Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Good morning, Wednesday, 01/21/2026. I think it was like 54 degrees out there or shady- Minus. It's a little chilly morning out there. We're going spend our morning, at least a good hour of our morning, with the Vermont Conservation District, very important players in ag in Vermont. Been around for a long time, longer than what a lot of people would know, and also do a lot more than what people would know. So welcome, glad to have you here.

[Senator Joseph "Joe" Major (Vice Chair)]: Thank The floor is yours.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: Thank you very much for having us. I'm Michelle Major, I'm the Executive Director of the Remodel Association of Conservation Districts, and as Senator Ingalls mentioned, we've been around for longer than most people know. We were created in 1939. Every state in the country created conservation districts as part of the nationwide response to the Dust Bowl, and so we work very closely. We were created as partners with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. So we provide non regulatory assistance to farms, and we help farms ensure that they're in compliance with the RAPs, the required ag practices. We also assist farms with applications for financial assistance, grants, disaster assistance. We often coordinate multiple service providers on a given farm, so we're the person coordinating UBM and the folks from VHCB who are doing the farm viability work, manage all the service providers for the farmer. So, in last year, in 2025, we directly assisted four fifty two farms, which is a hefty percentage of the farms in Vermont that remain, and we also assessed 15,000 acres of farmland for land treatment planning and water quality concerns. You can see, I won't go through the whole list of things that we did on farms and in farmers, and then one of the unique aspects of the conservation district that they mentioned is our close relationship with NRCS, and they provide the funding. They provide millions of dollars every year in Vermont to farms to do disaster mitigation work, conservation work. When we talk about the fact that farms have had the largest the greatest progress in meeting our TMTL requirements, that's largely because of the funding that NRCS provides to farmers to support those practices. And so we help farmers access all of that money, which is close to 20,000,000 this year. So NRCS, though, has experienced some significant staffing losses. They've lost about a third of their staff in Vermont. They went from more than a 100 staff to less than 70. And so we've been adjusting our priorities and our workloads to help meet the fill those gaps. And then another the final sort of piece that I wanna mention of our relationship with NRCS is that our statutory partners in federal law for something that's called the local working group, we convene, the districts convene local landowners and various partners to say what are the conservation needs and priorities in this district, and we provide that information to NRCS to guide its priorities in the state and its priorities nationwide. And as per that process, so in Vermont, we're allowed to create what's called a Local Fun Pool that's focused on these priorities, and only the farms and landowners in that district can apply to that local fund pool, so it's very tightly focused on the needs of each district. So, for example, in Long Island, the current fund pool is focused on addressing, trying to reduce water flows at headwaters up in the upper reaches of streams so that we're not getting down into the Lemoyle, trying to stop the water flow at the top of those tributaries. So we this year, this current season, we've got 4,400,000.0 that's been set aside by NRCS for those local priorities in Vermont, and all the work that districts have been doing to bring in applications meant that we had 50,000,000 applications, 50,000,000 in applications last year, which meant that NRCS was able to go back to the national office and say, we need more money than you gave us, and they doubled the amount of funding available for the two largest NRCS programs in Vermont as a result of all of the application Northwest District did to bring to bring folks in. So that has brought actual money on the table to Florence and Virginia. So this year, I'm gonna actually nope. I'm gonna stop there, And I'm gonna turn it over to Lauren. Oh, here's a little bit of our other work. We do flood mitigation, drought mitigation, farm viability, and clean water work. Those are really

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: the four buckets that we have our work fits in.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: So digging into those buckets like that, drop mitigation, what might you have done for that right there?

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: Help we help farmers with a whole range of things, including irrigation systems, deciding if they need additional wells and water supplies, livestock systems, livestock watering systems. We actually have an engineer that we hired who's designing the systems in Southern Vermont, and we're looking to get, bring in a second engineer in Vermont to do similar work. So we directly support all of that, as well as, you know, we need wetlands, we do a lot of wetland preservation work, wetlands are really crucial to making sure that we're recharging our underground water supplies that we need to drop on that. So, that's some of the dry work that we do.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: Any questions before we move on? And funding wise, you said

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: you got it done. Yeah.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: And how quick does that get out to

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: To out the door to farmers? It usually takes, it's about a year long process to go from the applications through ranking the applications to then doing, like, let's say you get awarded money for an irrigation system on your farm, well then we've gotta get the engineer out there, they've gotta design it, you've gotta build it, then NRCS pays you at the end of that.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: And is that a farmer has to produce upfront money, get it done, then they get reimbursed? Then they get reimbursed. And what is the percentage of the reimbursement?

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: It varies by practice, so there are actually standards that say, we pay this much for cover crops, we pay this much for stems for an agroforestry project, we pay this much for an irrigation project, this much for an animal an animal waste storage facility, I believe we're calling them that.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: And is it on an average of how big the farm is, or the project? So like

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: It's the project. So they'll set it, like, at a per acre amount or a per stem amount if it's a planting. So, a per acre amount if it's a cover crop.

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: So, there's rates that are set,

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: and there's national rates and then the local local state office has some ability to vary those.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: And it's a year from the time that I do my cover crop that I get reimbursed, so almost a

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: decade Oh, year from your application to getting paid. So, get your application approved, then you do the work, then you get paid. So it depends. So you might, you get your application at the start of the planting season, your application is approved, you plant, then you plant your cover crop, and people go out like the staff of Hillary, Hillary's staff here can go out and just certify that, yes, you did that cover crop, and then NRCS pays you. So it depends on the practice, how long it takes from application to getting paid. Okay. Some take longer to do than others. You're not gonna do a manure pit in a year or so. It varies. And then just so you know that for every to remind you, for every dollar that we get in direct funding from the state, bring down $9 in assistance. So, But I think we were gonna turn things over to Lauren at this point.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Can I just ask one question on that last Yeah,

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: or no, guess to Michael?

