Last week, Jennifer Byrne (White River NRCD) and Caroline Gordon (Rural Vermont’s Legislative Director) took the opportunity to support Alissa White (soil scientist, UVM) with doing soil tests on four farms for the VT State of Soil Health Project in the Woodstock/Heartland area. It was the first time Caroline met Alissa, Stephen Leslie (Cedar Mountain Farm, Cobb Hill Creamery) and Paul Doton in person after meeting virtually for over a year now. How refreshing to being able to talk soil health policy on the ground! Check out the video of Alissa doing a Bulk Density Test (*no worms were harmed😉 ). UVM is doing state of the art research to assess the state of soil health in Vermont - important information that also policy decisions will be based upon.

Jennifer Byrne (White River NRCD, left), Stephen Leslie, Alissa White at Cedar Mountain Farm.

Stephen Leslie (Cedar Mountain Farm, Cobb Hill Creamery) existing their no till efforts with joy.

Alissa and Jen on their way to soil health testing on Clay Hill Farm.

Alissa White (UVM) doing Bulk Density Tests and other soil tests for the VT State of Soil Health Project on Clay Hill Farm (pic and video).

Caroline, back in the field!

On April 10 and April 24 2021, the North American Region of La Via Campesina (LVC) hosted a Training-The-Training Course on Carbon Markets and False Solutions to the Climate Crisis in partnership with the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN). Rural Vermont staff member Mollie Wills is a member of the Climate Justice Collective of LVC North America, and was responsible for co-organizing and co-facilitating the course.

We had 15 participants, all from member organizations of La Via Campesina, for two 3 hour training sessions. The participants came from Democratic Republic of Congo, Mexico, United States, Kenya, Canada, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom. 

The course was delivered by Tamra Gilbertson and Thomas Joseph of IEN, who began with a discussion about the true root issues of the climate crisis: Patriarchy, Colonialism, Capitalism and Development. We learned about the history of Carbon Markets through various international treaties and summits since the 1992 Rio Declaration. We discussed how the language being used around carbon markets is often difficult to understand and heavily greenwashed, both of which are tactics corporations and industry have used to propel these policies forward. We dove into the science behind the fast carbon cycle versus the slow carbon cycle, and how the popular idea that one can offset the other is false; they are not interchangeable. We discussed how “net zero” does not actually mean zero, and does not encourage top polluters to reduce emissions, a necessary step in our collective survival of the climate crisis.

Thomas Joseph used his personal and people’s history to share some of the deep, lasting harm and destruction that false solutions like Climate Smart Agriculture continue to have on Indigenous peoples around the world, as their access to traditional lands and foodways is severely threatened by burgeoning carbon markets. 

We built relationships and heard from one another about what we are experiencing related to carbon markets in our communities. With the help of multiple translators, this connection brought nods of understanding and a strengthening of new friendships amidst our shared struggle.

We will continue working with IEN and LVC to further develop these trainings, and will bring them to Vermont as well as distributing this information broadly.  

For more information, check out the Carbon Pricing Booklets Volume One and Volume Two, available in English and Spanish, and the recently released Hoodwinked in the Hothouse publication by IEN, LVC, and others. If you’d like to learn more, contact mollie@ruralvermont.org

Throughout the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a crushing bottleneck in VT slaughterhouses as more and more people have begun to seek out and produce local meat. With many slaughterhouses fully booked for at least the next year, Rural Vermont is seeking out strategies to alleviate pressure on meat processors and to allow farmers to continue providing fresh, local meat to their communities. In Rural Vermont’s recent on-farm slaughter survey, participants were asked what they thought the best strategies were to achieve this goal.

Read the results HERE!

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced completion of its review of the Final Rule establishing the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program. The rule moves forward as published in the Federal Register on Jan. 19, 2021, and becomes effective March 22, 2021.

As part of the transition, USDA and many other agencies took the opportunity to review new and pending regulatory actions. This is a routine process done at the beginning of new administrations to ensure longstanding as well as new programs are structured and resourced appropriately and to ensure programs are implemented to best serve their intended stakeholders.

Background: The final rule includes provisions for the USDA to approve hemp production plans developed by states and Indian tribes including requirements for maintaining information on the land where hemp is produced, testing the levels of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, disposing of plants not meeting necessary requirements and licensing requirements. It also establishes a federal plan for hemp producers in states or territories of Indian tribes that do not have their own USDA-approved hemp production plan.

The final rule incorporates modifications to regulations established under the interim final rule (IFR) published in October 2019. The modifications are based on public comments following the publication of the IFR and lessons learned during the 2020 growing season.

