By Anson Tebbetts - Vermont Secretary of Agriculture
This is not news to many of you but 2023 brought months of challenging weather to Vermont. Persistent rainstorms set records that caused catastrophic flooding throughout Vermont and the Northeast. The agriculture sector was hit incredibly hard. After a hard freeze in May, the flooding and heavy rain in July decimated crops and infrastructure. Many crops were destroyed prior to harvest, and the timing of the event and continuing wet weather last summer left farmers without an opportunity to replace them during the growing season.
Since then, several partners have been looking back and planning to the future.
The Vermont Agricultural Recovery Task Force was established last August to coordinate recovery efforts for Vermont’s agriculture and food systems. The task force was co-chaired by Dr. Roy Beckford at UVM Extension and Nicole Dubuque from the Agency of Agriculture. The Task Force has released the Extreme Weather Impact & Recovery report to highlight the impacts, provide details and data, an overview of the various recovery efforts, and recommendations to continue, expand, and improve the state’s response to the ongoing challenges facing Vermont farmers and producers.
Some of the important impacts identified by farmers surveyed after the flooding and included in this report are:
- 34% of respondents said their loss of feed crops was the most significant damage to their operation.
- 28.2% was the average loss of annual income reported as a direct result of the severe weather and flooding.
- 53% of respondents anticipated a feed shortage or problems with feed quality because of the severe weather and flooding.
- 56% of respondents said their cash flow will go negative in the next year because of the severe weather and flooding.
- 70% have no crop or livestock insurance. Those who do have crop insurance did not receive sufficient premium payouts to cover losses.
The Vermont Agriculture Recovery Task Force has developed recommendations to continue, expand and improve our response to the 2023 severe weather. These recommendations will also inform future severe weather responses as Vermont continues to experience increased precipitation, more extreme weather events, warmer temperatures, and increased periods of drought.
Read the report online here: Vermont Agriculture Recovery Task Force Extreme Weather Impact and Recovery Final Report
We hope you will get a chance to read the report and continue to give us feedback as Vermonters continue to recover from the severe weather. Let’s hope for a calm and quiet spring and summer.
Anson Tebbetts | Vermont Secretary of Agriculture