Policy & Legislative Priorities

Policy and legislative priorities are adopted by Delegates elected at the County Farm Bureau Annual Meetings in the Fall each year. These delegates discuss and adopt policies surfaced at their County level and adopt them as amended at the Vermont Farm Bureau Annual Meeting on the first weekend in November.

Legislative Priorities

The Vermont Farm Bureau is focusing on topics related to:

  •      ACT 250
  •      Current Use
  •      Water Quality 
  •      Ag Labor 
  •      Climate Change Solutions

Please reach out with any policy related inquiries. vtfb@vtfb.org or 802-434-5646

Why Policy Matters to Your Farm and Why Your Voice Matters

When you’re running a farm, policy can feel like something that happens far away in Montpelier. But the truth is: the decisions made there show up in your fields, your barns, your paperwork, and your bottom line.

Being a member and staying involved ensures that the people writing the rules actually hear from the people who work the land every day.

Here’s how our priority issues directly impact your farm:

• Act 250: Changes to Act 250 could affect everything from building a new barn to expanding a farmstand or diversifying your business. Farmer involvement helps ensure that regulations support working farms rather than hold them back.

• Current Use: The Current Use program keeps taxes manageable for land-based businesses. Protecting and improving this program means keeping farmland affordable, keeping forests intact, and ensuring farmers aren’t taxed out of business.

• Water Quality: Farmers are already doing tremendous work to protect Vermont’s waters. Policy participation helps ensure that water quality rules are practical, science-based, and supported with real resources, not unfunded mandates.

• Agricultural Labor: Labor shortages and labor regulations affect every part of farm operations. Advocacy helps push for realistic labor policies, support for farmworker housing, and programs that help farms find and keep a reliable workforce.

• Climate Change Solutions: Farmers and foresters play a major role in carbon sequestration, soil health, and resiliency. We need policies that recognize farmers as part of the solution, not the problem—supporting climate-smart practices without adding unnecessary burdens.

Why Your Membership Matters

When farmers speak together, lawmakers listen. Membership gives you a stronger voice in shaping policies that affect your land, your business, and your future.

Being involved isn’t about politics, it’s about protecting your farm, your livelihood, and the future of Vermont agriculture.