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: Yeah.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: So for everyone, Conservation District receiving direct operational funding, they bring in $9 for conservation work. Where does the other $9 come from?

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: That comes mostly from state and federal grants. We bring in so we get a lot of money from NRCS to do technical assistance on farms, and we get a lot of money from the state of Vermont to do technical assistance.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Is there an unlimited open question. I is there an unlimited source of funds with that? If you could raise the money, you could always you could always make them not No. Okay.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: No. In fact, it's getting tighter because a lot of the money that we get from state for technical assistance comes from a clean water fund. And as I've heard, I'm sure you've heard, there's concerns about the clean water fund. The ag portion of the clean water fund is scheduled to take a $900,000 hit this current round of the Clean Water Budget. And so, it was a loss of one time funds that were there the previous year, but that's still an impact. And then, we have concerns about the long term health of the plain water fund and the ability to draw money out of that. And then we also, federally, there's just a lot happening, and so it's very unclear what's going to happen with a lot of the sources of funding that fund us. So even even agreements that we currently have, we are almost getting paid off or getting paid on time.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Sure.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: Correct. So we have because NRCS gives money to our partners, our partners pay us, but partners aren't getting paid so they can't pay us. So that's people like American Farmland Trust and the National Association of Conservation District. So American Farmland Trust hasn't been paid in six months by NRCS, so they can't pay districts. So it's a real, that creates a real hardship for us. So the other piece where that state funding comes in handy is it provides some security when things like that happen.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: So on the one time funds, often what happens is that, and whether this basically doesn't happen to you, oh, we got it this year, so we're gonna count on it next year, or do you keep it well in your mind that it is a one time fund

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: that- Yeah, we knew that, yeah,

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: we knew that they were one time funds, and in this case it was one time money to the Agency of Ag, but it, you know,

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: requires You'd love to see it again like anything, but.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: And, yeah, and that actually, wasn't so much of that coming to us, lot of that was going to the various Agency of programs that they run for farmers. But again, we're concerned about that. We want to see those programs to be robust and well funded.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: I'll put it out there because we're shameless. We are going to bring back S-sixty back into this committee so that it clears the House floor, it's our Farm Resiliency Bills, Borrowers for flooding and drought and all that. We have no monies on that. We are going to be looking for outside sources outside of this building to somehow fund some of that. So if there's any type of partnership or anything like that that you guys don't cover or whatever and somebody wants to give you 5 to $10,000,000 to park in that fund, we would be more than happy to have a placeholder for that. So just to let you know. So

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: And, yeah, we the districts are in support of that of that bill and funding that wholeheartedly. And and I when I worked for senator Welsh, my job was part of my job was the ag disasters lifting. So I can talk chapter first about the weaknesses of the federal

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: So if you know of anybody, we're all here, and we'll have that bill here shortly. Anyways, we'll hang it up there, and we're gonna keep it open for a while. We're working on some other avenues as well, some other partners who might have a direction we can go. Again, we'll partner with anybody in our world.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: If we come up with something, we'll definitely let you know.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Sure. Okay.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: So Lauren Weston from oh, sorry. We've got Bennington. Michael Fernandez, he's the the district is gonna speak a little bit, and you will help secure some funding once that funds through the cap or the last

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: two of the senators or three of us in here did that.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: So we're very thankful.

[Michael Fernandez (District Manager, Bennington County Conservation District)]: Michael? Good to see you all again. Name is Michael Fernandez. I'm the district manager down here in Bennington County. I just wanted to highlight a few of the interesting projects that we've been able to pursue as a result of the legislature's funding. One of the more well known projects that we are working on is the Bennington Veteran Incubators Farm. This is a training facility and educational initiative that we have engaged with the Vermont Veterans Home and the Town of Bennington to free lease a portion of the campus of the Vermont Veterans Home to veteran farmers who will receive technical assistance and equipment loan assistance from the Conservation District in order to initiate their careers in agriculture within Vermont. We really like this program. It folded out of multiple kind of concurrent public engagement processes. The first being our locally led process that Michelle discussed briefly a moment ago. And we ran a number of focus groups in the 2023 following the flooding events that impacted the state so disastrously. And one of the, actually the top priority that was listed by those focus groups was the development of what they called a regenerative food commons. And this is one of the projects that we have initiated in order to pursue that general objective that that focus group set out for us as an organization. We have a number of other projects ongoing, including one in Arlington, Vermont at the Yellow Barn Farm. And we're working with some small groups in Pownal, Vermont to develop similar small scale community food projects that have an educational and conservation benefit to the wider community. The other program that we really wanted to highlight that is in part funded by the one time funds from the legislature last year and part funded by the Clean Water Funds through our Ag C WIP agreement, and that's the resilience planning network that we have initiated with NOFA. We are gathering groups of primarily beginning and other historically underserved farmers within Bennington County and possibly up into Rutland County a little bit if if they're interested in being involved and hosting a series of business resiliency workshops, ecological resiliency workshops around the county on host farms where folks are going to be able to network with the eye of mimicking the work that NOFA did in the Northeast Kingdom. I think that's one of the really cool things that can happen with conservation districts is an idea can be trialed in one area. And since we have this incredible network of really talented professionals scattered throughout the state, we're a really easy one stop shop for organizations like NOFA, like the American Farmland Trust, to be able to get those programs to different areas of the state that they may not have contacts in. They're able to just shoot a quick message off to our district manager listserv, say, hey, we're looking to expand this work area to XYZ part of the state. And then that district manager is able to chime in and immediately be able to provide a local network of support, contacts, social and institutional capital within our jurisdictions. I've seen that play out time and time again in my going on four years with the Conservation Districts, and I think it's an area that's too often overlooked for its value, that we just have these networks of incredible dedicated professionals on the ground at the ready to implement new ideas when they come available.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: So Michael, you have three active members of the institution committee and one long standing member of the institution committee who was involved with great work as well. Tell us a little bit more about your project at the Veterans Home and what it's doing right now.

