SmartTranscript of House Agriculture Committee's Zoom Meeting

[Jackie ]: I take care. [David Durfee ]: Maybe the we can ask the new committee members to introduce themselves. We'll we'll all introduce ourselves. So I'm David Durfee, chair of the committee. I live in Shaftesbury and represent Sunderland in Boston, Virginia as well. And, why don't we go around and just a quick interest. [Leland Morgan ]: I'm Leland Morgan. I live in Milton and I represent Grand Isle County and West Milton. This is my first fourth term of my first time here in agriculture. [Richard Nelson ]: Jackie, welcome. Hi, Jay. Jack Lipstein, my one star. [Greg ]: Richard Nelson, Orleans one Derby, and these are my people. [Speaker 5 ]: Michelle Bosland, Wyndham three. I live in Westminster and also represent Rockingham and Brookline. [David Durfee ]: Right. Bert, [Speaker 5 ]: Chadwick. It's my guy. Each other. [Heather Supranath ]: Heather Supranath Windsor four, Barnum, and Palmer, Bridgewater West Hartford. [David Durfee ]: And, you know, Sedonia? [Gwen Zakof ]: Yep. Why Sedonia? [David Durfee ]: Chat with us again this year. Yeah. And so, yeah, do you wanna point out who else is here? [Jackie ]: Sure. So, we have three lobbyists in the state house this year for Vermont Farm Bureau. I am one of them. And Gwen Zakoff is our contract lobbyist. And, we'll let her talk a little bit about her, what she's watching, her focus. And then Amber Perry is the administrator and the chief lobbyist for the Vermont Farm Bureau, and I'd like her to have a little bit of time to speak with you too. [David Durfee ]: Good. And then we have several folks on Zoom, And some some of them are Farm Bureau, perhaps. [Jackie ]: They're all Farm Bureau. [David Durfee ]: Right. Well [Jackie ]: every one of them. [David Durfee ]: Please go ahead and introduce them too. [Jackie ]: We have Mary White, who is our first vice president of Vermont Farm Bureau and a dairy farmer down in Corinth. We have Kate Rowley who is a dairy farmer up in Franklin County. I forget if it's the town. Is it Milton? Milton. And, she's also one of our field staff, so she works with for us. We have Scott and Andy Burch from, Orleans. Scott works for Pull and Grain and Andy is a young farmer with a herd of cows up there. Heidi Krantz [David Durfee ]: is [Jackie ]: a member of the horse council, which we'll be talking about a little bit later. Vermont Farm Bureau has been working with the horse council on several different issues that have come up for them over the years. So they'll all have a chance to speak. That's fine. [David Durfee ]: Yeah. So we'll be I think we've got plenty of time to hear from everybody Mhmm. And anybody who would like to say anything anyway. But why don't why don't we have you start and then, we can have do a little shuffle. [Jackie ]: Yeah. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much for coming in today. It's it's a new committee, but it's fun because I know a lot of you. In fact, I think I know all of you from different places and and from before. So, it's a very comfortable committee. But as I said, we're very sad that we went from eleven to eight. It was not something that we expected in the world of agriculture, but I know here that you're going to help us make our voices heard and we appreciate that. We in Vermont Farm Bureau like to think of ourselves as a big tent. We represent all sizes, all kinds, conventional, organic, beekeepers, dairy farmers, fruit and vegetable growers, which makes it kind of interesting when we have issues that come under the Golden Dome because in the case of the neonicotinoid bill, we had members on both sides. And so, what we try to do is be advocates for our members and bring them into you so that they can hear both sides of the issue. We don't pretend that we're the experts. We know that our members are the experts, and that's who we want you to hear from. So as you go forward and you have issues that come up, if there's anything that you want to learn about or are there any, specific issues or kinds of farming that you would like to be connected to, please use us as a resource because that's that's what we want to be, known for, not only as advocating for our members but also giving them a chance to come in. And, we were at a meeting yesterday in Cabot talking about the, the proposal for the emergency, farm relief program that you're going to be seeing fairly soon here as soon as it's introduced. And it was very interesting because it was all kinds of farmers that were there and, we got into quite a lot of conversation about how that's going to work and how Farm Bureau is going to be working with NOFA on that project. So you'll hear more about that in, time to come. We are one of fifty one state farm bureaus and, that's because Puerto Rico is considered, under the umbrella of farm bureaus. So there are fifty one farm bureaus and we are all going to be in a meeting next week in San Antonio, Texas for our national convention. So, there'll be between four thousand and five thousand farmers and ranchers and foresters out there, going to workshops, watching young farmers debate, watching, presentations. And also, we spend one whole day on policy. Some of us are policy nerds and it's a lot of fun because it's a lot different when you have, twenty people at your Vermont Farm Bureau meeting making policy and all of a sudden you have four fifty doing it on a national stage. And one of the things we've asked to talk about, during those meetings is the immigration issue on our border. American Farm Bureau spent a lot of time looking at problems with Texas and Arizona, but you all know that we've had challenges up north here too. So we are, becoming very vocal between Vermont and New York and trying to make American Farm Bureau understand that we also have issues with, folks coming over the border. [David Durfee ]: Representative Nelson. [Greg ]: Sure. Thank you, chairman. Miss Folsom, will Farm Bureau come out with a policy to urge Washington to fix the immigration issue? And I'm not talking about crossing the border. I mean, talking about documentation so we can get the workers in all sectors, not just agriculture, that this country needs. [Jackie ]: So American Farm Bureau is a lot like Vermont Farm Bureau, and at at their annual meeting, all previous policy goes away. So we have had discussions. I was down there in December, and we had policy meetings on various pieces of what's in their policy book and all new policies, or the old ones will be ratified. So I'll be able to give you a better idea of what their policies will be when I come back from San Antonio and I'll be glad to share that with you. It is a huge issue. As you know, American Farm Bureau is divided into four regions. So, the Northeast region is the smallest and we have the fewest members on the board. But the Southwest region, including Texas and Arizona and New Mexico have very large voices on the board of directors at the American Farm Bureau. And they have had policy in the past and they have