Photo: Conant’s Riverside Farm at Route 2 and I-89 on July 13, 2023. VAAFM photo.
In a survey conducted by the state after last summer’s floods, 70% of farmers said they did not have crop or livestock insurance. Another 10% said insurance did not apply to their industry, meaning only one in five had cover for those losses.
Bruce Hennessey and Beth Whiting were used to fending off flooding at the Maple Wind Farm in Richmond. The couple has been in business for 25 years and for the last 10 they have had to deal with floods that have submerged their hay fields and destroyed their barn.
But all their preparation and experience didn’t seem to save them from the damage they suffered last July, when historic floods hit Vermont. Maple Wind, which raises cattle, poultry and pigs, lost 400 turkeys and 700 broilers in the flood, along with a tractor the couple tried to use to save their animals.
“When we added it all up, the loss was about $100,000,” Hennessey said. That was just the value of the cattle and the tractor, she said; not even counting the expected income from the animals if the flood had not killed them.
In early December, two U.S. senators from Vermont joined their Massachusetts counterparts to introduce a federal bill that could help farmers like Hennessey and Whiting cope with future floods and other disasters.
The Resisting Extreme Agricultural Hazards through Crop Economic Resilience Act requires the development of an index-based insurance policy that covers agricultural income losses due to extreme weather events, faster and with less administrative costs than crop insurance. existing crops, the bill’s sponsors say.
Hennessey has questions after dealing with other U.S. Department of Agriculture insurance. When he and his wife filed claims with the USDA livestock compensation program after last July’s floods, he said, it took them until November to finish the paperwork. additional information, only to discover that officials wanted “more or different” information.
“Any additional help would certainly be welcomed by us,” Hennessey said of the WEATHER Act. “Until that is law and we know exactly what it means, I think our community won’t pay too much attention to it.”
Photo: Recovery efforts at the Maple Wind Farm in Richmond in July 2023. Photo courtesy of Beth Whiting
That follows Ryan Patch, agricultural climate and land use policy manager for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets.
“I don’t think this is really on farmers’ radar,” he said.
But Patch and other officials believe the bill could strengthen the bulwark for the state’s farmers facing the consequences of extreme weather.
In a survey conducted by the state agriculture agency after last summer’s flooding, 70% of respondents said they did not have crop or livestock insurance. Another 10% said insurance did not apply to their industry, meaning only about one in five farmers here had coverage for those losses, estimated by the state at more than $16 million.
“I think (the WEATHER Act) would really help Vermont producers, as well as other smallholders or small farms across the United States, be able to participate in a crop insurance program that responds to the pace and pace of climate disasters.” . we’re watching,” Patch said. “Current federal programs are not really prepared to operate at that pace.
The bill would direct the USDA to investigate creating an index-based insurance program. That type of insurance pays based on local measurements, such as rainfall, rather than specific damage or losses.
“Unlike traditional crop insurance, the insurance company does not need to visit the farmer’s field to determine premiums or assess damage; If the amount of rain is less than a pre-established threshold, then the insurance pays,” according to the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University.
A county-level threshold would be set for a variety of weather events: high winds, flooding, frost and more. If local weather rates for covered events exceed those levels and the events cause lost revenue, the envisioned system would automatically pay policyholders within 30 days.
“These are responsiveness issues as to how quickly crop insurance can make these payments,” Patch said. “I think anything that can provide additional coverage and support in such difficult economic times for agriculture across all sectors would be welcomed.”
When the bill was first introduced, Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., the lead sponsor, said in a statement that the legislation “works to reinvent crop insurance as a valuable investment for Vermont farmers by requiring implementation of index-based insurance. policy that more adequately compensates farmers for income losses related to extreme weather.”
In the same statement, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a co-sponsor, cited last year’s frosts during the early growing season, July flooding and continued rains through the summer and fall in describing the project’s momentum. Of law.
Photo: A flooded corn field in July 2023. Photo by VAAFM.
“Unfortunately, current federal crop insurance options are simply not viable for many of the small, diversified farms we have in Vermont,” Sanders said. “Faced with more intense and unpredictable weather due to climate change, the federal government must step up to support farmers, food producers and small businesses.”
The month after the bill was introduced, Welch visited Roots Farm Market in Middlesex to discuss the legislation and get input from Vermont’s small farmers. What he found was a lot of support and appreciation from farmers, according to a spokesman for the congressman.
State Sen. Brian Collamore, R-Rutland, vice chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, applauded Welch and Sanders for their efforts on the bill.
“We’ve had a lot of serious impacts, especially on our small farmers and the state, because of the July flooding,” Collamore said in a recent interview. “I think it would be a great idea.”
Jackie Folsom, a retired dairy operator and president of the Vermont Farm Bureau, expressed support for the bill and its potential benefit to small farmers in particular.
“Its purpose is to help small farms that sell products at retail, rather than wholesale, get some help,” he said. “And with all these calamities we’re going through here, I think it’s a good idea.”
Kate Kampner is an environmental journalism intern at Community News Service, a partnership between the University of Massachusetts and Vermont community newspapers that pairs student reporters with professional editors.
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