[Michael Fernandez (District Manager, Bennington County Conservation District)]: We're still

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: We're

[Michael Fernandez (District Manager, Bennington County Conservation District)]: deep in the hiring process for an executive director for that program. We've identified two local vets who have some interest in the job, and we'll be initiating that planning process around document authorship for corporate formation of a standalone entity that the district will sponsor. That's the first phase of our project. We have relocated our nursery beds to that site, and we'll be setting those up in the spring. We've purchased seed for initial crops. We have engaged with the home to take over the composting contract come springtime from Casella. So there will be as soon as cohort members hit the ground, there will be some small income trickling into the organization to offset ongoing costs. We've coordinated with, Southwest Tech to gain access to their tractor that was funded under the Bennington Fair Food Initiative that senator Welch got funded through a congressionally directed spending initiative about four years ago now. I could go on. But needless to say, there's there's a lot of action going on behind the scenes, but there's roughly a foot and a half of snow and six inches ice on the ground. So it doesn't look like much at the moment, but we're we're aggressively organizing so that we're able to hit the ground running really fast come springtime, get some crops out of the ground and into the kitchen there at the home.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: And just a little bit more for the folks that are listening in or anybody else. What is the goal this project? What are you accomplishing?

[Michael Fernandez (District Manager, Bennington County Conservation District)]: We're really hoping to streamline the farm to institution process in Southwestern Vermont and develop the working lands workforce necessary to fill that farm to institution need in this area. So there's the individuals who will be training as beginning farmers at the site. While they're getting that training, they'll be receiving a lot of technical education on things that we do as the district every day, how to apply for cost share programs, how to apply for farm operating loans, farm ownership loans. And over the course of their three to five year tour, for lack of a better term, at the training facility, they'll be able to build up the the documentation of successfully engaging in a farming business so that they're then able to go to the farm service agency and seek that capital that they would otherwise not be able to seek. Simultaneously, we are working with established veteran farms in the surrounding area to loop them into the larger cooperative model that we're hoping to develop. And we've been engaged in preliminary conversations with the Vermont Land Trust regarding the transition of the cohort farm members onto sites that are in generational transition. So once these folks finalize their time on the incubator site, our goal is to transition them using the technical education that we've given them, the the business acumen that we've hopefully imparted onto them, and level them up to owning their own operation and being able to participate in the farm to institution cooperative that we're developing, in over the long haul. We don't want it to be three to five years, you're out, you're on your own. We're really trying to to build a sustainable network that can provide schools, hospitals, and other institutional buyers with a stable, steady supply of fresh, locally grown produce.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: Help me folks in the program as of that moment.

[Michael Fernandez (District Manager, Bennington County Conservation District)]: We're like I said, we're still in our recruitment phase for executive director. The executive director has to be a veteran per our agreement with the home, and that person will be responsible for recruiting the initial cohort. We have six folks locally who've signed up as being interested in participating.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Okay.

[Michael Fernandez (District Manager, Bennington County Conservation District)]: Good. And we've recruited one partner farm. It's a blueberry farm directly and kind of real close to Downtown Bennington by the Fitch Hatchery that has roughly 400 blueberry plants that are our first crop. We'll be harvesting those blueberries with volunteers and any cohort members that we're able to recruit by the time blueberry harvest comes in, and that'll likely be the first thing that we're selling as a as a group to the home. And so we've we've already started branching out and finding those partner farms.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Cool. Thank you.