been very concerned with what's going on. So, I'd be glad when I come back to share with you what we've passed. But there will be something. No doubt. [David Durfee ]: Thank you. [Jackie ]: You're welcome. At our annual meeting in November, we hold elections. So, I was elected two years ago as the president and my term will be ending. The terms are yearly, but I only committed to a two year term of office so that we could rearrange some things on the deck, so to speak, and work harder and smarter and more efficiently. We presented awards. We actually, one of the highest awards that we have is called the Wallace Award and it's given to people for outstanding contributions to agriculture. And Senator Bobby Starr was the recipient of that award this year. And we were very he and his wife were there, so it was really nice to have them there. As I mentioned before, we have three lobbyists. We are, all three of us follow policy. We bring in members and we educate and advocate. That's what we like to do. We do not have a hammer. We do not try to do pushy, nerdy, awful things to people. We like to educate and we like, again, to be a resource. Gwen, would you like to introduce yourself and tell what committees you're following? I'm with Zachoff. [Gwen Zakof ]: I'm working with the oh, sorry. Is it the table? [David Durfee ]: Yeah. Can we have you come up to the table? And do you wanna stay there, Jack? You can grab another chair. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you. [Speaker 5 ]: I'll be really quick. So I'll just start here. That's okay. I'm [Gwen Zakof ]: Quinn Zakov, for the record. I'm, helping the farm bureau because the, there's so much that the house committee is doing, morning and afternoon, and, obviously, the senate's, doing their things in the morning. Amber, can't be everywhere. So I'm spending time in the transportation committee, natural resources, environment committee, institutions, corrections, basically any other committee that's dealing with, you know, water quality, transportation, those sorts of issues, that are sort of outside of the committees that are obviously going to impact farms and forestry. So I won't be spending a ton of time in this committee, but, on behalf of the Farm Bureau, but I'll be doing other work outside of it. [David Durfee ]: Gotcha. Thank you. Nice to meet you. [Jackie ]: Yes. And, and as you know, as I say, when we go into any committees, everything agriculture touches everything in this building, education, taxes, resources. So, we always want to have extra eyes and ears on what's happening and Gwen's been a great resource. This is your second year that you've been working for us, so it's been great. I'll introduce Amber in just a minute, but I wanted to mention one of the things and I'll let her expound on it. One of the things we hosted this year and it was Amber's idea, it was called a Bridging the Divide event. And it occurred to us that there are a lot of ag organizations in the state, but very seldom do we talk to each other. And so, she had the idea to invite, a lot of different types of ag organizations. And we all met in a very chilly barn in October at the Sibley Barn in East Montpelier. And, it was the fifteenth or sixteenth. It was a lot colder than what we expected, but we all became very good friends. We had over sixteen organizations, about thirty different people that were there. As different as the horse council, we had NOFA, we had rural Vermont, we had people from UVM Extension, BDPA. The co ops, some a couple of the co ops were represented. And Gwen was our facilitator moderator that day. We really had an interesting time because as we started speaking, it was very interesting because, you know, groups came in and sat in their silos. So, there was a group that was here that always worked together and there was a Farm Bureau group that always worked together. By the end of the day, we were astonished with the amount of things we had in common and with the amount of things that we could all work together to move in this building. And some of the coalitions that we built, you'll see as we go along. One of the coalitions we have been working with, is NOFA and the Intervale and UVM Extension, and that is something you're going to be hearing more about. Representative Burt was listening to a presentation yesterday and this has to do with the, Farmers Relief Program. It's based on the BGAP funding that was available last year. With this group, that we are a part of feels that there should be some permanent funding mechanism for farmers going through challenges related to climate change and other things. So, there is a bill that is going to be introduced in both the House and the Senate to talk about that and we will be in along with other advocates to, help explain it and, help work through the process and hopefully we can get something set up for farmers going forward. We also worked with, the Working Lands Coalition. They have had, a lobbyist that has been in here in the past making sure that their voices were heard. That has not happened in the last couple of years. So, we worked with them through a couple of meetings this summer. And I tell you this because I want you to understand that we are trying to make more of us work together so that we don't come in here and say, Oh, I can't work with you because you think this. We are all very aware of the differences that we have in our organizations, but we also know that as, one of the smaller voices, we really need to be more powerful and work together. So we're very excited about that. Amber, would you like to come up and introduce yourself? [Gwen Zakof ]: I can. [David Durfee ]: Representative Lipsky. Gotcha. [Richard Nelson ]: Jackie, thank you. On that release act, is forestry included in forest operations included in as an agricultural use? [Jackie ]: I will let you know that I did my best on behalf of our forest members in Vermont Farm Bureau. And I missed the last meeting, and I was told by NOFA that they have removed that. So I would very much appreciate your advocacy in getting that forestry redefined and included back in that bill because it's something that we did support. And as I said, I missed I missed the last meeting, so I don't know what the conversation was. Part of the challenge, with forestry is that the foresters don't own the land that they're on. So so the question became, how do we how do we account for losses? What does a loss look like to a forester? So those are some questions that we'd like we'd love to talk to you about and come up with a solution so that we can include the forestry people. Thank you for the question. [Greg ]: Thank you. [Heather Supranath ]: Okay. For the record, Amber Perry, Vermont Farm Bureau. I serve as the administrator for the last two years, going on two years now. And, when I'm not here, that's what I'm doing. But during session, I'm here lobbying on behalf of our farmer and forestry members. We have just shy of fifteen hundred members. So I hope when you have policy in front