Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Amber Perry (Policy Director, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: You're the President.

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Hi, good morning. We're back in action. We're gonna spend some time with Vermont Park Bureau. We have Barry White, Amber Perry, and we gotta make sure that Mary gets on because she's got another place to be to live upon. She's going be talking about Farm Bureau on the radio. Absolutely. Welcome, the floor is yours.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: Well, thank you for having us. I don't think we need much of an introduction, but we are the Vermont Farm Bureau. We are the oldest advocacy nonprofit grassroots organization for farmers in the state of Vermont. We've been active since 1915. So we have county farm bureaus in every county. So we represent from our grassroots up and we recently elected a new board of directors in November at our annual meeting. So I am now sitting as president. I previously served as secretary and Vice President under President Tinsburg and President Twalsum. So happy to be here and have a great Board of Directors behind us representing every corner of the state. So we are very motivated and ready to work with you all and be a resource in any aspect we can this year as we get through the session. A little bit of background about myself. I am a dairy farmer and also involved in the agribusiness insurance industry. My husband and I farm in Orange County, Vermont. We milk 135 cows with three lightly robotic milking units now. And then we raise all our young stock and run a smoking herd. Where in Orange? We're in Trent.

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: What flavor of cows?

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: The black and white. Yeah, so we have a primary coliseed herd, we have a few jerseys mixed in, we're really focusing on genetics and the longevity of our cows with a new system to make sure that we are providing the best possible care of cancer.

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: We'd love to talk to you at some point in time about the robotic part of it, but I'll let you get all of your presentations so we don't take away from you.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: So today we're here just outlining our legislative priorities as Vermont Farm Bureau for the session. So our Board of Directors again met in November and the way we work is our counties meet, then they bring the policies right from the grassroots from those members to our state annual meeting that we hold in November, and that's where we set our policy that you'll hear Ann Burnett speak about today and throughout the session. So we are very active in our grassroots and we would encourage, if you need a farmer to testify, we are across the board from a homesteader to large scale agriculture, conventional organic regenerative agriculture practices, we cover the spectrum.

[Sen. Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: I believe you were talking about people to come in about preserving environment. They should be a good resource as well.

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Yeah, what Senator Heffernan is talking about is that we're having a wide range of discussion about protecting primax soils from good development, all the So kinds of at some point in time, if you want to put a presentation together, we'd be more than happy to have you come in to talk about that.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: Absolutely. Was there a certain area or certain Sorry,

[Sen. Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: sorry, ahead, Pros and cons, you know, as farmers, as I look at it, we used to come out of the Bureau of Dairy Farms and that, my

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: parents still owe me a

[Sen. Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: crime live, ag land that could be developed. We no longer farm, we rent it out to farming, but what would be a good part to saving it so it could be the community farm up, but how do we make that, if you've had generational farmers that the town or area that they have is viable for growth, how do we work both? I'm a little

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: bit into Act 181.

[Sen. Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: You could be a little bit, yes, but to have farmers that come in that are maybe dealing with that situation, I guess a testimony to them would be great.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: Absolutely. Absolutely. So I think we all know that Vermont agriculture is unique and it's part of who we are as a culture. We cannot say enough how much we appreciate you all being on this committee and having this representation here in the State House. It is vital to everything we do and it is, as we would say, a priority in Vermont and we need to make sure that it stays on the forefront for all of us. We sense a deep pride in being Vermont farmers, whether it's a first generation farmer who moved here or a multi generational farm, it means something to be a Vermont farmer and to be a Vermont Farm Bureau member. And they feel that pride, but it weighs heavily on them with things that go on within the state house. If you hear about mental concerns and on stable markets, and it sure is a changing time in agriculture ever since COVID, and we're hearing that on the farm level. We're hearing that our farmers are feeling disheartened, they're feeling fearful of the future of agriculture in our state. And I think it's up to all of us to do a better job and to be able to make sure that we are bringing the whole picture of farming to the table when we make some hard decisions this year, especially as we look at tight budget.

[Sen. Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: Can I stop before we wanna say, you are the second testimony as you talked about mental health? And now, just I'll be really honest. I have been in here for a year and two weeks, and that was the furthest thing for my mind. And now it's as a forefront. I know that there was and I asked our last for some resources. Because now I'm feeling that we need to have as many resources in that so they're able to farm as you do just the the logistical infrastructure farming? What are you carrying? What are closer to it than I am?