[Lauren Weston (Manager, Franklin County NRCD)]: I think I'm next. Hi everyone, I'm Lauren Weston. I manage the Franklin County Natural Resources Conservation District. Believe in, I believe last year I was in your committee on crutches, so I'm sorry I can't be there today. I'm not on crutches this year, so that's exciting. And I'm actually looking out our office spaces, a couple of cornfields and the Champlain Valley Equipment Yard in St. Albans. So that's what my view is. They're moving some tractors around today. One of the things I wanted to share with you all today is that the Franklin County, since 2022, has been releasing an annual guide to assistance for agricultural producers of Vermont. And this guide includes 129 programs. We're hoping to release the 2026 version later this month. It's been a little bit delayed because of the federal program changes and the shutdowns that's coming out soon. We use that guide to work directly with farmers. Our partners across the whole state use that guide to make sense of all of the opportunities that are available to the farms in Vermont statewide, nationwide and regional. Included in that guide are categories for financial assistance, technical assistance, educational programs, awards, recognitions or certifications, and also a very extensive resource directory. As has been mentioned already, there's a lot of folks trying to help farmers across Vermont. And so we're trying to help everybody make sense of it. And in this guide, there are topics such as natural resources, specialty crops and agritourism, raising beef and dairy specific resources, organic farming and the transition to organic, forestry and wildlife, risk management and climate resilience, farm and business viability, and farmer well-being and community support. We are also kicking off an effort to turn that guide into an app that is farmer friendly, and so wish us luck in that endeavour to try to make it easier to update and include new programs as they come out throughout the year. A lot of the programs that are included in this guide come from our partners within the Vermont Agricultural Water Quality Partnership or ABACWIP. A couple other things that Franklin County NRCD works on, like many of the other districts across the state. We, obviously in Franklin County, do a lot of work with dairy and maple, as well as increasingly diversifying on smaller farms. As many of you likely know, Franklin County has the highest concentration of dairy farms in the state and is also the largest dairy producing county in New England. We are also one of the largest, if not the largest, maple producing counties in The United States. In the past six months alone, we've directly assisted 76 farmers through 187 visits and meetings on topics such as grant applications, program navigation using that guide, and coordinating partners at NRCS and Agency of Ag on behalf of the farm through a program called Farm Teams. We also bring students and the community out to farms to keep agricultural learning and the importance of local food systems transferring across generations. Some of these events, I'm not sure who asked the question, but one of the events that we hosted this summer was actually helping farmers explore loan programs that they could use in tandem with these statewide reimbursement based grants. Trying to make sure folks have access to capital to access the programs that the state's offering. We've also hosted events on increasing pollinator and wildlife habitat on farms and exploring new technologies such as virtual collars for grazing dairy goats. So trying to stay ahead on that. Sorry if it sounds like I'm rambling, but we do do a lot with ag up here in Franklin County. And so a couple more things. We are also helping UVM Extension and others lead the way on soil health initiatives with farmers and partners through trainings and on farm research trials. We work very closely with the Franklin and Grand Isle Farmers Watershed Alliance, which is made up primarily of dairy and crop farmers to provide input on various policies and programs, as well as advancing precision agriculture adoption in Vermont. Franklin County District has also worked with 30 farms through the Vermont Pay for Performance program for the last couple of years that the Agency of Ag is leading, which has meant over 13,000 acres in Franklin And Grand Isle Counties enrolled in a program designed to reduce phosphorus loss. And that program has actually so far directed about $1,600,000 to farms that we're working with in Northwest Vermont. We've also planted nearly 30,000 stems in riparian buffers across close to 60 acres on farms and other lands since 2021. Through this locally led effort that Michelle and Michael have both mentioned, we have also directed $1,500,000 of federal NRCS money to farms in Franklin County for farmstead infrastructure improvements. And lastly, I have been participating on the community stakeholder group on agricultural water quality as the Conservation District representative, and that stakeholder group was created by Act 67 of 2025 to discuss the forthcoming CAFO permitting program that's, those meetings are currently underway. So we've got our hands in a whole bunch of things, and wanna keep helping, but I'll I'll stop there. Thank you.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: You're a good rambler and ramble anytime you'd like. It's very good. Wonderful.

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: Thank you.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Touched upon CAIPO permits and we've a little bit going on in the House Committee right now, and I'm very well aware of the stakeholders group that I've been meeting, mainly because Rep. Nelson keeps me very well informed, so I try to follow all that stuff. Howard, what would be the overall perception as far as any of the legislations that were passed last year about CAFOs and all of that with your Franklin County farmers? Is it a big topic of discussions or are you at the forefront just trying to lead the charge as far as to protect them in a way that will keep them viable and safe?

[Lauren Weston (Manager, Franklin County NRCD)]: Thanks for the question. The understanding that I have with my farmers at this point in time is that most folks understand the need for the CAFO rules and the changes and are excited to be involved in the stakeholder group to make sure that it is clear and consistent across agencies as to how it gets implemented. It doesn't seem like it's going to be too dramatic of a shift for most folks. I think they're mostly curious about the changes to public noticing of NMPs and some of the other finer details of the Clean Water Act that may or may not perfectly align with what the Agency of Ag currently has as the LFO and MFO rules under the non discharge permits. But I'm confident we'll be able to meet it. We'll need some more resources for farms to meet the new rules, but I am confident the farms are ready to step up to the plate.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: One of the things the governor mentioned yesterday, and I meant to mention to the committee, but I think it's a good lead in, the governor is eliminating the MFO and the LFO from permitting fees, which are, you know, as the Secretary of Ag, Anson Tenetz has said, at this point in time with the price of milk or where it's at, it really doesn't make much sense to charge farmer to farm. We're happy about that. So yes, as move forward.

[Lauren Weston (Manager, Franklin County NRCD)]: There's whatever we can do. Thank you.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Anything else that you'd like to tell us today, Lauren?

[Lauren Weston (Manager, Franklin County NRCD)]: That's all I've got for you, but happy to take any questions that might come up.

[Senator Brian Collamore (Member)]: Committee? All set. Thank you.