of you that you might need some education on, you call on us as a resource because our members are eager to come in and speak with you all. The bridging the event divide was kind of a dream, and then to see it succeed is really amazing, and I hope that's something that we can continue moving forward each each year. We also brought with us, hot off the press, our members do not even have this yet, our newsletters for you all to take a look at, get an idea of what we do. And, again, I just just use this as a resource because that's what [Jackie ]: we're here for. You can pass these around. Thanks. Question from representative. [Speaker 5 ]: I just wanted to point out that we also grew up together. [Jackie ]: We're in [Heather Supranath ]: our campus alumnus. [Speaker 5 ]: She's her husband. We we were in the same class growing up, so, like, k through twelve, probably. [Jackie ]: Yeah. Big Cabot connection here. [David Durfee ]: I don't think the Cabot schools are big, is it? [Speaker 5 ]: No. Oh, and being the kids coming over there. [Heather Supranath ]: I think our biggest class that we graduated was thirty two, and that was the year before me. [Jackie ]: And in full disclosure, representative Burt and I served on the, was the cabinet new dad committee and now it's the CCIF. And, it was it was great to have him on as a young person and as a young farm owner. And now he's chair, right? Doctor. Yep. Yay. And that was funding that came in. The UDAG grant was funding when the Cabot Creamery built, their wastewater treatment plant. They got a two million dollars grant from the federal government and they repaid it into the town of Cabot. So when I was town clerk, we had funds coming back in and there was a committee set up to, we actually set up a scholarship fund that has been going to students for at least twenty years, I think. It's been that long. And several other, several other infrastructure things that the, the U DAG money did. So, it was kind of fun to, to have that happen. Switching back to Vermont Farm Bureau again, I'd like to, tell you some of the priorities that we're looking at and some of them hopefully will be coming in this committee. And if not, then we're going to need your advocacy in wherever they land. The first one and, both your chair and your vice chair were involved in the study committee. I believe Representative Nelson also testified on the, Ag Labor Study Committee that, happened this fall. And that was a result of, the, Senate removed the exclusion for, ag laborers to be allowed to unionize. And we didn't realize that happened until it got through into the, General Housing Committee downstairs. Representative Stevens allowed me to come in. And, we he was very helpful in in getting that turned into a putting the exclusion back in for the time being and turning that into a study committee. And that there's a report. Have you had the report discussion yet, sir? No, we haven't. Okay. [David Durfee ]: And the Senate's taking a look at it next Wednesday, I think. It's, economic development. [Jackie ]: Okay. Excellent. I've already talked to Senator Clarkson about that. So, and and I just want to be clear, Farm Bureau is not against unionization, but the challenge for us, was, some of the ways that it was that it might have happened, how it was going to occur. We wanted to make sure that the farmers and the employees were all taken care of in a in an equal manner. And so we've had We testified. We brought in some people from New York Farm Bureau. And the the, committee changed the focus from collective bargaining to minimum wage and housing. And so, those are some of the things that you will be hearing about and we'll be glad to come in and bring some of our members in to talk about that issue. Heidi Krantz up here on the wall will be, speaking briefly about the current use issues that the equine community has. There are currently fifteen different definitions of agriculture in the state statutes, depending on what you want to do. Within those, in the current use definition, it does not include, a working definition of equine. And so, and because of that, they are not able to participate in the, current use exclusion on buildings and they would like to, have your ear I believe the horse council will be coming in to talk with you. I think they came in last year and we're really going to be supporting that going forward. Water quality is going to be a huge issue throughout the building this year. In the past, we have not been able to access either of the natural resources committees. And this year, we're hoping that changes, particularly in the Senate. The, I'm sure you all know about the lawsuit that CLF brought against the, Agency of Agriculture, having to do with their enforcement of water quality on farms. Vermont Farm Bureau supports the current division of responsibilities, which means direct discharges are under the purview of the Agency of Natural Resources, where they've always been. And anything else, particularly indirect discharges, are under the purview of the Agency of Agriculture. And we support that. So we're going to be very interested in seeing I just talked to, one of the other lobbyists today and the, the Agency of Agriculture responded to the lawsuit or responded to the complaint filed, and the EPA is supposed to be coming in today with a response to their response. So, of course, the whole thing that's happening is the changing of the guard down in Washington, DC. So, we don't know if that's going to affect what's going on or not, but we'll be watching that and I'm sure that it will end up in your committee here. We understand that, Right to Farm, which has been floating around the building for a couple of years, might be coming back. I think Senator Douglas from up in your neck of the woods was looking at language that, has been in Senate Ag Committee for the past couple of years and never made it off the wall. You're going to be doing it? Perfect. So, we will look forward to having discussions on that. The new land use board, land use review board that has just been instituted that took the place of the Natural Resources Board, we are watching that very closely because they have, stated that they're going to be looking at, natural resources in the state and definitions are always important. What is a natural resource and how is that going to be used? So, we're going to be looking at that. Although I should say, Alex Weinhagen, who has been appointed to that committee, was really incredibly helpful, many years ago. Maybe you remember, Representative Supernaught, when we were discussing the agri tourism zoning, and Alex was just wonderful. So, he gets agriculture and I think we've got a real proponent, on that on that committee. And as I said, everything in this building touches what we do as ag and forestry people. So, as Amber said, if we can be a resource for any of you, please let us know. If you're interested in some specific type of agriculture, we usually have a member that fits that. And if you need