Working Lands

[Chris Santee]

Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Investment Bill Draws Support
Lawmakers and Advocates Stand Together for Vermont’s Future
MONTPELIER, VT – Several Vermont lawmakers and advocates announced the introduction of the Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Investment bill on Wednesday morning in the Vermont statehouse. After a presentation to the Rural Economic Development Caucus, representatives from the Vermont Working Lands Partnership, the Vermont Woodlands Association, the Vermont Natural Resources Council, and the Vermont Land Trust, as well as several Vermont lawmakers stood together in support of the bill. Paul Costello, Executive Director of the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD), explained that the bill is the culmination of many years of research and thought by many groups. “Vermont is at a point where we can declare our leadership. Let’s raise the flag and say we will be a food systems leader,” Costello urged.
 
Former Vermont Secretary of Agriculture and Chair of the Vermont Working Landscape Partnership (a project of VCRD) Roger Allbee noted that working landscape industries have defined our state since it began. “This bill is a bold bill and it is insightful that the legislature is behind it. Now we have a bold plan and bold leaders to move it forward,” Allbee exclaimed.
 
The bill has been introduced in both the House (H.496) and the Senate (S.246). Lead sponsors Rep. Will Stevens (I-Shoreham) and Senator Sara Kittell (D-Franklin) both spoke in strong support of the initiative. Stevens noted, “This effort is an attempt to create, for the first time, a unified and coherent setting in which Vermont’s Cultural Landscape can be nurtured....And finally, it entrenches the agricultural and forest product sectors at the highest levels of state economic development planning.”
 
Senator Kittell added, “Real businesses are the reason we have a working landscape here in Vermont. We need to build on this strength. I look forward to our Senate Agriculture committee’s work on this bill.” The bill is also sponsored by Representatives Carolyn Branagan (R-Georgia), Tess Taylor (D-Barre), and Mollie Burke (P-Brattleboro) and Senators John Campbell (D-Windsor) and Vince Illuzzi (R/D – Essex/Orleans).
 
Vermont Woodlands Association President Put Blodgett lamented the fact that the “best logs in New England are sent north to be milled in Canada. We are exporting value-added jobs that we desperately need right in this state.” Blodgett noted that the way to keep the jobs here is to encourage value-added forest products enterprises in Vermont. “We need these jobs here, and this program is designed to stimulate and encourage value-added enterprise that will bring those jobs,” he explained.
 
Paul Costello summed up the need for the bill by saying, “The decisions we make condition the success of the entrpreneurs who are the leaders on the land. We need to encourage, inspire, and support their leadership and stewardship, as well as their business success.”
 
More information about the Working Lands Enterprise Investment bill can be found at www.vtworkinglands.org. Both the House and Senate Agriculture committees have testimony scheduled this week on the bill, and on Wednesday, January 18th, at 6:30 pm, there will be a public hearing on the initiative in Room 11 of the Vermont Statehouse.

[Chris Santee]

from Representative Carolyn Branagan:

I’m one of several sponsors of a bill designed to improve Vermont’s farm and forest economy and build on value added procedures to help these agricultural ventures create jobs and strengthen rural revitalization in our state.

The key elements of the bill include significant, sustained and coordinated public investment in farm, food and forest enterprise development to spur growth, create jobs and improve economic opportunities in the agricultural sector. The plan is for public investment to last as much as ten years.

The Vermont Agriculture and Forest Products Development board will oversee and leverage startups, growth enterprises and infrastructure development. The bill creates a state planning office to work with the Department of Labor and Agency of Commerce to find and remove barriers to development of this industry and improve communication across state government.  The purpose of this bill is to make agriculture production a greater part of our economy. The bill also creates several incentives to keep working lands in production. 

Lots of competent experienced people helped in writing this bill including former Vermont Agriculture Secretary Roger Albee, Jacques Couture, Put Blodgett, Michael Snyder, Marie Audet, Cliff Allard and others. Legislators sponsoring the bill are Senator Vince Illuzzi, Senator John Campbell, Representatives Will Stevens, Tess Taylor and Mollie Burke.

Franklin County Senator Sara Kittell also signed on with me. In Franklin County, when the sun shines, we know how to make hay.