[Senator Joseph "Joe" Major (Vice Chair)]: Thank you. Sure, Lauren. Thank Hello,

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: I'm Hillary Solomon from Pulte Meadows and Natural Resources and Occupation District, the Western part of Rutland County. I'm just going to talk sort of generally about our work with farms and then give some specific examples of farms we've worked with and the types of programs we help them with. So, as you all know, the ag community is a special community. Here in Vermont, sort of builds on an ethos of resource sharing and mutual assistance and peer learning. And I feel like we're lucky as Conservation District staff that we get to interact in that community and to help facilitate connections within that community. So, one of the most important features of district work is relationship building. Many times we've worked with farms for many years and it helps us to, when we understand their goals and the needs on the farm, it helps us better connect them with the resources that can help them achieve their goals and viability. But we also like to work with farms that are either new farms or new to us farms. So, we try to sort of walk that balance between working with farms for a length of time and getting to know them and also being inclusive and trying to include new farms farm food ads in our work.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: I hate to interrupt. How receptive are most farmers when you come home?

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: They're pretty receptive. I'm gonna just talk a little bit about a second example about a farm that wasn't for years receptive to assistance.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: And in that, will you explain, will there be a reason why they haven't been receptive?

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: Think sometimes folks are uncomfortable working with the government, and so

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: We're always here to help.

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: Right. So, and the programs can be complicated. There barriers to entering those cost share programs, both with the state and the federal government. I think sometimes in this case, yeah, there are barriers and I think we can help farms overcome those barriers. Then also, maybe I'll just start with that farm. Yep. So this farm is a multi generational farm. They've owned the land for many years. Multiple family members were managing different parts of the farm, and then somebody passed away who'd been sort of one of the critical leaders in that farm. That farm had been on our radar also for years because they have animals and annual crops like right up to the edge of a stream that's a high quality stream, and they're also visible from the road, so and they're hauling milk. They're on the agency event. Eventually, they're going to get inspected. We were concerned for them and also for the water quality industry.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: So, the dairy effect?

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: Yes. They're transitioning now, but yes. We sort of approached them gently. We offered a program that we fund through a private source of funds. We didn't have our first project with them. We didn't have to go through a state or federal program, and that project went well, and so we sort of started building trust with the farmers at that farm. And now, after working with them for about eighteen months, they are enrolled in some state programs. So, they've been through the BMP program with Agency of Ag. They've seeded down those cornfield that were continuous corn right up against the stream. Those are all seeded down now. They planted riparian buffer that's we plant. So, we planted trees through a private source of funding for that, and they've excluded their animals from the stream. And now they're working with Agency of Ag to actually do some manure management projects that are a little bit larger. They were inspected after we've been working with them for about a year, and they there's some improve there's there's some things that still have to happen there, but they they got through that process, and they're sort of on the other side of that, you know, making the corrections that need to be made, but they did make it through that process, so we were really pleased about that. If

[Senator Joseph "Joe" Major (Vice Chair)]: I may, when you say barriers, are the barriers generally administrative?

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: Yes, I mean, yes, but you have to have your, you know, your SAM ID, you have to have, usually the computer helps, because a lot the grant writing is gone through, you using a computer now. Grant writing, financial documents that need to be prepared and presented. You can help with all of that. So, that was one example of just a farm that had been in the family for a long time, a farmer that was not a new farm, but a new to us farm. And then we had another farm, it was an older, it was a farm that had been farmed for a long time and had been degraded. A couple moved to Vermont and bought that farm, and they're really interested in regenerating the soil and the pastures, and working with that land to make it so that it helps us improve water quality, but also grows healthy animals, so it helps them meet their goals. So they've done a lot of work. Roughly how many acres are they? They're not very big, they're about 120 acres.

[Senator Brian Collamore (Member)]: It's still a little farm.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: It's still, if there's something that's never farmed, that's lot of money.

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: Right, well and the exciting part with them is that they're recently retired and they have a background in marketing and advertising and legal like law. Their goal is to work with local farms and help them market products and reduce those barriers to marketing their products and advertising their product and getting them into a broader market. As they learn and go through the programs themselves and improve practices on their farm, They're also getting to know their neighbors, and we're helping them with those probabilities. Then they'd like to help that help their neighbors come together and collect their bills and open market their products. It's exciting to see those synergies. These are two neighboring farms. Anyhow, that's just Those are examples of how we integrate the farm community. We've increased our staffing levels since we've received more legislative funds, And so we're able to work with twice the plenty farms since we were a couple of years ago. So it's been That's federal funding? No, you're the legislative funds that have been recently allocated through our

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: through

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: Vermont government. So thank you for that. Yeah. And as we have an example of sort

[Katie Styles (Rutland NRCD)]: of a district that has

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: grown quite a bit recently, and that's Yeah. Katie's don't know if you have questions for me, but I'm gonna pass it to Katie to talk a little bit about her district and exciting things happening there.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Katie. Okay.

[Katie Styles (Rutland NRCD)]: Katie Styles with Rutland Natural Resource and Conservation District. And while we get the name Rutland, we do share Rutland County with Hillary and Pulley Moto East District. We're on the East Side of Rutland County, so the Otter Creek Watershed portion of it. And you guys get a treat with me because I'm here to tell you how much you guys have actually made a difference, Scentsy.