somebody in your own district, we can usually make the connections too. So, I'd like to, introduce our guests today in no particular order, but I get to choose. So, the first one I'm going to ask speak oops, excuse me, is Mary White down here in the corner in the bottom. Mary, would you introduce yourself and talk a little bit about Farm Bureau and your farm? [Mary White ]: Absolutely. Hi, everyone. My name is Mary White. I am the first vice president of the Vermont Farm Bureau. My husband and I have a certified small dairy farm over here in Corinth, which is Orange County. We ship all our milk to cap at AgriMark, and we run a small beef herd as well. I am, I guess, fun fact, and also a Cabot High School graduate with a couple years behind Amber Amber and Greg, but a much smaller class that we graduated with twelve. And I'm also a University of Vermont graduate with a degree in large animal science. I do wear many hats in the industry. My farm bureau role and then I'm a full time farm and crop insurance specialist, top of being a dairy farmer. So you might see me throughout this session wearing different hats. But I'm happy to come in and speak on topics, especially, crop insurance and flooding, is something that I think we do need to discuss this year and is high priority for everyone figuring out how farms can be a tool to continue to farm in the flood plains and produce viable crops as well as try to keep our neighborhoods safe. So very important topic for everyone. I just wanna touch base a little bit about, you know, why I came to Farm Bureau as a farmer and really the connection was with policy. We were seeing things that we were doing on our farm that weren't necessarily relating to policies being created in the state house and things the agency of ag, was imposing. So just really motivation to get involved. And I just wanna thank all of you for being here because going from eleven to a smaller number is gonna be a large task and it's kind of the same thing on the farmer side. Less than two percent of the entire population is responsible for feeding the masses and feeding a growing population. So it's very important for all of us to stay united, stay together to work towards a goal. And as Jackie mentioned, look at the whole spectrum of farms because we're all in a whole food system together to support each other. You know, large farms bring in infrastructure and other things that help these small farms be sustainable and viable to have a business in the state of Vermont. So we really need to make sure that we're worth looking and working with all scales of farms, all types, in creating a whole food system. So with that, I'm sure I will be seeing many of you again, but just wanted to introduce myself and hopefully we can have a very successful session and I look forward to it. [David Durfee ]: Thank you, Mary. Nice to meet you. And I know you're, busy on the farm, but if you have an opportunity to come to, the State House, you're always welcome here as well. [Mary White ]: Absolutely. [David Durfee ]: A question from representative Lipsky. [Richard Nelson ]: It's just, we're getting close to a super majority being represented from cap. [Jackie ]: We're making you uncomfortable, sir. [Speaker 5 ]: Well, I was just I'm married. I I didn't recognize you because of Zoom, but good to see you again. [Mary White ]: Yeah. You too, Greg. [Speaker 5 ]: We're on the same road in Cabot. So you caught my closet. So for me, [Mary White ]: I'm I [Jackie ]: live in East Cabot, so there's just a little bit of a divide there. Yeah. Alright. Thank you, Mary. Next, how about Scott and Andy Birch? [Scott Birch ]: Hi. I'm Scott Birch. I own a farm in Derby, Vermont, president of Orleans County Farm Bureau. Until I get somebody else to step up, but most likely until I die. I the house I'm living in now currently is surrounded pretty much by representative Nelson's Fields. The farm is just down the road. This is my son, Andy. He runs a dairy herd on my farm. I do the haying in the summer for him, and I'll let him introduce himself. [Andy Birch ]: Okay. Hi. I'm Andy Birch. I've been dairy farming with my wife, Sarah, for a little over ten years now. We're milking just over fifty cows, and I have a thousand path a thousand gallons of milk and root to Cabot as we speak. So we're AgriMark Cabot members. And, yeah, we came back to this farm after I graduated the from the two plus two program with Vermont Tech and UVM and worked about five years for other farms. And the barn had been empty for nine years, and we managed to restart it. Stuck to our business plan and somehow kept things together for over a decade so far. It's become really clear the last few years just how closely our business is tied to the success of our coop. So I guess that's one thing I'd really like everyone to keep in mind that the farmers in their markets, their cooperatives, both need to be healthy or neither will be healthy. But other than that, I'm happy to see mister Nelson on the committee. I think he's going to be a great asset, and thank you all for your support. [Jackie ]: Andy was a young farmer years ago, and I was so I'm a recycled president. This is the second time around that I've been president of the Farm Bureau. And he, he approached me one day and talked about policy and how do you get policy in in in, in the Farm Bureau. So he wrote a policy about, ethics in showing animals at FAERS. And we worked with him and he got it all the way through through this state to our annual meeting and it got passed. And so we were very happy that as a young farmer, he took a part understanding how our policy works, which is pretty much how it works in here too. And so he he and his dad are both, Farm Bureau members up there. And as Scott said, he's the president of Orleans County, and they always have, you and you will be invited. I think you vote too, don't you, Jack? Sorry, representative Lipsky. They have a, legislative breakfast, at the Ira town Iyersburg town hall, I think, in February. And it's always a very fun time. All the legislators, both senators and representatives show up and a great breakfast with, homegrown maple syrup. And then everybody gets a couple minutes to talk, and then we have questions. And it's and there's there are reporters there, so it's a very it's I would say it's a it's a great time to interact with our members. [David Durfee ]: Representative Nelson. [Greg ]: Thank you, chairman. They're being modest. They're also great drivers in our Orleans County Fair Board. And they there's a third member well, two more members out there, Amy's wife and Scott's wife, and they are very active in everything agricultural back home. And they're a great asset to our agricultural community. So great partners. Very, very proud to call them French. [David Durfee ]: Nice that you could join us, both of you. [Richard Nelson ]: Thank you. [Scott Birch ]: Could I just bring up something? [David Durfee ]: Yes. Please do. [Scott Birch ]: The two plus two scholarship. I was informed that what