Key provisions of the final rule include licensing requirements; recordkeeping requirements for maintaining information about the land where hemp is produced; procedures for testing the THC concentration levels for hemp; procedures for disposing of non-compliant plants; compliance provisions; and procedures for handling violations.

More information about the provisions of the final rule is available on the Hemp Production web page on the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) website, and Vermont-specific information is available at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture's Hemp Program.

Rural Vermont contributed to Farm to Plate and the Agency of Agriculture's Vermont Agriculture and Food Systems Plan in a number of ways. We lead authored the briefs on Healthcare and Childcare, and we were contributing authors on the Agroforestry, Alternative Farmland Ownership, and Policy briefs.

• The PES and Soil Health Working Group is reconvening on March 16th, 1-3.30pm -> contact facilitator Elizabeth Cooper ecooper@cbi.org to listen in! 

• Get an overview of the working groups process and work to date by checking out research that Rural Vermont has partnered on with the White River NRCD and the Center For Agriculture and Food Systems at VLS -> download here. 

• Next steps? Farmers should design the PES program focussed on soil health! Participate in farmer conversations at your conservation district and request a stipend from Rural Vermont for your participation -> contact Jennifer Byrne at whiterivernrcd@gmail.com.

• In collaboration with the VT Releaf Collective, NOFA-VT, and the VT Healthy Soil Coalition, we’re working to amplify farmer and BIPOC voices by offering stipends to BIPOC engaged in soil health policy -> contact caroline@ruralvermont.org and get more info here.

As a member organization to the National Family Farm Coalition, Rural Vermont participates in its Corporate Land Grab working group – which has a particular focus on TIAA and its subsidiaries.  TIAA is one of the most significant global corporate investors in farmland.  There are a number of documented concerns which are important to be aware of related to corporate farmland investment:  human rights abuses, land grabbing, exploitation of particular communities and regions, pitting farmers and peasants against workers whose pensions are invested, impacts on food and resource sovereignty, reduced land access and ownership, application of industrial agriculture resulting in soil depletion, pollution, etc.  See the following articles and resources documenting the impacts of TIAA investments:

- New report about TIAA and Harvard by Rede Social and GRAIN on new findings of illegality:

https://www.social.org.br/index.php/reports/reports-english/253-tiaa-and-harvard-s-brazilian-farm-deals-judged-illegal.html

- Article about it on Bloomberg: 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-17/u-s-pension-fund-tiaa-embroiled-in-brazil-land-purchase-probe?sref=5DzaVjJc

- Article about it by Chain Reaction: https://mailchi.mp/chainreactionresearch.com/the-chain-federal-agency-deems-tiaas-land-holdings-in-brazil-legally-null-and-void?e=d4f256fd97

- Earlier report about transnational corporations and land speculation in Brazil: https://www.social.org.br/index.php/pub/booklets-english/210-transnational-corporations-and-land-speculation-in-brazil.html

-  Released last month by FOE and ActionAid:

https://1bps6437gg8c169i0y1drtgz-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/TIAAs-Accumulation-of-Farmland.pdf

Despite this, TIAA continues to sell itself, and its subsidiaries such as Nuveen, as “socially responsible investments” (SRI’s).  This past summer, we began working with the National Family Farm Coalition and some members of the working group (Action Aid USA, the Network for Social Justice and Human Rights in Brazil, NOFA VT) to inquire about what turned out to be a $100 million dollar investment the Vermont Pension Investment Committee had made in TIAA’s farmland acquisition subsidiary Nuveen.  We reached out to – and met with – VPIC on separate occasions to inform them about TIAA’s record, concerns about and impacts of corporate farmland investment, the risk of this investment, and to learn more about how they came to invest in Nuveen / TIAA and what that investment looks like.  We are currently waiting to hear back from VPIC about an agreement we’ve drafted and sent to them which commits both parties to longer term discussions about this investment.  As a group with national and global focus, it is our goal to learn what we can in order to prevent other State pension investment committees and other actors from investing in corporate farmland.  In Rural Vermont’s capacity as Chair of the Farmland Access and Stewardship Working Group, we recently had a meeting in which members of the working group presented on this topic.  We are working to expand our coalition locally – from agricultural organizations to organizers in academia and unions - please be in touch with Graham (graham@ruralvermont.org) if you’d like to join in and support this effort.

Rural Vermont is partnering with the Vermont Releaf Collective, NOFA-VT, the Vermont Healthy Soils Coalition to distribute stipends of $150-$200 to BIPOC working to advance soil health policy in Vermont. How can these stipends be used?