[Lauren Weston (Manager, Franklin County NRCD)]: Thank you. So

[Katie Styles (Rutland NRCD)]: 2025 has been a year of growth for many districts. The increase in core services funding, which we saw partially as a one time funding opportunity, and we hope that we can see that as part of our permanent base. For services funding has made a major difference, as you guys have heard this stat, that $1 that we get in our base funding, can try to $9 of match from other grants and leverage that in order to get more work done. So, for many years, we've strived to meet the ever changing needs of our community and respond to the evolving regulatory, financial, environmental pressures that we see every year to something different. Is it floods? Is it drought? It's really difficult to respond quickly, because you need an organizational infrastructure, and you need capacity within the organization to actually meet the community where they're at, and respond to those needs. The district that I refer, Rutland, is a great case study for how this funding has really made a difference for us. With that additional funding, I get to work full time. We never had a full time district manager before May, And so

[Senator Joseph "Joe" Major (Vice Chair)]: I'm now full time, and

[Katie Styles (Rutland NRCD)]: I was able to leverage additional funding and my additional working time to apply for more grants. We have capacity building grants. We got project based grants. And all of that's allowed us to have some really basic things like a payroll company, some tax services, accounting oversight, some more refined file management and file sharing services, to have some modern project management software that we use in order to keep everybody on pace, but we have staff that's working in different offices, meeting people out in the field. We're also able to have security software. We're able to have an ADA compliant website and comply with open meeting law. Really basic things that every organization should have, but it's really difficult to get over that first hurdle when you don't quite have that base funding to make it happen. A little bit has gone a long way for us, and we're so appreciative of that. Not only have I been able to come on full time, but I've been able to hire another staff person. So, in one year we went from part time staff person to two full time staff people, and we are on track to have a third staff person by the 2026. This person that we brought on is now supporting the Rutland County Ag team that we share with Puli Metoy. Puli Metoy has two full time Ag employees and the person I brought on is currently part time supporting that group and part time supporting our other programs. Once we hire a third person, a prior hire will be able to work full time in the ag field. And that's really been helpful because of the cuts that we've been seeing to the NRCS. The loss of staff people in that office has led to producers need delayed payments, struggling to get their practices certified, struggling to get that help that they needed to get all their T's crossed and get those I's dotted. This person is able to do a lot more outreach to some of the farmers in Rutland County that we previously have not been able to be in touch with. Like Hillary said, it's a barrier to get farms on board. I have to say that Lauren's team's guide to funding is like this olive branch that you can show up with, and you can say, Hey, we're not quite government, and we really are here to help you, and here's how we can help you, here's the programs that we can walk you through. That little bit of funding has made all of that possible for our district, so thank you very much. I appreciate it. Makes a big difference for us, and so it's for the community. I'm sorry

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: to say that makes us feel good.

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: Yeah. Right? Doing something. Thank you so much.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: So, I just wanted to add on to what Katie said with a little bit about how, Orleans County, has used sort of the you all know we've had last year, you all helped us get the the the governor had cut our usual base amount in the budget, which they always do. Because the governor tells them that, told the agency, you can't have an increase. So they, because costs always go up, have to cut things. Okay. Cut us, and then we come back to you and ask you to restore the cuts. But you did, and we were also able to secure 250,000 in one time funds. So we're hoping to get last year's base plus that $2.50 again, plus just a little bit mainly to offset the increase in healthcare costs. So, in the past we've asked for a lot more money. We've asked for enough money to fund a full time person at every district. This year we're asking for less than a third of our usual ask because we know that it's a tough year. We know the pressures that you all are facing because we're facing them too. So we're asking for a little less than 950,000 this year, $948,200. But I wanted to share with you what our lead system with their money money. Because this is really flexible money, and so we can use it to pay staff, we can use it for admin costs, we can use it to run programs. And so, what Orleans did, they have used some of the money. They have a program to help homeowners in the Lake Harper Watershed who have septic issues with inspecting their septic systems and then assisting with maintenance. So, of the money went to support that program. They had a farm where they've been working for several years and they used water quality monitoring on that farm and it identified an erosion problem. They used some of those state funds to put in dams on a thousand feet of ditch and ended that erosion problem and stopped the nutrient runoff until it met from Mayhawk.

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: They

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: also used some of that money to help fund the purchase of our rock picker, which assist farmers with crop rotation. So farmers can come into the district and they can they can rent for a very small amount of money, that rock picker, and they gave away free willow sticks to residents to address erosion problems. So free willows with all of that money. So it's like a wide range of projects. So just to kind of give you a sense of how important those those funds are to us. And then I'll stop stop talking about that because, you know, we come to you here and out as everyone else does.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: What did the governor?

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: I have not, I was looking last night, and I hadn't seen a full copy of the full budget online yet, so I don't know yet what the governor has done, and we'll get back to you. I'm hoping that I can get that today.

[Senator Brian Collamore (Member)]: Yeah, Mr. Chair, thank you. And that's what you anticipated in my question too, it was in the governor's recommend. And I haven't seen the whole thing either. I mean, it's Yeah. There have twenty four hours yet. I do know that he had asked all the agencies in his administration to hold it to 3%.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: Yeah.

[Senator Brian Collamore (Member)]: And so I don't know what that means in terms of the September, but hopefully we'll be able to show some support. Just in And again, I had the opportunity to have the Rutland Delegation Meeting earlier today.

[Senator Joseph "Joe" Major (Vice Chair)]: Made sense.