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: Yeah, so we do have a farm first program and we have partnered with them before, but there is it's still hard for a farmer to participate in a program like that. And it seems to be a great resource that maybe could use some additional leverage. I'm not exactly sure how they operate, but we held seminar actually last winter, or years ago, we advertised an advertising partner first, but again, it's getting farmers in that room to feel comfortable.

[Sen. Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: That's stigma feeling.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: It's hard. You have to think that farmers, they are generally by themselves on the farm all day long. And you know, if someone stops to talk, sometimes they'll be there for an hour or two hours just because they're looking for that connection. They're looking for someone to talk to and it can be a very lonely application. Then when you add all the financial and political pressures on top of that, it is a huge load that our farmers are carrying right now throughout the state. And I'm glad that we hear it and finding better resources and maybe a better way to connect these farmers through one on one. I know Partners does offer some video counseling now that is a little less personal than actually having to travel or go to a group setting for one on one care. Thank you. Absolutely. While we're talking about the farming population, I think it's key to identify how much farming has changed over the past decade, but over the past thirty years. We are now, we are asking less than 2% of our population to grow food for the rest of us. And we're growing. We're growing. Vermonters are now two to three generations removed from the family farm. But this generation desperately wants to be involved in their food. They want to be involved in the environment. And how do we connect them back with the farmers and make policy based on facts and actuarial versus emotions and opinions to support our farms and be able to connect those two things together. We, in Vermont, have a unique opportunity where we are seeing a growing local food supply, and that has grown drastically over the last ten years. And we absolutely support those producers and want to see them thrive, but we need to make sure that we're accepting agriculture as a whole food systems. Again, the homesteader to the large scale agriculture, no one commodity, no one practice could do it alone. We need to be accepting of this whole food system approach, just really have our food security and our local affordability be available for our Vermonters. So that's a priority for us in everything we do and is really what drives our organization is that unity behind all types of farming, all scales of farming. When it comes to the environmental side, when we were cleaning out the Farm Bureau office, we moved our office recently from Richmond, Vermont to right down the street here in Montpelier, and we found some signs that said farmers are the original environmentalists. And that truth still remains today. Our farmers, again, on all scales and all practices, they believe in our environment, they care for our environment, our ecosystems, our songbirds, our honeybees, our forests, the health of the forest, their families live there, they participate there. And recreation as well is a priority. A lot of our farms open their lands up for snowmobiling, for other recreational purposes. So we want to make sure that our identity as Vermont and Vermont farmers is all encompassing and that we are trusted with environmental practices. I think we remember the RIPs that were implemented from the Clean Water Act and we're seeing now we have ten years of data from that program. In Vermont, agriculture itself was responsible for 89% of the phosphorus reduction in Lake Champlain. And there's no other industry that contributed more. Our farmers are ready for regenerative agriculture practices. But we need to be able to do so, I guess, the best way to say this, without taking tools out of the toolbox. Some things that have happened recently within this building are doing just that and we need to make sure that our farmers can do these practices that are requiring of them with appropriate tools available. And we were at a meeting last summer with the EPA administration came to Newmont Farm in Bradford, and we had a great coalition of farmers and farm groups represented. And everyone at that table said, give us the tools. If if you wanna see different practices, make them when they're available. Vermont farmers will be the first to try them, but they need to be sound, affordable, and practical for us to be able to implement without taking away an alternative before we have something that we can actually use. So that's definitely on our minds and behind everything we do.

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: I think a lot of that meeting, I was a portion of the job, was out of town, but I think a lot of it also said, give us clear guidance.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: Absolutely.

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Show us the way and don't move the gold folks.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: Absolutely.

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Because it costs a lot. It costs a lot. The government it's funny. Government doesn't really stop and change direction. They like to just keep on once they pass something, like to drive it into the ground. They keep on going, but they expect everyone else to. And so that's where it gets expensive.

[Sen. Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: Yeah.

[Amber Perry (Policy Director, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: I think if you're gonna remember two words, consistency and clarity, right? Those are what our farmers want. Consistency and clarity, right, in any policy that we're putting forward.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: I just want to touch base, we'll dive into our exact priorities soon on our dairy sector. We just got the numbers on the close of their 2025 dairy economy. And between 2015 and 2025, we lost 50% of the dairy farms that remained within ten years. We are down to four twenty six farms in the state of Vermont.

