March 24, 2025
We're thrilled to announce that on Thursday, March 20, the Vermont Senate unanimously passed a bill, S.60, to create a state Farm Security Fund to provide swift recovery assistance to farms after extreme weather events. This vote represents a major win for Vermont’s agriculturally-rooted communities!
Farming organizations across the state are championing the creation of a farm security fund after evaluating the impact of increased extreme weather on agriculture globally and in Vermont. National programs to keep large, industrialized farms in operation after floods, frosts, or droughts have proven to be ill-suited for the small- and mid-sized diverse farms in Vermont. Strong bipartisan support for a farm security fund comes at a time when climate instability is rising and concerns about the global food supply chain and corporate consolidation in agriculture are top of mind. Says Hannah Doyle, farmer at Boneyard Farm in Fletcher, “We have seen that the federal response and the logistics of disaster relief just don’t make sense for the majority of Vermont’s farms. Vermont farmers are giving, dedicated, and innovative stewards of our working landscape, and need to be valued and protected by practical policies and local solutions.”
Vermont farms reported over $57 million in losses to the temporary state Business Emergency Gap Assistance Program (BEGAP) program between the floods in 2023 and 2024 and suffered additional losses from a snap freeze in late May of 2023. The Farm Security Special Fund named in S.60 would reimburse a farm for up to 50% of uninsured or otherwise uncovered losses due to extreme weather. Appropriations to the fund would be based on the average losses from eligible weather conditions over the past three years and administered by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets in collaboration with a review board.
The bill will now cross over to the House for consideration. There, it will be taken up by the House Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forestry Committee and will eventually be voted on by the full House. If it passes the House, it will then go to the Governor for his signature before taking effect.
This bill comes at a pivotal time for Vermont’s farms as the presidential administration is rapidly canceling federal investments in sustainable farming practices and local food systems. Profit margins for farms are typically slim, and public financial support has long been one of the few pathways farms have to implement costly conservation and climate-smart improvements such as cover cropping or planting pollinator hedgerows. While the Farm Security Special Fund would not replace the lost federal programs, it would keep some farms from going out of business altogether as they stand on the frontlines of a changing climate with diminishing federal support.
"We all rely on farms to eat, and we are all responsible for supporting farmers as they face new climate realities. Especially now, as the federal government is actively divesting from our local farmers, Senate passage of S.60 is a bright spot. Strong, bipartisan support for the Farm Security Special Fund demonstrates Vermont lawmakers' steadfast commitment to supporting our farmers as they face so much uncertainty," says Maddie Kempner, Policy and Organizing Director at the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT).
To learn more about the Farm Security Fund and explore ways to get involved as it makes its way to the House, visit our Farm Security Fund webpage. Thank you for being such strong partners in this effort!