[Senator Brian Collamore (Member)]: And both Katie and Hillary were at it. So I made a point there, and I think I did last year when we had three new members of the committee. There is a difference in the reaction of most farmers, landowners, even municipalities, when the CDs come in, the Conservation Districts, versus agencies who are regulatory and can, in some cases, on their side, feel punitive. Can fine. They can do some other things. Conservation districts can't. So it, I think, establishes Maybe it's better to kind of talk to them as being a bridge for the ability of a landlord, a farmer, municipality, whoever it is, to come into compliance without worrying about anything happening. I mean, it isn't like everybody can just jump up and down and everything's fixed. They still have to do some things to come into compliance. But I think it really is an important in between step that we recognize. This committee's, in the past, always been a very great supporter of what they do. You know, well, in some cases, the farmer might go, Hey, you're coming online. I think they get more of a, Hey, come on in, let's talk

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: about what we could do. That's all. Yeah.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: Thank you, senator. Yeah. The agency will refer farms that are that have enforcement actions to to districts, and they will also provide districts with, say, here's some farms in your area that have enforcement actions. So we can go out districts the go out and work with the farmer and say, hey, we're not regulatory. We're just here to help you.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Yeah.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: Like, we just want you know, we we can help you fix this problem. And and as as pope Hillary alluded to, we can we wrote best things when we could go and help the farm before the regulator arrives, and we could come and work with the farmer and say, know, this is something you might want to think about working on. And as Michael talked about, and Orleans is doing this as well, is that expansion of this NOFA AFT program that has farmers looking at farm viability and conservation at the same time. So you're really looking at the whole farm operation. And Orleans and Caledonia Counties are gonna NRCDs are gonna be working with the Center for an Ag Economy and, you know, joint partnership to continue that program in the Northeast Kingdom as well. So really helping the farmer look at the whole operation. What do you need to stay viable, to stay farming, and also what are the, what do you need to take care of your land and to help take care of the land around you and the resources that you're protecting?

[Senator Joseph "Joe" Major (Vice Chair)]: It's along the line of what Senator Heffernan was asking. I'm curious as to the response from the farmers themselves when you go out. Our our farmers have been taking a hit, no fault of their own, through our our climate over the last three years in particular. We had flooding a couple of years ago, and then all of a sudden it's it it is the exact opposite, and and it's drought. So what what is how are they feeling from you

[Michael Fernandez (District Manager, Bennington County Conservation District)]: know, I

[Senator Joseph "Joe" Major (Vice Chair)]: I know why we're doing so. I I mean, it's a tough business. Just the mental state out there, what are they feeling? Do they feel that they're getting enough support?

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: That's a good question. I'm sure you know the suicide rate amongst farmers is higher than the general population.

[Senator Joseph "Joe" Major (Vice Chair)]: I did not know that.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: Yeah. There's a number of mental health programs that are aimed specifically out for presenting. I mean, Vermont has had some support for that, if I'm not wrong. I don't I don't know if

[Senator Joseph "Joe" Major (Vice Chair)]: If if you if you do know about that, if you can Yeah. Information, if you can send that out Yeah. That

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: I I

[Senator Joseph "Joe" Major (Vice Chair)]: think that's vitally important to to us helping. And then that's what this really, that's what this committee know, Senator Ingalls and and the committee as a whole, we feel our charge is to support in any way we can. Not just monetarily because sometimes that's what it seems like, but what what we can do, for our farmers.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: And, yeah, I don't know if someone at the some of the district managers who work more closely with farms wanna speak directly to sort of how farms are doing, especially, Lauren, with the little milk prices up in Franklin County. It's not pretty right now.

[Lauren Weston (Manager, Franklin County NRCD)]: Yeah. I I just put into the chat and hopefully that can be shared, but there's a program called Farm First in Vermont, and it provides mental health support for farmers. It's my understanding that they are understaffed and the need is much higher than they're able to meet, but they do exist, which is fantastic. I believe when I took this job five years ago, they were including the suicide hotline number on milk checks. And the condition's only gotten worse since then, as you all know. So I think whatever we can do to support the viability of farms. I regularly have farmers crying in meetings with me and just trying to figure out how they can exist. And it's pretty devastating. We go through a lot of farm financials as well with farmers. No one's making a profit. Most folks we work with are losing $50,000 a year. So it's it's pretty dire is what I would say.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Michael.

[Michael Fernandez (District Manager, Bennington County Conservation District)]: Yeah. I'll I'll echo some of that. Bennington County really went through a major, working lands retraction, starting in the really in the seventies and eighties. So while we we don't have the the same level of density of of agricultural operations as they do up in Franklin County, we're we're seeing a lot of the same issues, a lot of tears in meetings, a lot of frustration, general exhaustion, a

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: lot

[Michael Fernandez (District Manager, Bennington County Conservation District)]: of it just trying to navigate the level of paperwork that they have to do on the day to day for I will regularly receive calls, either very early in the morning or very late at night from producers who've received a letter from the USDA or for the agency of agriculture, and they'll just read it to me over the phone and have me explain it to them. Though one thing I will say that and I'm a farmer myself, and I think that's one of the things that has helped in our community a great deal. There's kind of a solidarity among producers and just talking to one another, that the the work that we've been doing and that I know a lot of other districts have been doing around farm viability and helping producers diversify away from the types of business models that call for them to lose 50 plus thousand dollars a year is one of the things that's bringing people some hope, that there could be a light at the end of the tunnel and that they're we've been seeing this through the locally led process. People feel as though they have a lot more agency in the future, and having a say in how their conservation district works with the NRCS to get funding on the ground really does make a a pretty dramatic difference in people's headspace for lack of

[Senator Joseph "Joe" Major (Vice Chair)]: a better term.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: If you allow the state money to support that, like that base money that we get from the state supports that process, we don't get any funding through us to support it.