[Sen. Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: And what is production? Has production also dropped or has it picked up and production has stayed about the same?

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: That's a hard question when you throw COVID in the mix, because there were a lot of regulations on production driven But by overall we did see a decrease. We are just finally seeing a national increase this year, which is driving milk price down right now. But overall, did it was, I would say fairly steady, but COVID did redeem a heavy supply management on our farmers from a co op standpoint. And when we look at the Mill Commission report that had just got released before COVID, it was a very strong report that was put out with a lot of great work that went into it. And it really deemed for a national, a new national pricing structure and what that would look like from a supply standpoint. And I think COVID maybe showed us that at an individual co op level, the supply control doesn't work for pricing. It doesn't impact the pricing. We saw farmers, you know, got purchased quota that now doesn't exist just to be able to keep their production in place.

[Sen. Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: You said four twenty six firearms, how many members in your bureau? For dairy? Yeah. We don't have an exact number

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: out of that, but quite a few. Is our largest Half, three quarters? I would say half, at least half. It is our largest sector of agriculture. When you look at a product scale too in the state of Vermont, 65% of Vermont products are dairy and 35% are the remaining sectors of agriculture. It's come to a point where we've seen this decline and you look at the numbers even further back, 2012, we had 1,200 farms. And it's been a steady decline and we've got to come to a point as a state where we put these committees together, we put these reports together. Where did those land us? How did we actually support our Vermont dairy farmers that are here? How do we support them to remain in Vermont? We have to remember our pricing structure is national, and there are independent states in the Northeast that have additional funds available for those farmers. And we need to

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: get there. I've been talking about that since I've been here. And we need to get there. We need to get a pricing strategy that supports milk prices in the state of Vermont on a state by state, and the people that fight it are the people who are administering lower prices and lower prices and lower prices. There's a way to do it, consumer driven, we can do that. We just need to get the right people behind me.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: Absolutely, absolutely. And I'm just hopeful that, you know, we have talked about it a long time. We've had this conversation with Bobby Star for a very long time. And we just don't want to get to the point where we're sitting at 200 farms and as we finally decide to make that decision. We need to, I think we're at a It's very pivotable point

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: very easy to do. It's very, very easy to do. Maybe we can start on that a little bit.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: Absolutely. Well, we're going to jump into some specific policy priorities that you all will be seeing, and again, we just appreciate the opportunity to be here. Our

[Amber Perry (Policy Director, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: top priority would be the municipal regulation of agriculture, as you all know. We're part of a bigger coalition working to hopefully go back to what we've had prior to the Supreme Court ruling of last spring. Again, consistency and clarity, that's what we're pushing for when we're looking at different municipalities, regulating farms. We have farms that are operating in upwards of five to six different towns. So is that going to be designed where each town has different bylaws and then they're trying to figure out, okay, well, I'm in this town

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: now, and I have to do x, y,

[Amber Perry (Policy Director, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: and z. So we're trying to discourage that set of regulation and hopefully just be consistent.

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: We are on that. I know I sent an email to yourself and a few of you others. We are working on some language, or I think we see an 85% back, which isn't a 100, but it was a huge, huge decision that was made. But also I think that in the language of how the Supreme Court described the situation, they were looking for language. I think that we might be able to make some adjustments to some of that language and get back where of, most of where we left off. A lot of the committees, very well aware of that, very well aware is everybody wants 100% and that might not happen at first, but we are very interested in that topic and working hard towards that.

[Amber Perry (Policy Director, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: We appreciate that. Mary touched on water quality. You know, that obviously is another focus of ours. Our members take that responsibility seriously. Farmers are deeply invested in protecting Vermont waters.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: So,

[Amber Perry (Policy Director, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: we'll closely monitor any water quality policy to ensure that they're effective, achievable, and grounded in science. And our members have made substantial investments, investment in their practices. So, that's another one that will be brief. Follow. You want to touch on?

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: Yes, as we know from last session, the Vermont Farm Security Fund, it's a huge priority of ours and we have a coalition with many partners, not in particular who is in their home with us today, and we are very ecstatic with the recent movement of the bill through the House, and we are supportive absolutely of the bill and look forward to finding a way to get it funded.

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: And so we are requested that bill, it comes back across, we're gonna put it in here.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: So we're hopeful.

