Legislative Report 2/25/2021 - Promoting agritourism helps family farms

 Every two years in January a new legislature is sworn in and serves until a new legislature is sworn in two years later. During this time almost a thousand bills are introduced in the House and several hundred in the Senate.  Only a hundred or so actually pass in both the House and Senate and get signed into law.  Many, however, get incorporated into other bills dealing with similar topics and become part of Vermont’s statutes.  Only members of the legislature can introduce bills.  However, if the administration proposes legislation, it will go to the committee of jurisdiction and ask the committee to sponsor the bill.  Committees also may initiate a bill to set policy, such as the Broadband Bill being developed in my committee, Energy & Technology.

During my 10-year tenure in the Vermont House I have introduced many bills.  The language of some made it into other bills, such as the requirement that the money received from the Volkswagen emissions fraud settlement be used to promote electric vehicles.  A handful of bills I’ve introduced have gotten passed on their own.  Last year I introduced a bill to promote agritourism. It limits the liability of farms engaging in agritourism for mishaps that might occur to visitors.  The bill passed in the House but was derailed in the Senate because of the pandemic.  I reintroduced the bill again this year hoping for a better outcome.

With less than two percent of Americans living on a farm, the public is becoming more and more removed from farming practices and agricultural production. Consumers are very interested in learning where their food comes from and about the technological advancements behind producing that food. Agritourism provides an excellent opportunity to open meaningful connections between agriculture and the public. The vast majority of farms depend on outside income to stay in business, and any additional revenue from agritourism could significantly increase their economic viability.

Agritourism is a growing business opportunity in Vermont.  Some
local examples include Shelburne Farms, Philo Ridge Farm and Adam’s Berry Farm in Charlotte, Isham Family Farm in Williston, and Bread & Butter Farm in Shelburne. Tourism is dormant at the moment due to the pandemic, but once we are back to normal operation, Vermont will benefit from its resurgence.  Agritourism epitomizes the "Vermont brand". It takes advantage of what VT is known for: agriculture, recreation, a pastoral vibe. And it provides another source of income for family farms by showcasing what they do best. However, the risk of a lawsuit keeps many family farms from engaging in agritourism.  Visiting a farm exposes the visitor to certain inherent risks of injury such as bee stings, uneven terrain, contamination from touching farm animals, or falling off a hayride. A single incident can result in bankruptcy.

My bill (H.89) provides a reasonable expectation of liability for the farmer. It provides a clear definition of what constitutes agritourism: an interactive or passive activity for recreation, entertainment, or educational purposes, including farming, food production, historical, cultural, pick-your-own, and nature-based activities. It does not include lodging at a farm or shopping at a roadside farm stand. The bill requires the farm to post signs in clearly visible locations warning of the inherent risks of participating in farm activities and to include the warning in any written contracts entered into with the participant.  While protecting the farm from liability for inherent risks, it does not absolve the business from injuries resulting from gross negligence.

41 members of the House – Democrats, Republicans Progressives and Independents - co-sponsored the bill and it passed on a unanimous vote before heading to the Senate.  If the Senate agrees with the House, Vermont will join 33 other states with similar agritourism laws.

I welcome your emails (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com) or phone calls (802-233-5238). 

The Word in the House 2/15/2016 - Entrepreneurial Success from Working Lands

Results Based Accountability (RBA) is an assessment method the Legislature is using to evaluate the effectiveness of state government programs. Each House committee has been asked to review programs under its jurisdiction based on three questions: How much did we do? How well did we do it? Is anyone better off? The House Natural Resources & Energy Committee had the opportunity to hear a report of the Working Lands Enterprise Board on its activities supporting the economy of rural Vermont.

The Board and the Working Lands Enterprise Fund (WLEF) were established by Act 142 in 2012 for the purpose of growing “the economies, cultures, and communities of Vermont’s working landscape by making essential, catalytic investments in … Vermont’s farm and forest economy.” This is done by providing access to capital, technical assistance, and workforce development together with policies that optimize the agricultural and forest use of Vermont lands while protecting human, environmental and animal health. Business grants are available for startup and emerging working lands businesses for infrastructure, marketing, and research and development. Service provider grants are available for non-profit, educational, private sector groups or partnerships that provide technical assistance to Vermont working lands businesses.

Since Act 142 went into effect in 2012 $3.2M in Working Lands funds were distributed to 112 agricultural and forestry projects throughout all 14 counties in Vermont. These investments leveraged another $4.9M in matching funds resulting in 106 new jobs to date with a corresponding $12M in aggregated gross income. As projects currently committed are completed and others continue to grow, an additional 124 jobs are expected to be created.

The presentation of the report to our committee included two entrepreneurs from the food industry and two from the forest products industry who recounted how their businesses were helped not only by grants, but by the connections made through the Working Lands Coalition. For example, Screamin’ Ridge Farm in Montpelier is a vertically integrated seed to plate business that grows vegetables using sustainable practices to produce the Joe’s Kitchen line of soup products. Two grants of $15,000 and $50,000 over 2 years helped the farm purchase equipment to boost production by 500%, hire 3 full time employees, and provide a market for locally grown vegetables from other farms. Similarly, a timber harvester and a timber frame manufacturer had both received equipment grants from the WLEF. With sawmills closing throughout the northeast, the harvester was in jeopardy of losing his business. At the same time Winterwood Timberframes was having a hard time sourcing quality logs for its operation. Through the Working Lands Coalition, they connected with each other for their mutual benefit.