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: I was gonna

[Katie Styles (Rutland NRCD)]: say too that one of the things we do when we

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: work with farms is just try to make it as easy as possible for them. So if we're involved with them in applying for a cost share program, like a lot of times, we'll just take that ground ripe burden or the certification or the final reporting and, you know, loss their plates and and do that for them and then give them copies to to read to make sure it's accurate. Same with our nutrient management plans, those are pretty time consuming and burdensome. They have to keep track of all of their crop harvest, their manure spreading. We often enter all that into the program for them, do the soil sampling for them, enter the soil sample results in, and then update those plants for them every year they come into the office or we go to the field and meet them and collect information from them and then help them make sure those plants are up to date because they need those to be up to date for regulatory for those. Our staff sits with them through the

[Katie Styles (Rutland NRCD)]: nutrient management class, nutrient management planning class to make sure their hand

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: is held and feel supported through the

[Katie Styles (Rutland NRCD)]: whole process and don't get overwhelmed by

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: the binder in front of them.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: Oops, you're Addison County.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: Addison County? The Addison County is the Otter Creek District, and that, the district manager there is in the process of retiring, so they are starting this, they will be starting to search for a new district manager. And in the meantime, we're supporting the ACD is supporting them. We have a conservation planner who works in support of the Addison County Farms that is the ACD employee rather than employee district. And so they're gonna be running the local drug process in Madison County this this time. BECD is doing that. So we can make sure that you have, you know, where the meetings are, they've got a survey out to secure some, and this, we've never done it in the Outer Creek District before, so this will give us a chance to get some funds that are really directed at the Needs and Addison Academy. And I know you guys were really hit hard by that drought.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: And then I was gonna ask

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: you a follow-up question, what is association

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: with that, or what are you able to do about that?

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: Yeah, in terms of drought, I think it's mostly, for us at this point, it's mostly helping farms apply

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: for funding.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: We've been doing, I know Rory, who's our staff person, has been doing quite a bit of work with helping farms address erosion and water quality issues on their farms, and then they're out of the year. And they've working really closely with DVM extension. Sean Lucas is the head of the office.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: So, the MSA and SKU almost can work hand in hand, or,

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: hey, I'm taking care of

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: the farmer. Take care of that

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: farmer. Type of

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: thing And, as people do those FSA applications. Those disaster applications are a nightmare. Yeah. They're just a nightmare. You know, the it we had I had talked to farmers in with the 2024 flooding, vegetable farmers who spent two hundred hours on their application

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: for Yeah.

[Senator Joseph "Joe" Major (Vice Chair)]: And got

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Let me take that that's the information, Michelle, that we've been kinda looking for because they have a ton of money. A ton of money. Our questions to them were, well, we get the government part that people don't want to involve themselves. But what else is keeping people from coming to you?

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: A lot of it is that those FSA programs, the disaster assistance programs, are really designed for the large scale farms out west, and they just don't fit our size farmers. Like, one for vegetable farmers, it's called NAP. And that program pays out, you have to have a 55% loss of your crops. Know, 50% loss of your crops, it will pay you 55% of the wholesale national price. Well, if I'm an organic vegetable farmer, and I'm selling to Whole Foods, or I'm selling to my neighbors in a CSA, I'm getting way above that national price, and my cost of production is way above that national price. So what ends up is they get paid a fraction. I remember, you know, Burt at Rock, Justin Rich out in Huntington, emailed me and said, I've got $300,000 in damage, I'll be surprised if I get 300,000 in suspense. And so, it just

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: And that's more at our national level, that has to be

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: Yeah, that's national programs, they just don't fit. And like, the stuff And so when I was with Senator Rutland, I was like, we lost 18,000,000 gate bosses in 2023. Combination of fields damaged and flooding and just fields damaged by the constant inundation. Corn doesn't grow well when it's wet. And, you know, people couldn't collect their hay because the hay was wet. You can't bring in wet hay. Your farm can expire. It's a very strange thing,

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: but wet hay catches fire.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: And so, that whole, the end of hay quality went down too. So they had poor quality feed, those who could harvest, a lot of them couldn't harvest, so we kept pressuring and saying, we gotta have something for feed, we gotta have something for feed. They finally came out with a program. They want farmers to provide a sample of their feed from 2023 to prove that it was low quality. It's like, that that

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: was three years ago. How am I gonna provide three Yeah. Like,

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: somebody's you know, even when it was poor quality feed, you had to feed it. And and you saw, like, our milk production dropped that fall. Like, you could see the connection from that pork quality feed to the loss of production. So farmers should be able to just say, here's here's my losses. Right? This is what I made in a typical year. This what I made this year because I lost money and have a portion of that loss covered. That's what, we had that briefly, but it went fine.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: So we have to move on. Sorry. I just wanna say that we see a difference with what you folks are doing. I've only been here for a short amount of conversation. Keep doing what you're doing. It's noticeable, and we thank you for what you do.

[Michelle Major (Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts)]: I don't know how you can access the information and chat it up, but we can send you the information about FarmVerse.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Yeah, sounds Thank you everyone for being

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: as well.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Michael, thank you. Thanks for what you're doing down there. Thank you, Lauren. Appreciate it. Hope you come in okay. I'm gonna take a three minute break.

[Senator Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: Sounds like a good point. Now are you leaving the

[Hillary Solomon (Poultney Mettowee NRCD)]: muffins?

[Katie Styles (Rutland NRCD)]: Yeah, those are for you.