VERMONT FARM DISASTER RELIEF FUND GRANTS $897,000 TO FARMERS JUST BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS

The Vermont Community Foundation and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture announced that the Vermont Farm Disaster Relief Fund has awarded $897,300 to 126 farmers affected by Tropical Storm Irene in the fund’s fourth round. To date, the grant committee has received applications from 210 farmers and has awarded grants to 171 farmers totaling in excess of $1.5 million. As of December 22, total contributions received or pledged to the fund exceeded $2.25 million.

For the fund’s fourth round, the grant committee continued to accept applications from farmers who have not yet applied to the fund and revisited applications from farmers who have already received funding, in order to assess remaining need and consider awarding additional grant money. Each farmer who had previously received a grant from the fund was mailed a letter and form requesting an update on total losses from the storm and the support they have received to help address those losses. The grant committee received 49 new applications and 108 responses with updated information. In this round, 77 farmers who had already received a grant from the fund were awarded additional resources.  

“We are thrilled to have reached some farmers who had not applied to the fund before and to have revisited over 100 applications. Distributing the funds is a priority, but we also want to stress how important it is to reserve some funding to address emerging feed issues over the winter,” says Chuck Ross, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture. “Come January, these resources will be available for farmers facing emergency feed needs.”

“It is because of the generosity of everybody who has donated to the fund that we are able to award grants of up to $25,000 to those farms that were hit hardest in the storm,” says Stuart Comstock-Gay, President & CEO of the Vermont Community Foundation. “It’s extremely rewarding work. We know that this funding will not meet all of the farmers’ needs, but the support will help them through what will likely be a hard winter.”

The grant committee includes representatives from the Vermont Community Foundation, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, NOFA Vermont, Vermont Farm Bureau, Rural Vermont, Rutland Area Farm and Food Link, and University of Vermont Extension. Grant decisions are based on a number of factors, including total losses and overall need.

The grants will help farmers replace infrastructure, seed, feed, livestock, supplies, and equipment lost as a result of the storm, to the extent the losses were not covered by insurance or other sources of income. The grants can also be used to help pay outstanding bills such as farm mortgage costs, land lease payments, or animal feed bills.

According to the Agency of Agriculture, a rough estimate of farmland impacted by Irene exceeds 20,000 acres; a conservative estimate of crop losses and crop land damage needing repair exceeds $10 million dollars. A total of 463 Vermont farms have reported damage to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Visit www.vtfloodresponse.org to learn more about the fund, to make a contribution, or to read about farmers who have received grants from the fund. The website was created by the Community Foundation to provide detailed, updated information about the Foundation’s Irene recovery efforts, including grants available and grants awarded. It also has a useful resources section with a comprehensive list of flood resources and information about Irene recovery work being done by other organizations.