House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry

 

AGENDA

 

Room 49 and Zoom

February 10, 2026 - February 13, 2026

Last Updated 2/6/2026 3:25 PM

 

Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are livestreamed at

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

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

10:00 AM                   House Floor and Caucuses

 

12:00 PM                   Lunch

 

1:00 PM                   Budget Request

Bridges to Health

Olivia Sharrow, Executive Director, Vermont's Free and Referral Clinics (VFRC)

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

 

1:30 PM                   Committee Discussion

 

2:15 PM                   Agricultural Updates

Chris Callahan, Interim Director of Extension, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Vermont - Invited

Vern Grubinger, Vegetable and Berry Specialist, UVM Extension

 

3:15 PM                   Committee Discussion

 

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

9:30 AM                   Disability Advocacy Day

Esq. Susan Aranoff, J.D., Policy Analyst, Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council - Invited

Wilda White, Founder, MadFreedom - Invited

 

10:00 AM                   TBD

 

11:30 AM                   Solar on Vermont Agricultural Land

Peter Sterling, Executive Director, Renewable Energy Vermont

 

12:00 PM                   Lunch

 

1:00 PM                   H. 536 - An act relating to toxic heavy metals in baby food products

Bill introduction and walk-through

Rep. Mary-Katherine Stone, Sponsor, Chittenden County

Katie McLinn, Legislative Counsel, Office of Legislative Counsel

 

1:30 PM                   H. 868 - An act relating to prohibiting the use of ultra-processed foods in school food programs

Bill introduction and walk-through

Rep. Michelle Bos-Lun, Sponsor, House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry

Beth St. James, Legislative Counsel, Office of Legislative Counsel

Bradley Showman, Legislative Counsel, Office of Legislative Counsel

 

2:00 PM                   Break

 

2:10 PM                   TBD

 

3:30 PM                   House Floor

 

Thursday, February 12, 2026

9:30 AM                   Soil Classification

Ari Rockland-Miller, Senior Agricultural Development Coordinator, Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets - Invited

 

10:20 AM                   Break

 

10:30 AM                   TBD

 

11:15 AM                   Vermont Creative Sector Day

Artists in schools residency project Empty Bowl Residency

Patricia Komline, Director of Government Affairs, Downs Rachlin Martin, LLC - Invited

 

12:00 PM                   Lunch

 

1:00 PM                   Labor

H2A (migrant worker) visa data

Cindy Robillard, Workforce Development Division Assistant Director, Vermont Department of Labor

Rowan Hawthorne, Policy and Legislative Affairs Director, Vermont Department of Labor

 

2:00 PM                   Break

 

3:30 PM                   House Floor

 

Friday, February 13, 2026

9:30 AM                   House Floor

 

11:00 AM                   Vermont Association of Conservation Districts

 

12:00 PM                   Lunch

 

1:00 PM                   Vermont Housing and Conservation Coalition

Mark Gutel, A Kinder Way Berry Farm, West Pawlet

Guy Gulet, Farmer, South Hero Land Trust

Kathleen Swanson, Farmer, South Hero Land Trust

Rosalie Williams, Diversified Ag, Bakersfield

 

2:00 PM                   Break

 

2:10 PM                   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.

 

 

 

Please note that witnesses may not be called in the order in which they are listed.

 

 

If you have any questions or comments, please contact

 Patricia Ruddy at Patricia.Ruddy@vtleg.gov