Two of the businesses that were helped through the WLEF in Chittenden County include the Bread & Butter Farm on Cheese Factory Road in Shelburne and Maple Wind Farm in Richmond. The Bread & Butter Farm received $7250 to build a wash, pack and processing kitchen for vegetables, and to develop on-farm events and educational programs. Maple Wind Farm received $67,400 for upgrades including a blast chiller for poultry, increased freezer capacity, processing equipment, and a small retail building for their agricultural tourism business. With the help of seed money from the WLEF to leverage loans and by finding ways to add value to their basic agricultural operations, these entrepreneurs were able to expand their businesses, grow jobs, and pump more money into the local economy. Through programs like these Vermont has developed a strong reputation for food products, craft beer and cheese, artisanal wood products and other products that depend on our working lands and has made good use of taxpayer money.

I welcome your thoughts and can be reached by phone (802-233-5238) or by email (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com).

Interview with Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Ross

The Chittenden County Democrats Show on CCTV Channel 17, hosted by Bob Hooper and Rep. Mike Yantachka, featured Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Ross in May.  Secretary Ross discussed changes in the grading of Maple Syrup, the proposed efforts to reduce the effects of agricultural practices on Lake Champlain, the growing locavore movement, and the federal Farm Bill and its implications for Vermont dairy farmers.   Watch the interview here.

The Word in the House 4/9/2012 - Working Landscapes

The defining characteristic of Vermont is its rural nature and the connection Vermonters have to their environment.  The Working Lands Enterprise Investment Bill, H.496, passed by the House recently, recognizes this relationship and provides support to stimulate a concerted economic development effort on behalf of Vermont’s agriculture and forest products sectors.  It will assist entrepreneurism, business development, and job creation in these sectors.

Vermont is currently in the midst of an agricultural renaissance and is at the forefront of the local foods movement.  Much of this activity takes place in our own communities of Charlotte, Hinesburg, and surrounding towns.  The conversion of agricultural and forest products into value-added products within Vermont’s borders represents further economic and employment opportunities.  About 7,000 jobs exist in the forest products sector and about 57,000 are related to the food system.

H.496 makes an investment in Vermont’s working landscape by creating the Working Lands Enterprise Fund and a Working Lands Enterprise Board.  The fund, initially appropriated at $2.1 million, will be used for direct investment in working lands enterprises.  Approximately $550,000 will provide grants to entrepreneurs, including grants to leverage private capital, to jump-start new businesses, to help beginning farmers access land, and to support diversification projects to add value to farm and forest commodities.  Another $350,000 is allocated for “wrap-around” services to growth companies, including technical assistance, business planning, and financing required by companies ready to transition to the next stage of growth.  $800,000 is included for state infrastructure investments, including investment in private and non-profit sectors for creative diversification projects and value-added manufacturing, processing, storage and distribution.  Finally, about $382,000 is allocated for administration by the Agency of Agriculture.

The Working Lands Enterprise board would oversee and administer the fund and coordinate the enterprise development efforts throughout the state.  In addition to promoting the activities described above, it would also establish and evaluate criteria and benchmarks for investments and solicit appropriate perspectives and information from experts.  The board will replace the Agriculture Innovation Center which had similar but more limited responsibilities.

The investment in Vermont’s working landscape will ensure that Vermont will retain its rural and natural character and will continue to represent the vision that people associate with our state, contributing to the tourism sector of our economy in the process. 

On the redistricting front, there were changes to both the House and Senate redistricting plans that affect Charlotte and Hinesburg.  After much deliberation and review of the deviations from the ideal district sizes, the House Government Operations committee presented their final version of the redistricting plan.  One of the changes was the expansion of the section of Hinesburg attached to the Charlotte house district.  In this final version the southwestern portion of Hinesburg bordered by Drinkwater Rd, Baldwin Rd, and the Monkton town line with 33 residents will remain in the Charlotte district.  The rest of Hinesburg will comprise the other district.

The Senate finally voted its reapportionment plan out of its Government Operations committee.  In order to balance the population changes, Chittenden County had to cede part of its population to Addison County.  The new plan joins Huntington and Buels Gore to the Addison County senatorial district instead of Charlotte, which will remain in the Chittenden County senatorial district.

Save Our Dairy Farmers

CREDO Action offers an opportunity to request the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the large dairy processors under the antitrust laws for price-fixing at the expense of small dairy farmers.  Using CREDO's website, I sent the following email to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Dear Attorney General Holder,

I am greatly concerned about the lack of competition in the food and agricultural sectors and how this negatively impacts America's family farmers and consumers as they work to feed their families food that is safe, healthy and nutritious.

For too long, agribusiness corporations have been allowed to consolidate. Now their market power has created unfair prices that farmers are paid for their goods, the ever-increasing prices that they pay for inputs and the price that consumers pay at the grocery store. Excessive market concentration has also created an overly centralized food system that is prone to massive food safety outbreaks and has empowered mega agribusiness corporations that continue to demonstrate a blatant disregard for environmental and labor laws.

While I am encouraged by the recent Department of Justice suits filed against Dean Foods investigating their excessive market concentration in the dairy industry, these investigations are long overdue. For the past 18 months dairy farmers in America have faced their worst crisis since the Great Depression as the price they are paid for their milk has dropped more than 50% since December 2008. At the same time, giant dairy processors and co-ops have raked in record profits while dairy farmers are losing their farms and struggling to make ends meet just to feed their families.

I encourage you to enforce U.S. antitrust laws to return a fair and level playing field in the food and agricultural sectors and break up corporations that have violated these laws.

As a Vermonter I have many friends and neighbors who are small dairy farmers. A Vermont dairy farm is lost on the average of one per week because the price farmers are paid is only a fraction of the cost to produce it. While the milk processors squeeze farmers with low prices, the retail cost of milk increases. It’s time to pay dairy farmers a fair price for their product!

America's farmers, specifically our dairy farmers, deserve justice, before it's too late.

Sincerely,

Michael I. Yantachka
393 Natures Way
Charlotte, VT 05445

You can add your name to this petition here.