money was left from that has gone away, and it's really been part to our county. My son went through it, through UVM well, VTC and UVM and Minor Institute. And we've had a number of other members in our county that have gone through it. And do you wanna say anything about it? [Andy Birch ]: No. It was a really high quality program. I when I was in high school, I looked very seriously at going out of state, possibly to Cornell or Virginia Tech. But with the scholarship, I decided it made the most sense to stay in state and go through that program. And as a result, I was able to graduate without any student debt at all and graduated with a lot more connections in the state than I think I otherwise would have. I look at the six in my two plus two class, and all six of them are in state and involved in agriculture either directly as as farmers or in important roles in in the ag industry. So I I think it's a program that's paid a lot of dividends over the year and, over the years, and, I'm really sorry to see that it may be winding down. [David Durfee ]: It's it's useful to hear that feedback. And what can you remind us what year you graduated from the from from UVM, Andy? [Andy Birch ]: I graduated from UVM in two thousand nine. [David Durfee ]: Two thousand nine. Okay. Yeah. I think that the, over the years, the participation dropped off a a bit, and that combined with the changes at the Randolph campus, for several years, there were there were no, I guess, no applicants. Coinciding with the pandemic, my my sense is that the there's interest still. There was still interest in the legislature once Randolph Randolph campus brings back their ag program, which may be another year, in a new form. But that cooperating with UVM, in in a program similar anyway, if not necessarily identical, will be, yeah, something that people in the legislature anyway are interested in. So we may ask you back to speak to the, you know, the benefits of the program. You know, just so I haven't gone through it, I think that would be useful. Representative Litsky. [Richard Nelson ]: Yeah. Andy, just as a point of fact, to representative Byrd's seat was held by, former representative Henry Pearl, who I believe was also went through that two plus two at a landfill, and he's still in farming. And he also advocated strongly for it. [Jackie ]: We will be able to bring in many Vermont Farm Bureau members [Speaker 5 ]: Yeah. [Jackie ]: To help re promote that program because this is what we hear a lot from the younger people whom we need desperately to be in the state in whatever capacity of that. Go ahead, representative. [Greg ]: And doctor from UVM that spoke to us the other day. [David Durfee ]: On the metric. [Greg ]: Yeah. They they also have great interest in getting that program back up and running, Andy. And as you know, I have nephews and my son and whatnot required of the two plus two program. So it's it it creates leaders in agriculture. It really does. It creates leaders in agriculture, and it gives us the ability to keep them on. Because if Andy got the BPI, good lord, he'd probably be in North Carolina raising hogs and peanuts. I [David Durfee ]: don't know. [Speaker 5 ]: Well, I'm [Richard Nelson ]: in Georgia. [David Durfee ]: We, I guess we took some testimony last year or the or a year before on the program, and Mhmm. I remember being particularly impressed that the, the required the program requirements included, of course, in organic chemistry. Mhmm. And so if you made it through that, Andy You're a scholar. Yeah. [Jackie ]: I think it's just an indication of people who aren't in agriculture, particularly in dairy, don't understand how smart these guys are and how smart you have to be. Yeah. Not that it isn't different in apples, but there's there's a it it's a little different in dairy for all the different components that they need. So and, next, we'll go to, Kate Raleigh, who is not from Cabot. So we'll give you a little respite there. But she is a two plus two graduate. So we've got a full spectrum here. Kate is our field staff in the northern section of Vermont, and she's also a a dairy kit. So we'll let her speak. Kate? [Kate Rowley ]: Hi, everyone. So, again, my name is Kate Raleigh. I'm from Milton, Vermont. And as mentioned, I am a two plus two graduate from VTC and UVM. I graduated in twenty twenty two. I am one of the two Vermont Farm Bureau field representatives. I help assist and coordinate the nine Northern Vermont district counties. Some of those duties that I do include setting up meetings, you know, keeping meetings on track, passing on information from the office and offering new ideas, helping to coordinate and advertise for events that our counties do, such as the annual legislative breakfast that was just mentioned. Numerous counties do that and annual agriculture appreciation nights, which are nights that counties host to bring community members and farmers together to have a meal, gather, dance sometimes, and just be more of a community. I also help with marketing Vermont Farm Bureau and helping connect not only our members, but also the general public with the importance of Vermont Farm Bureau and the farmers that make our state not only beautiful, but also productive. I also write our quarterly newsletter, which you guys just got handed, writing segments to really be personable, featuring our members, their farms, and relationships between them, and highlighting some previous and upcoming events, help with our social media and marketing, like I mentioned, and tabling materials. I'm also as a field rep, I'm also a face of Farm Bureau in a sense. Okay. Here. Oh, someone say something? [Jackie ]: No. Just coughing. You're fine. [Kate Rowley ]: Also attending other organization meetings and advocating not only as a field rep, but also as a young farmer as well. Me and another field representative, Eliza, We spoke at a Future Farmers of America convention this last year, and we really hope to continue to be involved with other organizations and stressing the importance of agriculture advocacy in school and amongst the next generation of farmers and agricultural leaders that we need so much. So as mentioned before, I'm not only a field representative. I'm also a fourth generation dairy farmer, and I also own my own floral business as well. This is part of the reason why I'm so passionate to not only work with Vermont Farm Bureau, but also be a fellow member. I value the opportunity to stay informed and keep other farmers and consumers aware and connected with current events happening in the statehouse. I also really respect that the organization stays nonbiased, in the news that they deliver, and that's due to because of our diversity in our members. I also appreciate that Vermont Farm Bureau simply reports facts to their members and acts as a gateway for farmers and members to testify and educate lawmakers. I had the opportunity last year to testify, and Vermont Farm Bureau is the reason why I'm a more informed and educated member of society in