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: We are looking for some outside funding because it's highly unlikely to come from within this year's budget, but we are in conversations with some folks, and hopefully we can find a way to at least put some funds into that from our S-sixty Farm Residency Fund. So we are, again, aware of that or the need, we will be working on that for the remainder of the session.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: We are bullish and it's happy to help it when we can with a very strong group behind that. It's great to see all different types of agriculture come behind that to support that bill.

[Amber Perry (Policy Director, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: And then also last year, legislation was passed around the CAFO permitting. Farm Bureau is actively participating in the stakeholder group. We meet weekly. Our participation in that group helps bring practical on the ground perspectives to the table, but it also helps us understand what the farmers are exactly looking forward to.

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: You had some language in another committee in the House that seems to be interpreting something different than what was there. We hope that you folks are in there as well and battling hard in there.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: Then Act two fifty and Act 181, we've had a lot of members express extreme concern in our rural communities. I think the governor said it best in his speech yesterday that the rule should be repealed. That doesn't do any benefit to our farmers and our rural communities when we're trying to increase housing in those areas. A lot of our rural landowners are weary and feel some distrust in the way that things are being mapped out for tier three. There's a lot of rural concern about farm properties being put into conservation and wildlife corridor sectors, and what that means for Act two fifty and building later on the farm for their children, for their grandkids, and for their businesses. We do have a lot of farms that operate in that tier three district. So it is a huge concern. We've had members from across the state and we've encouraged them to go to their planning commissions and work at a rural level, as we all know that the towns have been tasked, but this is a concern for us and we hope to be able to share some stories with you all if that is helpful at any time that we need to have our rural community members visit us. It's something needs to be adjusted. We can't be putting labels on farmland that's actively farmland as wildlife poorest and conservation districts. One is actively involved in agriculture and it's actually able to be developed as housing. When we look at a lot of our farm communities, that's where they're building. They're not building in our already congested town areas. A lot of us don't even have water, sewer, etc. In our towns. And they're building on the hills in those areas. If a farmer wants to subdivide, I hear a

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: lot from a lot

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: of maple producers, that they were planning on subdividing this out for their children to build a house to be back on the farm. And they're very concerned that this would prevent them from doing such. Very

[Amber Perry (Policy Director, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: concerned. And then we also follow current use very closely. Our members participate in that program and sometimes it makes a difference in them being able to farm or being forced to sell to the land for development. Any changes to that policy should definitely be carefully considered on the impact of farm viability and land access in the next generation of farmers.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: And those are our top priorities. Ag labor is always on our radar. We're happy to discuss that in any capacity, any length. American Farm Bureau is working nationally on that as well as priority for them. I know we've had a lot of conversations in the past years over what that looks like for us, and we always support keeping our H-2A visa program, but we are also on a national level hoping for a year round program as well for our visa structure to help our Vermont farmers.

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: Yeah, well, we're aligned. We have a great committee. We they work hard. And, yeah, we have a lot of we have a lot of issues. I mean, from as Joe Major pointed out, you know, the the mental health is starting to creep in there in a pretty strong way, which is to be expected when you are on a bad cycle of milk pricing, but there's a lot of other I think it's fair to say that farming is under attack in a lot of different areas, environmentally, regulatory, pricing. And when you're talking about better than $9,000,000,000 actually, the the budget of the state of Vermont is the same amount as what ag related industry produces in this state is responsible for, like $9,400,000,000. So yeah, so we understand, we're aligned, we're going to get the best deal that we can

[Sen. Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: get

[Sen. Russ Ingalls (Chair)]: for farmers. I know our Farm Bureau is very, very concerned about the Supreme Court ruling, and we might not get everything that we want. As we have pointed out with NIFA, with a lot of other folks in the building, I think this is the first time that I've seen that farmers are, all groups, are aligned, that we recognize that we are a very broad coalition from people baking 12 loaves of bread to milking 5,000 cows. It's very, very important that we all stay together and work together and we all remember that we're in the same family. Yeah, we're here, we're fighting, if an ED just come on in or anything we need to be aware of, we're here.

[Mary White (President, Vermont Farm Bureau)]: Absolutely. Well, appreciate your time and it's going to be long year, hopefully not as long as last year for you all, but there are so many important topics to cover this session. So we again are so appreciative to have you all in these states and look forward to it.

[Sen. Steven Heffernan (Clerk)]: Yep. Well, thank you. Thank you. Linda will.