House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry

 

AGENDA

 

Room 49 and Zoom

November 14, 2025

Last Updated 11/13/2025 2:42 PM

 

Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are livestreamed at

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

Friday, November 14, 2025

9:30 AM                   Federal Funding and Recent Events

Agriculture, Forestry, Food Systems, Drought

Kathryn Becker Van Haste, State Director, Office of Senator Bernie Sanders

Ryan McLaren, Outreach Representative, Office of Senator Peter Welch

Thomas Renner, Community Liaison, Office of Congresswoman Becca Balint - Zoom

Kate Gorud, Legislative Director, Office of Congresswoman Becca Balint - Zoom

Michelle Monroe, Executive Director, Vermont Association of Conservation Districts (10:00 AM)

Maddie Kempner, Policy Director, NOFA-VT (10:30 AM)

Misse Axelrod, Owner, Drift Farmstead (10:30 AM)

Graham Unangst-Rufenacht, Policy Director, Rural Vermont (10:30 AM)

Mary White, President, Vermont Farm Bureau (11:00 AM)

Amber Perry, Policy Director, Vermont Farm Bureau (11:00 AM)

Anson Tebbetts, Secretary, Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (11:30 AM)

Abbey Willard, Director, Agricultural Development Division, Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (11:30 AM)

Alyson Eastman, Deputy Secretary, Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (11:30 AM)

Nicole Dubuque, Chief Operations Officer, Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (11:30 AM)

Steve Collier, General Counsel, Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (11:30 AM)

 

12:00 PM                   Lunch

 

1:00 PM                   Overview and Updates

Recent policy and its impact on farmworkers

Will Lambek, Organizer, Migrant Justice/Justicia Migrante

Naomi Wolcott-MacCausland, Bridges to Health Program Lead, University of Vermont Extension

Esbey Hamilton, Program Lead, Migrant Education Program, UVM

Wendy Koenig, Executive Director of Government Relations, University of Vermont

Mike Fisher, Chief Health Care Advocate, Vermont Legal Aid

Alicia Roderique, Health Care Advocate, Vermont Legal Aid - Zoom

Jill Martin Diaz, Executive Director, Vermont Asylum Assistance Program

 

2:30 PM                   Impacts of Federal Changes

Food systems, SNAP benefits

Jon Ramsay, Executive Director, Center for an Agricultural Economy

Autumn Moen, Legislative Policy Lead, Hunger Free Vermont

Johanna Doren, Direct Markets and Local Food Access Program Director, NOFA-VT

Mary Mullally, General Manager, Hunger Mountain Co-Op

Zev Werts, Owner, Georgia Market

Sherry Maher, Co-Manager, Brattleboro Winter Market - Zoom

John Sayles, CEO, Vermont Foodbank

Carrie Stahler, Senior Government Affairs Manager, Vermont Foodbank

 

3:30 PM                   Impacts of Federal Changes

Forestry industry update

Dana Doran, Executive Director, Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast

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

 

4:00 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

 Megan Cannella at mcannella@leg.state.vt.us