*Attend an upcoming Small Farm Action Day event (virtual advocacy trainings for farmers and meet and greets with legislators February through April) and raise your voice to policy makers!

*Offer testimony to the legislature regarding proposed soil health, climate change, and/or relevant agricultural bills (no experience testifying needed and lots of support available!)

*Teach a workshop in your community about soil health, and encourage attendees to contact their legislators or otherwise share information by writing a Front Porch Forum post, Letter to the Editor, or using another public platform

*Provide input to the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) Working Team and advocate for equitable and effective PES or other soil health programs 

*Are you working to advance soil health policy in other ways? Let’s talk! We want to support your work. 

If you are interested, please send a brief application with your name, anything you want to share about your experience or interest in soil health, and which opportunity you’d like to learn more about to mollie@ruralvermont.org. You can also apply via phone (802-223-7222) or by sharing a short video. This application is not intended to be onerous. Please reach out if you’re interested or have questions. 

Opportunities available for all experience levels. Stipend amounts vary depending on the activity.

Jan. 15, 2021—The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the final rule regulating hemp production in the United States. The final rule incorporates modifications to regulations established under the interim final rule (IFR) that are based on public comments following the publication of the IFR and lessons learned during the 2020 growing season. The final rule will be effective on March 22, 2021. More information about growing hemp in Vermont here.

FARMERS! Rural Vermont is partnering with Vermont Legal Aid to offer a free, farmer-specific healthcare enrollment support from 12-1pm on Tuesday, 12/1.

The Open Enrollment period for Vermont Health Connect is 11/1-12/15.

Are you unclear about whether you will be eligible for Medicaid, or forced to keep your farm income low so you can remain eligible for Medicaid? Does income variability on your farm make choosing the right plan difficult? Experts from Vermont Legal Aid are well qualified to provide support around these questions and more, all geared towards the agricultural community.

Have a specific question?

Email it to mollie@ruralvermont.org or fill out the RSVP form below so we can ensure this event is as useful to you as possible and keep you posted about the event. A Zoom link to the event is forthcoming. This event will be recorded for those who cannot attend. (Please note that this event is geared towards providing support on broad issues faced by the working lands community in regards to enrolling in a healthcare plan, as well as directing attendees to resources that can provide more individual support as needed).

RSVP to the event and ask your questions here:

On September 30, 2020 the US Senate passed a continuing resolution providing short term funding to prevent a government shutdown that included the House's language to extend state's hemp pilot programs, effectively allowing Vermont hemp producers to continue operating under the 2014 Farm Bill pilot program until September 30, 2021.

Vermont’s current Hemp Rules are in effect with the exception of the certified laboratory program (growers can currently use a lab they have a relationship with even if not certified) and the provisions of the Vermont Brand, which are not launched yet. All aspects of the rules are enforceable, including sampling procedures, record keeping, and testing by harvest lot number.

For a grower to be covered under the Vermont pilot program regulations, crops must be sampled, tested and harvested before Oct 31, 2021.

If you are looking for additional information, visit the Agency of Agriculture’s Hemp Program.

Questions? Email Mollie Wills, Rural Vermont Director of Grassroots Organizing.

Want more information or to get involved? Contact Mollie (mollie@ruralvermont.org).

This summer, a coalition of food and farm groups across the Northeast worked together to provide financial assistance to Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) farmers and fisherfolk who were impacted by Covid-19. The Northeast BIPOC Farmer Relief Fund, funded by Farm Aid, provided grants of $500 each to a total of 223 producers, including 13 grants in Vermont. Priority was given to producers using sustainable, regenerative or environmentally sound practices who demonstrate a connectedness to their community. Because the USDA's definition of farmer excludes many BIPOC folks, the coalition decided to define "farmer" more broadly, to ensure that applicants need not own farmland or a farm business or generate a profit, so long as they are growing or raising food in some capacity for their communities, in order to qualify.

This effort was a collaborative initiative of several Northeast and national farm and food systems organizations, including Black Farmer Fund, Black Urban Growers and Farmers of Pittsburgh Cooperative (BUGFPC), Farm Fresh Rhode Island, Just Food, Land For Good, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), National Young Farmers Coalition, Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust (NEFOC), Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG), Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey (NOFA-NJ), Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY), Pasa Sustainable Agriculture, Rural Vermont, The Carrot Project, and Urban Tree Connection.

USDA has reopened their comment period for the interim final rule that was published on Oct. 31, 2019, and established the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program. Make your voice heard! The comment period was likely reopened as USDA heard that some requirements of the rule were not achievable, too costly, or just don’t make sense. Comments must be received by October 8, 2020. Read Rural Vermont’s comments as submitted to USDA. 

