3/2 Propose the Right to Grow Resolution at your Town Meeting!
There hasn’t been adequate time on the issue of municipal exemption/Right to Grow Food this legislative session to do the work that would have allowed us, or you, to have this as a warned item on the agenda at Town Meeting.
With this in mind, please consider proposing the following Non-Binding Advisory Petition to the Vermont State Legislature to adopt The Right To Grow Food & restore the regulation of Farming & Farm Businesses to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, & Markets. This non-binding resolution is intended to encourage the Vermont State Legislature to restore the long-standing exemption for farms from municipal zoning, and to codify a Right to Grow Food that clearly includes the right to raise livestock and to sell agricultural products.
Thank you to Jennifer Byrne and Henry Harris for launching this advisory resolution over the 2/27 weekend (in time for Town Meeting on 3/3/26). Henry Harris and Graham Unangst-Rufenacht were able to pass this advisory resolution at the Marshfield Town Meeting on 2/28. Please use the following materials as guidance, and feel free to reach out with any questions: info@ruralvermont.org.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INSTRUCTIONS for you, the presenter
SUPPORTING MATERIAL for you and allies to help make your case in the discussion
THE RIGHT TO GROW FOOD TOWN MEETING RESOLUTION, for the moderator, the select board, and the attendees of the meeting
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PROPOSING THE RIGHT TO GROW FOOD
● Print enough copies of the RESOLUTION to circulate to the residents in your Town Meeting if you can. At least a few for the Moderator, the Selectboard, and prospective allies would be good.
● Show up a little early and give the Moderator of your town meeting a copy of the resolution, and ask that the resolution be proposed in “Other Business”. (This resolution must be advisory only, as 17 V.S.A. § 2660(d) prohibits binding actions on unwarned items. There may be pushback, but presenting a resolution in this exact manner is specifically enshrined in Vermont statute.
● Distribute the RESOLUTION to attendees and the Selectboard. Be ready to pass out more copies upon request during the discussion
● Wait for the "Other Business" article, then rise and make the motion for a non-binding resolution or discussion, which you should be cued to do by the moderator. At this point, the Moderator should read the resolution.
● Be polite and concise in your presentation
Supporting Materials
We don’t want to script your debate, but here are some ideas to think about. Based on our understanding, you are not allowed to read from a piece of paper at town meeting that was authored by others. Familiarize yourself with these ideas if you want; you can also write some of them down for yourself as notes, and your best resource is your own critical thinking and experience!
TALKING POINTS
● People may have a hard time with a last-minute, “unwarned” item on a Town Meeting agenda based on concerns related to “process”. There wasn’t time in this case to do the work that would have allowed us, or you, to have this as a warned item on the agenda at Town Meeting. We can be sympathetic that not everyone in town knew this resolution would be proposed, and also express understanding that Vermont Statute allows for non-binding advisory resolutions like this one in the “other business” section of the meeting, so that opinions can be expressed that are more time sensitive, without the risk of undemocratic financial expenditures or other binding commitments. This is intended as a democratic balance and is part of the Vermont Town Meeting process.
● We believe a clear and consistent regulatory framework across municipalities is best for farms and towns. We want to avoid a patchwork regulatory environment for farming in Vermont that is confusing for both farmers and municipalities, and would be a continued source of contention and acrimony in our communities.
● This needs to include the establishment of a Right to Grow Food so that by-laws cannot prohibit, or functionally prohibit, food growing practices.
● We want to ensure that farms are regulated by a common authority (Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets) that has sufficient agricultural expertise and can offer technical and financial assistance to producers, while applying a common set of standards and rules for agricultural practices (Required Agricultural Practices). Doing so removes local bias, either in the positive (i.e., preferential treatment) or negative (i.e., discrimination or inter-personal conflict).
● Affirming and protecting the right to grow food throughout all types of development - rural, urban, peri-urban, “growth centers”, etc. - is important to fostering equitable access to farming and food for all Vermonters. This leads to a more resilient and food-secure Vermont, with greater opportunities for growing culturally appropriate foods and direct access to learning about farming, gardening, and foodways.
● The Vermont Supreme Court suggested the current criteria are ambiguous for the applicability of the Required Agricultural Practices rule, resulting in "anomalous results.” We seek to clearly define the municipal exemption in Title 24 without substantively changing how it has been implemented and understood for decades by farmers, municipalities, and communities.
● Once agricultural land is gone to development, it is gone forever - we need to protect and grow agricultural land, not create new ways to threaten its existence.
● Land access and affordability is one of the primary issues affecting farmers in VT and nationally - especially for young, beginner, and historically marginalized farmers. Accessing rural farm land and housing is very economically challenging, and farming is itself economically extremely difficult.
● A broad and diverse coalition of agricultural organizations has agreed to our proposed legislative language (see below): Rural Vermont, the Vermont Farm Bureau, Agri Mark, Cabot, the Vermont Dairy Producers Alliance, NOFA-VT, the Vermont Association of Conservation Districts, the Connecticut River Watershed Farmers Alliance, Farm to Plate, and the Land Access and Opportunity Board. It collectively represents a significant portion of VT’s farming community and food system stakeholders.
● Selectboards and Development Review Boards work hard for little pay, have a lot of turnover in their membership, and can’t be expected to have expertise related to farming or agriculture.
● Across VT’s municipalities, there is a significant disparity related to the capacity of a municipality to fulfill different duties essential for the operation of a town, and planning for its future - municipal zoning authority over farming adds another layer of responsibility for towns to carry.
THE RIGHT TO GROW FOOD TOWN MEETING RESOLUTION
THANK YOU!
Questions: info@ruralvermont.org