regards to the legislative process and current issues and events. Just wanna thank you for the time to speak, and I'm excited to see what the session has in store. [David Durfee ]: Thank you very much, representative Mark. Hello, Catherine. [Leland Morgan ]: The Raleigh farm is my neighbor, and I would just like to say that they had a disaster last year and the farm burned. And I haven't been over to see, but have they started up the, the new system yet? [Kate Rowley ]: Not yet, but we're we're very close. Hoping for start of February. [David Durfee ]: Good. [Jackie ]: Thank you. Thanks for asking. [David Durfee ]: Sorry sorry to hear about that. [Jackie ]: Her cows ended up going to six different farms, I believe, and they haven't come back yet. So it's, The neighbors really stepped up and their fellow farmers really stepped up. But it's been all that time without an income and trying to get the insurance claims figured out and rebuilding, which is never easy. So Kate has worked her took us off on behalf of Vermont Farm Bureau and on behalf of the Raleigh family, too. So, it's been tough, but she's a trooper. And it's very nice to have and our other field staff is also a young lady. She lives in New York state, Eliza Schwaver. But as you can see, if you look at the leadership as opposed to the staff, we're gaining a little bit because we're getting the young people involved and that's what we need to do to survive. Okay. Next, I'd like to introduce Heidi Krantz from the Vermont Horse Council. [Heidi Krantz ]: Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for, giving us this opportunity to come in and talk with you. And, I wanna start with deep thanks and gratitude to the Farm Bureau because of the support and opportunities that they provide for this industry, which is often overlooked as a part of agriculture. The breeders of horses have always been included, but as the face of agriculture is changing in Vermont and Kate just referred to growing of flowers, there are there are agricultural there are products that come from the land that are not food based and but they still play an important role in Vermont's economy and in Vermont's working lands, and many equine businesses fall into that category. We are in the Vermont horse council. We recently formed an equine industry committee to better represent the we have a mailing list of about three hundred equine businesses and organizations that are found within this state. We think that there are more out there. We focus on those businesses that, like other ag businesses, are making more than fifty one percent of their income, their revenue from their equine operations, whether that be a boarding facility, a training facility, therapeutic facility, or or recreational and agritourism based. But all of those businesses have in common that they are dependent on the land and they are dependent on animals that take daily care and support the veterinary industry in our state. And in many cases, those businesses, those far those operations are also producing hay and selling hay or working with local farmers to buy hay to keep feeding their animals. So we're we're working hard to do a better job to represent them because the horse council has not neither has done a good job in always representing those that segment. But the Farm Bureau has been great in in embracing the work that we've been trying to do. We're included in their policy book, and I can speak as a member of the Orleans County Farm Bureau that, my county has just been so welcoming and supportive and it's very much appreciated. We are working really hard to get more of our farm, our operations to join the Farm Bureau, to help to support what the Farm Bureau is doing. We, you should have received in your mail, your e your inboxes, a letter from our president, Jeanette Cole, outlining the equine committee and attached to that was the research that was recently done for us by the Vermont Law and Graduate School into the definitions of agriculture, that Jackie referred to earlier. That was one of our first steps to work with them. They very generously offered the resources of their law students to help do that research. And we thought that might be helpful for all of you in the legislature to actually have a document in your hands that would look at that, because the definitions are very varied and that's, Jackie referred earlier to the current use. And we're certainly not looking at, major changes, but we would would like to see the opportunity for true equine businesses to be included a little bit more consistently in the definition of agriculture. Those businesses fall under the required agricultural practices, but they seldom are included in any of the benefits that would fall to other agricultural businesses. So they can't generally apply for any kind of money in case of emergency. They can't apply for many grants that are ag based. So it's and they are taxed heavily for their bill their businesses. As a matter of fact, last year's your returning members may remember that Mindy Hinsdale and Chrissy Rohan came in, and Mindy shared her story of rehabbing two dairy barns that went out of business. And literally the the change in the taxes on her farm, the the day the cows walked out and the horses walked in was a very large financial difference. And that's one of the issues that's facing a lot of our our members right now. And many of those business owners are young people who are either returning to Vermont, grew up in Vermont, but some of them are looking to leave because they can't afford to continue to pay the property taxes as if it's a residential property. So so that's where we're at. We're very happy to provide any education that we can. We are entirely a volunteer organization, but we are very committed to agriculture in this state and to including the equine industry as part of that. So thank you very much. [David Durfee ]: Question from representative Nelson. [Greg ]: Yes. Thank you, chairman. Heidi, on, Mindy's farm, they rehabbed some dairy barns, and the dairy cows walked out and the horses walked in. Would they do build houses on it too in condos? Or No. Is it still hay land and open land? It's [Heidi Krantz ]: yeah, it [Greg ]: was the same. It got removed from current use? [Heidi Krantz ]: Yeah. She she has all the details. It's actually you have the testament testimony on your YouTube record from when they came in, and we can certainly send the the right the record of that for you. It's a pretty amazing story, and then hers is not the only one. It's it's unfortunately more common that than I realized how how often that's happening. And these are not changes into development. This is changes from what animal lives in the barn. [Jackie ]: So we'd really like to have the opportunity to have the horse council representatives come in and speak to you about this issue. [David Durfee ]: We'll certainly make sure that happens. Thank you. [Heidi Krantz ]: Great. Thank you very much. We appreciate that. [David Durfee ]: Any other questions