and it was just a great show and I want to thank the agency's involvement in that and it was really nice and I hope it comes back again and I thank you all for that, it was a great show, everything you could imagine in dairy farming was there and although everyone said well the price of milk says we're not buying anything this year, it was nice to see what's there to drive efficiencies and for water quality and everything else to do with dairy farming. Excellent, Shell, thank you for your help with that.

[Abby Willard (Director of Agricultural Development, VT Agency of Agriculture)]: Yeah, thanks for bringing it up. I think our understanding is the expo will be back next year. We're excited about that as well. And it did have the feel of a nice celebration of the dairy industry. I think it was fun to see people out. It was nice to see you, representative. It was it was a nice day. I think it was, you know I think the attendance was relatively low. I think there's, like, additional promotion and advertisement we could do about the expo to have more producers in attendance and partners and stakeholders, but there were great vendors there. The buildings were full. There was a lot of information being shared and, yeah, exciting to have the American Dairy Expo choose to host an event like that in Vermont and celebrate our dairy industry.

[Jed Lipsky (Committee Clerk)]: Go ahead, after that, Marty. It was advertised, I saw it on across the fence, and it was in Essex at the fairgrounds, but I didn't see much advertisement for it's happening. And I think that's something that should be considered a bit of future.

[Abby Willard (Director of Agricultural Development, VT Agency of Agriculture)]: Yeah. I think that's that's good feedback. I mean, we were a first time partner with the American Dairy Expo this year. And I think we're, you know, we're getting a sense of the role that we can play in doing more marketing and promotion of this event in the future.

[Representative Richard Nelson]: Thank you. I was there all day, all day, and I saw everything, but got into very little of it. It's a two day event and you could spend your first day looking and then your second day diving deeper into who you want to talk to. It was really, really good.

[Chair David Durfee]: Abby, I don't know if your colleagues are still there in the room with you, and if there's anything else that anyone would like to say, we are at the top of the hour. But while you have our attention and vice versa, I don't want to wrap up until we've just heard if there's anything else that you'd like to share.

[Abby Willard (Director of Agricultural Development, VT Agency of Agriculture)]: Secretary Tebbetts, Nicole and I are okay. I feel like we gave you a good introduction. Certainly, more conversations on on the drought and on the assistance for the industry in the coming months. I don't know if deputy Usman or Steve Collier have anything more they wanna offer.

[Deputy Secretary Alison Eastman]: I think the only point that I would make is when we talk about crop insurance is just noting that it's based on the last five years of crops. And so with this year being so devastatingly low, we probably all should be aware that it's going to bring down their yield average for the following five years, which we hear a lot of concern about too. And that's something we can fix on the state level, but something we should be aware of. So that's unfortunate when we have a year like this growing. And secondly, just thank you for taking the time today to have this discussion. Obviously, we spent many days talking to farmers and it's been great to see the survey results and the live dashboard. So I'm happy to get anybody that info should they wish to see it and can't find it. Just send me an email.

[Chair David Durfee]: Okay, thank you. Steve, anything to add?

[Steve Collier (General Counsel, VT Agency of Agriculture)]: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was going to talk a little bit about SXT, but I won't given the time, but I would love to continue that conversation with the committee. But for today, I just really, like my colleagues, want to appreciate all of your dedication and attention and to coming to work early, to think about these issues. And also just to highlight what Abby talked about a bit. The devastation to our farms three years in a row is really concerning. And a much bigger picture is not particularly better in terms of our farms just struggling on a day to day basis. And our loss of farms and farmland in Vermont is just something that we're watching it happen in slow motion. And it doesn't often meet the top of the political agenda. So anything that all of us can do working together to make sure that we continue to have viable farms in Vermont, is I just, I think it's critically important. It has been for a long, long time. It continues to be. And I think it seems to be that in some ways we're at an inflection point where our farms are doing wonderful things and adapting and meeting the need and they're feeding us, but they're still suffering harm in a way that just often doesn't feel sustainable. So the more that we can do together to keep farming viable in Vermont, the better off we'll all be. So thank you so much for all your dedication and work toward that end.

[Chair David Durfee]: Alright. Good. Well, thank you, Steve, for taking time off from your day off your vacation and to the rest of the staff for stepping away from your previously scheduled all agency meeting. So thank you.

[Maddie (NOFA-VT representative)]: Thank you. Take care.

[Chair David Durfee]: We will we'll break now for lunch.