Rural Vermont 2021 Mid-Year Progress Update
As the Vermont legislature adjourns the 2021 session, the time is right for Rural Vermont to share an update, including plenty of good news! Thanks to the leadership and guidance of our farmer members and partners, the strength and resolve of our coalitions, and the support of our broader network, we are excited to report some significant gains over the first half of this year. Read on!
Raw Milk: Act 22 allows for the sale of raw milk by tier two producers at other farms’ farmstands and CSAs in VT as of 7/1/21. This bill provides a meaningful increase in market access for raw producers and in turn significantly increases the economic viability of selling raw milk by increasing consumers’ access to this product.
On Farm Slaughter and Meat Processing: H.420 awaits the Governor’s signature and doubles the allowances for on-farm slaughter of livestock: from 5 to 10 cattle, 15 to 30 pigs, 40 to 80 sheep & goats or a total combined live weight of 12,000 lbs. Farmers supported increasing the allowances for on-farm slaughter in testimony about the increased bottleneck for meat processing. The bill also repeals the law’s “sunset” and thereby secures this important practice in perpetuity. H.420 also includes the charge to draft future legislation to allow for CSA programs with animal shares to make the practice more accessible.
Soil Health, Payment for Ecosystem Services, & the Climate Council: We actively attend & inform the Ag. & Ecosystems subcommittee of the Climate Council, helping shape the VT Climate Action Plan. We co-initiated a statewide Soil Health Policy Network that facilitates policy discussions & information sharing. We also informed the PES & Soil Health working group with legal research in partnership with the Center for Agriculture & Food Systems & White River NRCD. H.420 (awaiting the Governor’s signature) extends the working group until 2023. Our aim is to increase farmer voices in decision making.
Adequate Shelter: Rural VT, NOFA-VT, and many farmers sought to ensure that existing animal welfare standards related to adequate shelter requirements in VT did not prohibit appropriate grazing and livestock management, proposing alternative language based on the National Organic Program. Based on our advocacy, the Senate Agriculture Committee included language in a related bill - H.421 - which clarified that accepted animal husbandry practices will not be subject to the adequate shelter requirements, meaning that graziers will not be subject to violations of animal welfare if their animals do not have access to shade and shelter at all times.
URL / Poultry Foraging: S.102 has been signed by the Governor and provides a pathway for the agricultural use of food residuals as laid out in the organics management hierarchy of the Universal Recycling Law (URL). The definition of farming in Act 250 & the Required Agricultural Practices now includes composting up to 2,000 cubic yards/year of food residuals. This resolves a jurisdictional dispute & allows farmers who practice compost foraging to regain markets of diverted food residuals. This practice reduces feed costs, produces valuable soil amendments, & incentivises diversification. We also advocated to hold the Agency of Natural Resources accountable for protecting the priority uses of organics more broadly.
Cannabis: Act 164, VT’s existing tax & regulate cannabis law, facilitates the development of a consolidated & concentrated cannabis marketplace, without distributing access & wealth by centering small businesses, farmers, & communities of color. With the VT Cannabis Equity Coalition, we worked to bring racial, economic, & agricultural equity to amend Act 164, as well as move our own bill, H.414, with little success in a challenging environment. In the near term, we will continue to organize and educate in preparation for the Cannabis Control Board's public rulemaking process, as well as municipal decision making around the State.
Ag Innovation Board: H.434, awaiting the Governor’s signature, assigns many functions of the Vermont Pesticides Advisory Committee to an Agricultural Innovation Board primarily charged with monitoring, researching, and making recommendations related to the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and agricultural plastics. We worked with allies to affect many aspects of this bill, in particular its board membership and refining its focus to three primary areas from what was at first a very expansive mandate.
Healthcare: H.430 is awaiting the governor’s signature and will expand the Dr Dynasaur Healthcare program to include income-eligible pregnant people & children regardless of immigration status and will be implemented in 2023. The bill also sets up a grant program to assist with medical bills in 2022. Privacy protections & culturally appropriate outreach & language access are also specified. Thank you VT Legal Aid, Migrant Justice, & others for their leadership.
Corporate Land Grabs and Land Access: Corporate farmland investment & acquisition globally & locally compromises communities’ food and resource sovereignty, & contributes to inequity and consolidation of the food system. We have been working with a national Anti-Land Grab group to coordinate a response to the VT Pension Investment Committee’s decision to invest $100 million dollars into TIAA’s farmland acquisition subsidiary Nuveen, & to organize & educate about this issue. We have continued to participate in the Farm to Plate Steering Committee and Chair the Farm to Plate Farmland Access & Stewardship Working Group.
Small Farm Action Days: Our first virtual Small Farm Action Day series in partnership with Action Circles and NOFA-VT created three advocacy training sessions and two joint hearings for farmers to address their concerns with legislators.
This list is not comprehensive, for more information, including our solidarity efforts, visit our website and social media!