for for, for Heidi? What for anyone? Have have we got we've we've heard from everyone now. [Jackie ]: Yes. You have. [David Durfee ]: K. So, yeah, we can circle back if there's anybody if anybody Thanks, guys. Anything representative of birth? [Speaker 5 ]: Thank you, chairman. I do have one question for for Heidi Grant. Is there opportunity to reach out to the Amish community that seems to be growing in our state, and, obviously, they they're have a forest based agriculture. I don't know. Seems like connecting with them and and seeing that that's a growing growing sector that then we could combine in the [Jackie ]: Register is special. [Speaker 5 ]: You know, the the the activity of the horse council would certainly qualify as an agricultural entity at that point, I would think. So [Heidi Krantz ]: Yeah. That's been on our radar, but thank you for prodding us. That's we appreciate that that idea, and we'll start to tackle that right away because that's that is a growing at least up here in Orleans County, I know it's growing. [David Durfee ]: Representative Lipsky. [Richard Nelson ]: Yeah. Heidi, you know, I have not been to the Barton Fair in Orleans in many years, but we go to Lancaster. We go to Caledonia and always are so grateful for the equine programs they have there. Could you tell me I my partner, she went to Orleans, but do you have much equine activity up at the Orleans fair? [Heidi Krantz ]: Orleans There and I'm hoping maybe Scott or Andy will jump in on this, but there's always been a a show as part of it, and there's races. There are trotting races and other competitions, and that's the case in many of our county fairs. That and, of course, there's Green Mountain Horse Association that hosts tremendous number of events that bring in we have an equine economic impact study available that was done back in two thousand nineteen that looked at both the impacts of personal ownership of horses on the economy, but also the quote, unquote, tourist impact of people coming into this state to participate in equine events. So I can be sure to share a link to you with all of that. But, Scott, if you can talk well, I actually didn't haven't haven't made it to the fair in the last two summers, so I don't know other than that what's still going on. [Scott Birch ]: My my wife is the four h educator in Orleans County, and she has several horse clubs and runs a the horse show there at the fair. Plus there's pulling horses. The horse arena horse pulling arena is actually named after representative Nelson's father. I believe he donated a lot of money to that. And there are horse shows or gymkhanas at least. I'm not a horse person, so I might get this wrong. [Heidi Krantz ]: You're doing well. [Scott Birch ]: A number of weekends during the summer Mhmm. At the fairgrounds. As far as the Amish, I think they prefer to stay out of politics, so it might be tough getting them involved at all. Mhmm. [Greg ]: Well, thank you. Okay. [Speaker 5 ]: I [Heidi Krantz ]: also And if if I could just quickly add, in terms of the use of state fairgrounds, there's been a large effort over the last couple of years for using the Rutland State Fairgrounds, and, there are equine events there almost every weekend through the summer. And they the group of people that's been overseeing that recently added, I think, something like fifteen new stalls to that facility. So there's it it is an a a segment that has some real growth happening in it. Some of you have may may have recently seen Pond Hill Ranch, which is a huge equine program down in the southwestern corner of the state. One of their younger generation members just won a a very prestigious national competition with her reining horse, the first woman to do so in in the history of horse reining. [Richard Nelson ]: First Vermonter, I watched that. Yeah. [Heidi Krantz ]: It's it's a pretty it's a pretty amazing feat for anyone, but for someone from the East Coast to win it in a, you know, traditionally western world is very impressive. And and I wish I could recall off the top of my head how many round bales of hay they use to feed the eight hundred horses they have on-site all winter. They have a huge impact on the hay economy in that part of the state because they, lease out horses to camp programs across the country. [Andy Birch ]: Yeah. There's also racing horse racing at the Orleans County Fair. I I admittedly pay a lot more attention to the dairy cows there, but there are people, you know, on the racetrack riding horses in big circles. And then over at where their show ring is, there are people doing stuff with horses in littler circles and and then people pulling concrete blocks in straight lines. [Greg ]: Yeah. And [Andy Birch ]: I think they're more building a new barn too for the show. [Jackie ]: Yes. They are. They're building three new barns. [David Durfee ]: Representative Nelson has a question. [Greg ]: Yeah. Our our our statement, Jack, the largest free for all pool in New England is a lot is Saturday night at the Orleans County Fair. [Richard Nelson ]: Yeah. It [Speaker 5 ]: it it it it [Richard Nelson ]: I'll see you there. [Greg ]: Yeah. We're coming together. It it it is quite impressive. [Jackie ]: I think one of the things that's that's most astonishing to me is that, I have not been around I'm not a horse person. I haven't been around horses. But we were invited to speak at the horse council's meeting last year. And, you know, if you're in dairy, you know that we have four breeds. There are others, but it's the four top breeds that we look at. These folks deal with like four hundred different breeds and talk about trying to get those people with one voice. They've done a remarkable job. And, they are the big tent under our big tent now, which we're very excited to have as partners. And I did wanna say, on behalf of the FAIRS, my other hat, we have grants that are, divvied up and it comes through the state legislature. It's run through the institutions committees in both the House and the Senate. And we just have, completed approving the last batch of them. And Orleans County has is they are putting in I think they've torn down two horse barns and they're putting in three new horse barns, including fifteen new stalls because their horse, their horse area is growing. But I believe they may be one of the last fairs that do, the racing around around the big circle, as Andy would say. The rest of them is huge enough. The pictures of Trevor. Yeah. [Heidi Krantz ]: Yes. They Yeah. The rest of them are on smaller circles. [Jackie ]: Yeah. The the rest of them are the Jibkhanas and the smaller the smaller show. So thank you very much, everyone. [David Durfee ]: I was I'll just add, Heidi, that we had we did have Mindy in last year, and that's where I learned about Pot Hill and was astonished to hear that there was a rodeo anywhere in Vermont, that it was right up the road from where I live. And and they paid it a visit one Saturday night over the summer. It was it was terrific. It was a great time, and an