House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry

 

AGENDA

 

Room 49 and Zoom

April 1, 2025 - April 4, 2025

Last Updated 4/2/2025 2:44 PM

 

Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are livestreamed at

https://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/streaming/house-agriculture-food-resiliency-and-forestry.

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

10:00 AM                   House Floor and Caucus

 

12:00 PM                   Lunch

 

1:15 PM                   Committee Discussion

Side by Side of H.229 and S.60

Michael O'Grady, Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of Legislative Counsel

 

1:30 PM                   H. 326 - An act relating to the regulation of the use of rodenticides

Steve Dwinell, Director, Public Health and Agricultural Resource Management, Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets

 

2:15 PM                   Break

 

2:30 PM                   S. 60 - An act relating to establishing the Farm Security Special Fund to provide grants for farm losses due to weather conditions

NOFA Testimony

Maddie Kempner, Policy Director, NOFA-VT

Graham Unangst-Rufenacht, Policy Director, Rural Vermont

Vern Grubinger, Vegetable and Berry Specialist, UVM Extension

Bruce Hennessey, Farmer/Slaughterer, Maple Wind Farm

 

4:00 PM                   Adjourn

 

Wednesday, April 2, 2025

9:15 AM                   Committee Discussion

Amy Shollenberger, Lobbyist, Action Circles, NOFA-VT

 

9:35 AM                   Federal Impacts on the Forest Products Industry

Gwynn Zakov, Lobbyist, Vermont Forest Products Association

David Laforce, Owner and CEO, Built By Newport

William Sargent, Owner, Hollow Hill Forestry

Trevor Allard, Vice President, Allard Lumber Company

 

11:00 AM                   Break

 

11:15 AM                   H. 475 - An act relating to establishing an equitable pricing system for the milk production

Walk-through

Michael O'Grady, Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of Legislative Counsel

 

11:40 AM                   H. 477 - An act relating to forest management harvests on State Forest lands

Walk-through

Michael O'Grady, Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of Legislative Counsel

 

11:50 AM                   H. 478 - An act relating to requiring price look-up stickers on produce be compostable

Walk-through

Michael O'Grady, Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of Legislative Counsel

 

12:00 PM                   Lunch

 

1:00 PM                   House Floor

 

2:05 PM                   S. 60 - An act relating to establishing the Farm Security Special Fund to provide grants for farm losses due to weather conditions

Nicole Dubuque, Chief Operations Officer, Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets

 

2:40 PM                   Adjourn

 

Thursday, April 3, 2025

9:00 AM                   S. 60 - An act relating to establishing the Farm Security Special Fund to provide grants for farm losses due to weather conditions

Oliver Pierson, State Forester and Director of the Forests Division, Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation

Katharine Servidio, Forest Economy Program Manager, Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation

 

9:30 AM                   H. 386 - An act relating to establishing an Agricultural Land Transfer Assistance Program

Liz Gleason, Farm and Forest Viability Program Director, Vermont Housing & Conservation Board

Pollaidh Major, Director of Policy and Special Projects, Vermont Housing & Conservation Board

Gus Seelig, Executive Director, Vermont Housing & Conservation Board

Jake Claro, Farm to Plate Network Director, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund

 

10:30 AM                   Break

 

10:45 AM                   H. 386 - An act relating to establishing an Agricultural Land Transfer Assistance Program

Nikki Lennart, Farm Business Specialist, Intervale Center

 

11:30 AM                   Committee Discussion

TBD

 

12:00 PM                   Lunch

 

1:00 PM                   House Floor

 

4:00 PM                   Adjourn

 

Friday, April 4, 2025

9:30 AM                   House Floor

 

11:00 AM                   Committee Discussion

 

12:00 PM                   Lunch

 

1:00 PM                   S. 60 - An act relating to establishing the Farm Security Special Fund to provide grants for farm losses due to weather conditions

NOFA Testimony

Maddie Kempner, Policy Director, NOFA-VT

Hillary Martin, Diggers' Mirth Collective Farm

Sam Smith, Farm Business Specialist, Intervale Center

Amanda Andrews, Owner, Tamarack Hollow Farm

 

2:00 PM                   Committee Discussion

TBD

 

3:00 PM                   Adjourn

 

ATTENTION WITNESSES

 

Please email handouts to the committee assistant at least 24 hours before your scheduled meeting time. With few exceptions, any documents you send to a committee assistant are open to the public and may be posted to the committee’s web page.

 

Should you require accessibility services, please click here and note that requests should be made 48 hours in advance of testimony.

 

 

 

If you have any questions or comments, please contact

 Sydonia Axis Lary at slary@leg.state.vt.us