Written comments should be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking portal at www.regulations.gov. Comments may also be sent via email to farmbill.hemp@usda.gov or sent to USDA/AMS/Specialty Crops Program Hemp Branch, 470 L’Enfant Plaza SW, PO Box 23192, Washington DC 20026.

More information about the provisions of the interim final rule is available here.

The Vermont Agency of Agriculture will submit a state plan to USDA for approval.  If approved, Vermont’s plan require:

• crops complying with a 0.3% total THC concentration, including measurement of uncertainty;

• 15 day sampling to harvest window

• not permitting individuals with felony drug convictions to register with the state program, except as permitted under federal law; and 

• not allowing growers to sample their own crops- growers will need to use disinterested or third party sampling agents.

• Using DEA registered laboratories

For a grower to be covered under the Vermont pilot program, crops must be sampled, tested and harvested before Oct 31, 2020. 

Vermont Hemp Rules are in effect with the exception of the certified laboratory lab program (growers can currently use a lab they have a relationship with even if not certified) and the provisions of the Vermont Branch, which are not launched yet. All aspects of the rules are enforceable, including sampling procedures, recordkeeping, and testing by harvest lot number.  

If you are looking for additional information, check out the Agency of Agriculture’s Hemp Program. 

Graham Unangst-Rufenacht, Rural Vermont’s Policy Director, reports on the National Family Farm Coalition Summer Board Meeting:

The National Family Farm Coalition held its annual Summer Board Meeting remotely for the first time this year over the past couple weeks.  In January I traveled as a member of the Board to Birmingham, Alabama for our Winter Board meeting – and though I was looking forward to seeing folks again in person from all over the country and growing those relationships, it was great to see new and familiar faces even if we were all doing so through our screens.

The meeting was broken up into three separate 2.5 hour sessions on different days with particular focus points:

o   Meeting, Updates, Strategic Development

o   Dairy

o   Racial Justice and Xenophobic Language

Two of NFFC’s primary campaigns right now are strategic planning and advocacy for a just and equitable national dairy policy, and working to oppose corporate land grabs and corporate farmland investment.  In our dairy session, we heard from a panel of small dairy farmers from across the country (including VT) representing different types of commodity dairy markets:  Organic, Non-GMO, and conventional – as well as a farm selling breeding stock as a niche market.  Despite these different markets, it’s amazing and infuriating to hear the similarity of economic stress and circumstance (cutting back on feed as indebtedness grows, at the end of lines of credit, no room for the next generation), and in identifying some of the primary problems with the dairy market:

Milk checks are based on “component pricing” (the value of components of milk sold on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange), and no longer on “parity pricing” (based on cost of production at the farm, which was entirely lost under the Reagan presidency).  One farmer described this as a “political problem”, “disenfranchising dairy and the rural class” as the component pricing system takes them and their negotiating power out of the equation.

Market consolidation and Concentration, lack of anti-trust enforcement, and a consistent “go big or go home” narrative across generations.  Dairy is second only to livestock in consolidation making it very vulnerable to economic shock and discrimination against small operations.

o   No room or potential for new dairy farmers or next generation to continue. 

o   FDA allowing new components in milk and new industrial processes such as ultra-pasturization.

o   Enforce and strengthen the Organic standards. 

One farmer said, “the primary issue has always been to pay bills regardless of how hard you work”.  Another described how her family was 2 years from paying off the farm prior to Hurricane Irene, and now has over a half million dollars in debt.

NFFC is in process of refining a ten point plan including:

o   Floor price based on cost of production vs. component pricing (based on herd size, already calculated by the USDA)

o   Supply Control not based on a quota system

o   Simplifying the pricing and pooling system

o   Creating a single market for conventional, and a separate market for Organic

o   Regular USDA review of domestic and export consumption to inform supply management

o   Oversight by producers and regular hearings

o   On-Farm Processing and direct sales

o   A path for new producers

o   Trade policy and COOL (Country of Origin Labeling)

If you’d like to hear more about NFFC’s dairy work, or provide your input – please be in touch.

