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Read. Follow. Verify.Vermont Establishes Agricultural Land Transfer Assistance Program and Appropriates $250,000
Last action · February 26, 2025: Read first time and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and ForestrySponsor: Heather Surprenant
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What This Bill Would Do
The Vermont General Assembly establishes the Agricultural Land Transfer Assistance Program within the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, taking effect on July 1, 2025. The program provides tools, educational workshops, , an online agricultural land portal, and a Land Transfer and Succession Board to help keep agricultural land in farming. Additionally, the act appropriates $250,000 from the General Fund for 2026 to implement the program.
Farm owners and prospective agricultural buyers gain access to specialized state-supported tools, individual navigators, and an online matching portal, backed by a $250,000 state .
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
agricultural land owners
Farm owners gain access to succession planning toolkits, individual land transfer navigators, educational workshops, and an online portal to connect with prospective purchasers.
prospective farmers
Prospective and beginning farmers receive assistance in accessing capital, navigating land transfers, and identifying agricultural land available for purchase or lease.
Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets
The Agency is tasked with establishing and administering the transfer assistance program, online portal, succession planning toolkit, and training land transfer navigators.
Key Facts
- The act establishes the Agricultural Land Transfer Assistance Program within the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets.
- An appropriation of $250,000 from the General Fund is allocated to the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets in fiscal year 2026 for program implementation.
- The Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets must establish a Farm Ownership Succession Planning Program, which includes a succession toolkit and at least three educational workshops per year.
- The Agency must train or contract land transfer navigators to aid exiting and beginning farmers through the land transfer process.
Show all 8 facts
- The Secretary must develop an online agricultural land portal on the Agency website for connecting buyers and sellers of agricultural land.
- The Land Transfer and Succession Board is created to assist with program implementation, fundraising, and succession expertise, attached administratively to the Agency.
- The Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets, consulting with the Commissioner of Taxes, must submit recommended tax or financial incentives for land transfer to legislative committees.
- The act takes effect on July 1, 2025.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Agricultural Land Transfer Assistance Program do?
Who serves on the Land Transfer and Succession Board?
How much funding is appropriated for this program?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
1 action- Feb 26, 2025HouseIntroducedRead first time and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Creation of Dedicated Land Transfer Navigators
The bill introduces specialized personnel ('land transfer navigators') to provide individualized consulting for farmers exiting and entering agriculture.
Connected Entities
Sources
legislature.vermont.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance60How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy15Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz25Current news / social attention level
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