WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today introduced Mr. Harold Howrigan, a Vermont dairy farmer and Board Member of the National Milk Producers Federation, as he testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee. Senator Welch highlighted obstacles facing farmers and producers and asked witnesses about how President Trump’s illegal federal funding freeze has impacted rural economies and Vermont’s specialty crop growers.
“Farmers are the lifeblood of our local rural communities, and nobody
works harder,” said Senator Welch. “Mr. Howrigan is here from the dairy capital of the United States of America: Sheldon, Vermont. And we are glad to have him, Harold, and his wife, Bet—she’s an elementary teacher—are the sixth generation on their family farm…I am delighted to have you here representing Vermont dairy, it’s just wonderful, and we’re going to see a great farmer.”Watch Senator Welch’s full remarks below:
Read key excerpts from Senator Welch’s exchange with witnesses:
Senator Welch asked witnesses: “I’m just shocked that where there have been agreements made—and we have farmers in Vermont who under the Inflation Reduction Act, made an agreement—and in response to that agreement borrowed money. And then did the work they promised to do—it might be solar, it might be streambed protection—and now got an email saying the federal government’s going to stiff them. You know, what I so admire about farmers: a promise made is a promise kept. I mean, this is like impossible for the folks who do this farming to imagine that you have an agreement and then it’s violated. So, my hope is that the committee would weigh in here and insist that these deals that have been signed—and where our farmers now have put the money out, done the work, and are getting stiffed—that we really strongly object and call on the administration to reverse that.
“I just want to ask some questions about specialty crops…My view is we need more, not less of the specialty crops. A lot of our specialty crop farmers got really hurt by the floods we had in July of 2023 in July of 2024, and our crop insurance program really needs to be improved…My question is, what can we do to provide specialty crop growers the support they need to ensure the continuation of their family farms with all the changes in weather?
Dr. Tim Boring, Director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development responded: “I think that’s an excellent question…I think we need more certainty for specialty crop growers. I think so much of the questions, the issues we’re talking about today come down to providing more certainty for producers. And, in some ways, better evaluating the impacts of what these crops are, not only for farms but for the rural economies that process so many of them, that the communities that they feed. We’ve touched on some points around revisions to crop insurance, certainly. We need better management tools so that we can deal with increasingly extreme and erratic weather. I think there’s promise about looking at how we broaden out conservation practices and the impact of resiliency there.”
Sen. Welch: “I think we need to have more emphasis on them, because the real opportunity is, it’s local, it’s nutritious. The people in the communities really support it, and it’s an entry point for some younger farmers that doesn’t have as many financial barriers.
“You know, just as an example, the USDA has a specialty crop block grant program, and Vermont received $334,000. That’s not a lot of money in the scheme of things, but it did a lot in Vermont. With a $56,000 grant, one USDA recipient in Vermont was able to expand the market opportunities for 60 local farmers. And a lot of this is like the farm stand type of situation. This is tiny compared to the $6.3 billion that we spend on the commodity crop program…So, tell me, how has the federal funding freeze affected our specialty crop growers?
Dr. Boring: “It creates uncertainty. And I think that’s the biggest question of what those risk mitigation tools are going to be into the future of the reliability and access to markets when crops might be harvested later this fall. There’s uncertainty on the research front as researchers are working on this. So, in essence, uncertainty.”
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Mr. Harold Howrigan and his family are sixth-generation dairy farmers. His four family farms in Fairfield and Fairfax, Vermont, milk 1,400 herds and crop around 3,400 acres in Northern Vermont. The family also has a large maple sugaring operation. Mr. Howrigan serves as treasurer of the New England Dairy Promotion Board and is also a board member of Dairy Management Inc. and United Dairy Industry Association. He was recently inducted into the Vermont Agricultural Hall of Fame. Read Mr. Howrigan’s full testimony here.
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