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All the Best:
Vermont Holiday Trees and Gifts
View From 116
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Image: Governor Phil Scott cuts a Vermont Christmas tree last year with Senator Bobby Starr
at Maple Hill Farm in Barton.
As 2022 draws to a close, we have so many choices as to how we celebrate the season. Many Vermonters will visit a local tree farm to select a holiday tree. Vermont’s Christmas Tree growers cultivate and care for trees over a period of years, pruning, trimming, and nurturing the tree for that special moment. Customers appreciate wandering through rows of trees to select the perfect tree for their home and return with a fresh tree to trim for the holidays.
To add to the festivities, many of Vermont’s Christmas Tree farms offer special events with refreshments, visits with Santa and his reindeer, and music. You can find listings of Vermont’s tree farms by visiting: https://www.nh-vtchristmastree.org/choose.php or https://vtchristmastrees.org/members-list
Some Vermont Christmas Tree farms ship trees and wreaths around the country, offering the opportunity to send a bit of the Green Mountains to friends and loved ones so they can experience a Vermont Christmas. What a treat to have a fresh Vermont tree arrive at your home! You also might pick up your tree at a farm stand or retail store or purchase a tree to support a local fundraiser. Many local businesses get their trees from a Vermont Christmas Tree farm. Supporting a local tree farmer is a great way to contribute to Vermont’s working landscape.
There is also a wholesale market for Vermont trees – perhaps you’ve seen trucks loaded with Christmas Trees heading south. Vermont tree farmers sell trees and holiday wreaths in large urban and suburban tree markets around the country. Access to these markets is helpful to Vermont tree farmers, allowing them to reach new audiences who appreciate a fresh, Vermont tree or wreath.
December is a busy month for others who are working making a living off the land. Thousands of products will be shipped around the country arriving at homes and businesses during the month of giving. Sending maple, cheese, crackers, jams, jellies, sauces, meat, and specialty products as gifts, supports small businesses across Vermont. Ordering online is an easy way to send a gift to a friend or loved one while supporting local agriculture, and many producers offer convenient gift packs and easily personalized boxes. If you like to shop in person, farm stands, producers and retailers are packed with Vermont gifts. We are grateful to have so many choices of quality products here in Vermont.
We at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture thank you for a busy and productive 2022. We are gearing up for 2023 but before the calendar turns, we will give thanks to our farmers who feed us, support our land and water and make Vermont a special place to live, work and play.
Anson Tebbetts
Vermont Secretary of Agriculture
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Agency Urges Vermont Dairy Farmers to Access the USDA Dairy Margin Protection Program and State Reimbursement Program
Deadline to apply for 2023 DMC coverage is December 9, 2022
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By Scott Waterman, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets
The deadline is approaching to enroll in the 2023 USDA Dairy Margin Coverage Program (DMC). The Vermont Legislature approved $2,600,000 to reimburse Vermont dairy farmers enrolled in the DMC for 2022 and 2023. The reimbursement program is currently underway and estimates DMC reimbursement allocated to-date for 2022 at $1,500,000. It is estimated that there will be $1,100,000 remaining to provide reimbursement for the Tier I premiums in calendar year 2023.
USDA has announced the sign up for the 2023 Dairy Margin Coverage Program with a deadline for enrollment as December 9th, 2022. All interested dairy farmers should contact their county USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) Office as soon as possible.
The USDA Dairy Margin Coverage web site Decision Tool has been updated with 2023 forecasting; accordingly, DMC Program payments are forecast for 2023. “The Dairy Margin Coverage Program is an important tool for all Vermont Dairy Farmers to manage risk,” stated Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, Anson Tebbetts. “The reimbursement program from the State of Vermont makes the DMC even more attractive.”
State Executive Director of USDA Farm Services Agency, John Roberts stated, “Dairy Margin Coverage Program can help all dairy farmers manage milk price and feed cost risks.” The sign-up period is open until December 9, 2022, and all farmers should contact their USDA Farm Services Agency Office for more information.
Here are further specifics of the state reimbursement program:
- The milk producer is in good standing with the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets and the Agency of Natural Resources; and
- The milk producer provides proof of payment of an annual (2023) premium payment for participation in Tier 1 of DMC.
- A milk producer shall apply to the Secretary of the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets on or before July 1, 2023, to participate.
- The Secretary shall reimburse eligible applicants in the order in which the Secretary receives administratively complete applications. The Secretary shall have the discretion to determine when an application is administratively complete.
- After funds are exhausted, applicants shall no longer be eligible for reimbursement from the Secretary unless or until additional funds are appropriated to the Assistance Program.
Notice is being provided to encourage all interested farmers to explore the Dairy Margin Coverage Program and determine if the program is right for their farm.
Reimbursement for the Tier 1 premium will occur after payment in full has been made to USDA. The Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets shall reimburse eligible applicants in the order in which the Agency receives administratively complete applications after the payment in full to USDA. After funds are exhausted, applicants shall no longer be eligible for reimbursement from the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets unless or until additional funds are appropriated to the Assistance Program by the Vermont Legislature.
The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets is working closely with USDA Farm Services Agency on this reimbursement program. For the 2022 program each dairy farmer had to sign a waiver for USDA Farm Services Agency to share information with VAAFM. These waivers will cover data sharing in 2023.
The 2018 Farm Bill authorized the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program, which replaced the Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy). The DMC program is a voluntary program that provides dairy operations with risk management coverage that pays producers when the difference (the margin) between the national price of milk and the average cost of feed falls below a certain level selected by the program participants.
For more information, please contact Diane Bothfeld by email Diane.Bothfeld@vermont.gov | or by phone at 802-828-5667.
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**Join for an Act 250 and Accessory On-Farm Business stakeholder engagement discussion on Thursday December 8 from 6-7pm**
This public meeting is an opportunity to hear and discuss the draft recommendations prepared for the Vermont Legislature on how to apply Act 250 jurisdiction to agricultural businesses.
A report including final recommendations will be presented to the General Assembly by January 15, 2023.
This virtual meeting is hosted by the Natural Resources Board and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets.
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USDA Conducts 2022 Census of Agriculture Beginning this December
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The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts the Census of Agriculture just once every five years, and it’s that time again. The ag census remains the only source of comprehensive agriculture data for every U.S farm, ranch, and person who operates them in every state and county in the nation. The ag census includes even the smallest plots and operations, rural or urban. As long as $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, in the census year, that is considered a farm to be counted.
The millions of data points produced by the Census of Agriculture are used by decision makers at federal and local levels, agribusinesses, researchers, trade associations, and many others who serve producers and rural communities through the creation and funding of agricultural programs and services – decisions that directly impact ag producers and shape the future of the industry.
USDA NASS will mail the 2022 Census of Agriculture to more than three million U.S. producers with the response deadline of February 6, 2023. The information that you share in the Census of Agriculture is represented in this widely used and influential data.
The new ag census data will be available Spring/Summer 2024 in aggregate form only to ensure that no individual operation or producer can be identified. The data will be available in electronic formats for the nation as well as all states, counties, and Puerto Rico. Ag census data collection for the other U.S. territories will commence in 2024.
For more information and regular updates about the ag census, please visit www.nass.usda.gov/AgCensus
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Farm Barn in Underhill, Vermont
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Since 1937, Agriview has been the flagship monthly news source of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. The new 'Agriview All-Access' email delivers a snapshot of the stories you'll find each month in the full print edition.
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