Dakota Rural Action and RAFI led our second training on Xenophobic language and its use in our media, culture, and lives consciously and unconsciously.  We focused on narratives around corporate entities such as Smithfields, and how language can be used as a dog-whistle to cloak particular aspects of the business (making them feel more familiar, homey, etc.) while also creating an “other” (identified as less than, at fault, etc.).   For example, in particular media we read about Smithfields processing issues, they are referred to as a “Virginia based company” – as opposed to identifying it as a subsidiary of WH Goup of Hong Kong.  And, rather than accept responsibility for the dramatic number of COVID-19 cases at their plants based on very poor practices – they blame it on immigrant workers who they say spread the virus outside of their plants because of their living habits.  We discussed as foundational understandings to our call the reality of White Supremacy, and that “whiteness has claimed rural America”.  As predominantly white led and constituted organizations and individuals on the call, these conversations were also critical to have to understand more about how people understand and respond to this language.  We are all called to explore how the language we, and the organizations we represent and support, use may create insiders and outsiders, how it may imply judgement based on “otherness”, how it may feel hurtful to some people and lead to more explicit forms of racism, xenophobia, etc..

Rural Vermont is excited to continue and grow its relationship with NFFC and has been doing some work based in VT with them around the Corporate Farmland Investment campaign which we hope to be in touch about soon.

Rural Vermont's Policy Director, Graham Unangst-Rufenacht, talks agriculture, forestry and Vermont’s Working Lands at a round table discussion hosted by Lt. Governor Zuckerman. They were also joined by Representative Carolyn Partridge, Chair of the House Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, and Senator Anthony Pollina, member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture.

Lt. Governor Zuckerman was joined by Representative Carolyn Partridge, Chair of the House Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, Senator Anthony Pollina, mem...

In this time of COVID-19 and a historic economic crisis impacting Vermont farms and Vermonters, Blue Cross Blue Shield and MVP want to raise health insurance premiums once again–Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont by an average of 6.3% and MVP by an average of 7.3%. As of January 2020, health insurance premium rates for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont plans on VT Health Connect will have already risen by 52.4% since 2014 (on average). Rural Vermont believes these additional rate increases are uncalled for and inequitable, as they work against our goal of Universal Healthcare for All and make healthcare less affordable and less accessible for many Vermonters who are currently struggling to afford the costs of their healthcare. Read Rural Vermont's public comments here.

The Northeast BIPOC Farmer Relief Fund is now accepting applications from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) folks living in the Northeast who work in agriculture and have been economically impacted by the COVID crisis. Applications will be accepted through August 10th.

This Relief Fund is providing support to BIPOC folks because they have received COVID relief funds at disproportionately lower rates than white individuals, while the COVID crisis has impacted BIPOC communities at disproportionately higher rates than white communities. Both of these disparities are the result of structural racism. The amount recipients will get from this initiative is not by any means meant to rectify the racism in how previous (and current funds) have been distributed, but it is one small step to acknowledge and address these disparities.

For more info and application link, click here.

The grant funds are being provided by Farm Aid, and Rural Vermont is excited to be among the farm and food systems organizations in the Northeast that are collaborating on this initiative. 

1. LISTENING IN PLACE: A COLLABORATION WITH THE VERMONT FOLKLIFE CENTER

   We are excited about collaborating with the Vermont Folklife Center on their new project, Listening in Place––a way to record and hear Vermonters’ personal experiences of coping with the COVID pandemic and general state of the world. This is a great opportunity for farmers to share their stories and we encourage you to do so! All you need is phone/internet connection and one hour for a remote interview. Please contact Mollie if you are interested.

2. "FARMER VOICES IN HEALTHCARE" TESTIMONIAL PROJECT

   In 2018, healthcare was identified as a top concern amongst Rural Vermont's community. In response, we’re helping to bring the voices of the agricultural community to policy makers and are working in collaboration and across sectors to bring light to healthcare as an integral issue for all, particularly the working lands community.

   We are-launching our "Farmer Voices in Healthcare" Testimonial Project. Over the next few weeks, we are gathering short audio testimonials from the working lands community about their experiences with healthcare, or lack thereof, from all around the state––a particularly relevant issue now in light of COVID-19. Audio recordings will be used on Rural Vermont's website, social media, potential radio broadcast, and shared with legislators. Even if you would prefer to remain anonymous, we still want to hear from you!

Please be in touch with Grassroots Organizing Director Mollie or Organizing Intern Indigo if you would like to share your experiences and we will send you more information. Farmers can record stories from home with a phone or internet connection.

Rural Vermont had opportunities this past week to speak about how we can meet more of our food needs locally with audiences of WGDR on Relocalizing Vermont (where we followed Sebastian Hielm - the Food Safety Director in Finland, where they meet 80% of their food needs domestically) and the Capital City Grange as part of its Lecturer series. We stressed the importance of transitioning the conversation from food security to food sovereignty, and the need to determine and actualize the socio-economic and human rights conditions which must be in place to have a just and equitable agriculture, food system, and society for everyone in our region.