enormous crowd had found this location, which is kind of secret. [Speaker 5 ]: Mhmm. It [David Durfee ]: was Hard to [Richard Nelson ]: do it too. [Heather Supranath ]: Hard to find. [Heidi Krantz ]: I was gonna say the first time I went there, I was like, wow. This is out here. [David Durfee ]: Yeah. But, clearly, a lot of people had come, from a long way to see it not not just from within Vermont. I think there were it's so people do know about it even if I didn't. [Jackie ]: Well, I I think it was the featured is that the first night you went, Amber? It was a featured It was featured as the first night at the Vermont State Fair last year. [David Durfee ]: Yeah. Yeah. [Jackie ]: And, you couldn't get a parking space for it. I mean, it was just packed, and a good time was had by all. [Heather Supranath ]: They delayed the start of the rodeo because there were still so many people trying to get into the fairgrounds. [Jackie ]: Yeah. So it's a big draw. [David Durfee ]: Yeah. Let's keep [Scott Birch ]: I didn't [Richard Nelson ]: spend my educational years in Cabot, but [Greg ]: it did go to [Richard Nelson ]: in the nineteen seventies. I traveled with the late Harry O'Rourke, [David Durfee ]: the [Richard Nelson ]: many horse sales and vice versa, and part of a group that were consumers who bought this stock for generations. [Greg ]: Before skidders were invented, did you log with horses, Jay? [Richard Nelson ]: No. But I tried it after I had my first skid and I went back to skidder. [Jackie ]: Some things are better in other ways. Right? So just to bring this back around full circle, we're very proud of the members that we have here today and everybody else that we're we are proud to represent. One of the things we do during the session is we, complete every Friday, Amber, mails out to all our members. We call it the UTGD under the Golden Dome. How appropriate. And it talks about, what could be visited, what we're hearing about legislation, who they can possibly talk to if if they're in your your your, district or your district, if there's something that they need to do. And we also say, hey, this bill is coming up and it might be of interest to you. Can we get you in here either by Zoom or in person to come in and talk about it? Because we know you don't like to hear from us. We are always in the building, but we are more, we'd like to to point to our members rather than coming in. We're the ones that are in here following everything, but, we'd really like to bring our members in to talk to you because they are the experts. So [David Durfee ]: Alright. We'll we'll, yeah, encourage you to reach out to us if you have a particular member who'd like to testify and share. [Jackie ]: And the last thing I'd like to say, thank you very much for having us in today. We really appreciate being able to introduce ourselves and our organization to you. If you would like me to come back and discuss the fairs, we have some significant challenges with my fair. I call them mine because I'm very possessive. They're all yours, but, I'm their lobbyist and secretary. And we have four fairs that are, under the three acre impervious surface rule. And one of them that's absolutely going to put them out of business, if not the other three. Doctor. Absolutely. Doctor. Orleans is one of them that's under this right now. Doctor. Yeah. And Doctor. [Greg ]: It's from a sand brand. [Jackie ]: Doctor. Well, Rutland's sitting in a floodplain and they have been told, as of last night, to fix to fix the problem that would only take care of twenty five percent of the water that goes that flows off of their roofs and out of their gravel. It's going to cost, dollars eight hundred thousand in mitigation fee. In other words, just write a check to the ANR, and they get nothing from it. And as of yesterday, to build as of yesterday, it will be three million dollars And that includes destroying a parking lot, two buildings, and where they're putting their amusement rides. And because the brook that flows through the, fairgrounds is impaired, they have to put up three storage, bins to hold the treated water for twenty four hours. And they've been told that this is three million dollars as of last night, but they probably won't be able to start construction till twenty twenty six or twenty twenty seven, which means the fines will start. I think you understand that they can't charge ten thousand dollars a ticket to get in to cover this boondoggle. And so I've got, I've spoken to the Senate Ag Committee, and they're working on it. We're we've got some things that we're thinking about. Last year, we tried to get exempted. That was not accepted by ANR. Last year, we tried to say, you know, we we have we own fifty or sixty acres and ten of that is impervious surface. Can we not get credit for the water flowing off that and going into our land? And they said no. So it's very frustrating and very concerning. The Rutland Group is, they've been dealing with this for a year. And to think that it's a board of all volunteers, being told by the state that they need to come up with three million dollars is quite devastating. So I'll be glad to come in and talk about that. Okay. [David Durfee ]: Good. Yeah. I think we should and if we'll see where the senate is with that as well. But we'll yeah. Let's let's have you back in for that hundred percent. It could be a it could be a fair conversation that focuses on that or it can be, you know, a lot [Jackie ]: And they will be coming. We do have a legislative day set for February nineteenth. I'll be bringing them in all into we go around about six committees, and we'll be sharing what's going well with them. There are some good things. That'd [David Durfee ]: be good to hear, Jake. [Jackie ]: So we'll be coming in then. [Gwen Zakof ]: Thank you very much. Thank you [Speaker 5 ]: all today. Thank you, Jack. [David Durfee ]: I think committee, we I if everyone is okay with, not taking a break since we're supposed to be done in fifteen minutes [Gwen Zakof ]: I need to go. [David Durfee ]: You need I know you need to go. Yeah. All the time. Why don't we invite Dana to come right up to the table? [Speaker 5 ]: Good to [David Durfee ]: see him. Yeah. [Heather Supranath ]: Yeah. Bye, guys. Thank you. [Richard Nelson ]: Thank you all. It [David Durfee ]: is Thank you. [19 seconds of silence] [Speaker 5 ]: We have paper. [David Durfee ]: Yes. [Speaker 5 ]: Paper. [Greg ]: Paper. Where is this paper made? [Richard Nelson ]: Gotcha. [Greg ]: Okay. [Speaker 5 ]: I think the most of it was actually from. It tacked on the roof. Thank you. Can't get writing paper in the evening. I can't. [23 seconds of silence] [David Durfee ]: You didn't have did you wanna share anything more? [Speaker 5 ]: I do. I've got the Zoom Zoom links Adoni gave it to us. [David Durfee ]: To us. He's got it too then. Yeah. Good. [Scott Birch ]: K. Just I'll log in here in a moment. [David Durfee ]: I I don't know. Actually, we may know more about the

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