For more information contact me at cbranagan@leg.state.vt.us

Representative Carolyn Branagan
Franklin-1, Fairfax/Georgia
Vermont House of Representatives
800-322-5616
802-527-7694

[NPM, LLC]

"Working Lands Designation [Bill Sections 3, 4, 10, & 11]: The bill allows municipalities to designate “working lands enterprise areas” in their municipal plans, and allows individuals to get farm and forest parcels they own designated as such, through the Working Lands Enterprise Board.
 Criteria to be considered include settlement pattern, municipal commitment, productivity, management, durability and land use compatibility.
 If a parcel has the working lands designation, it may be eligible for municipal benefits (determined by the municipality), as well as investment, technical, and regulatory benefits determined by the Working Lands Enterprise Board.
 In addition, these designated lands will offer a reduction in state capital gains tax and estate taxes for their owners."


I think I would like to see Fairfax get on board with this bill as we have a majority of small businesses/Farms/Ag businesses that could benefit from "working lands enterprise areas" and "municipal benefits".  However, I was unclear if the "municipal benefits" a small business would receive would come from Town tax dollars or in the form of State or Fed tax dollars.  My thought is if we are all going to pay in more to the State to cover the cost of this bill, wouldn't it be a good idea to have Fairfax get on board so our our community businesses benefit from it?  Though it sounds encouraging for small business I guess I would like some clarification....thoughts?

[rod anode]

JUST ANOTHER B.S PROGRAM if you people want to help stop the stupid regulations and just get out of our way,we dont need anymore programs,how can i get that through your thick skulls ,they will use this somehow in the future to restrict land use even more ,dont you people get it the more the government gets into your land and life the less its yours

[David Shea]

Have the sponsors of this bill interviewed the owners of companies of value added products that have closed up shop or are successful?

Failures or Closed

1) Manosh Hardwoods ( Funded by Vermont Economic Development )
2) Bell Gates Sawmill ( Closed )
3) Villeneuve Sawmill Underhill
4) Vermont Milk, Hardwick, VT ( Funded by State of Vermont, Operated by Anthony Pollina )
5) Spouto: Hinesburg, burned and never rebuilt.
6) Luicille Cheese, Swanton, Bankrupt
7) Swanton Packing
Meat Packing Plant in Grand Isle ( Shut down )
9) Vermont Food Ventures, Fairfax: ( Vermont Urban Development ) Moved to NY and Failed

Still in business:

1) Monument Farms: Private Owners
2) Cabot Cheese
3) Franklin Foods
4) McDermott Trucking: Enosburg
5) Grafton Cheese
6) Jay Peak

It would be interesting to see what influenced these businesses to fail or succeed.  I think cutting the red tape in the permitting process would do more good than additional taxpayer funded programs.

[trussell]

Vermont Food Ventures moved to NY? I thought they were going to somewhere in Lamoille County.  That's too bad :/

I've always been a supporter of the government NOT being involved in private businesses.  Although I have no examples, I suspect that the most (long term) successful businesses are the ones that had minimal government involvement- but that's just my own feeling.  My opinion is that if you continually need outside influences (government "help", cash infusion from family, etc) to keep a business running then it's time to look for a new business.

(but thanks to Chris and Carolyn for posting this information)

[Chris Santee]

Food Venture is in Hardwick:
http://www.wptz.com/news/30150543/detail.html

but Dave & trussell raise some great points.
Here's a link to some of the current federal administrations investments:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57358484/tax-dollars-backing-some-risky-energy-projects/?tag=morningFlexGridLeft;flexGridModule

[rod anode]

and im just a crazy plumber??

[David Shea]

Chris,
I stand corrected, but there was another business in the former VT Food Ventures building that moved to NY and then failed.  The assets were auctioned off shortly after the 2008 economic  bust.  Business is now back in operation after private businessmen purchased the equipment at auction ( with reduced overhead ) and are now back in business.

Ed, you're not a crazy plumber.

[cedarman]

To throw in my 2 cents - government "investment" in alternative energy is one of the only ways new technologies get developed in a field that otherwise would not be cost effective enough to support development on it's own.

Government should NOT be in the business of propping up established businesses on a continual basis.  Some businesses just need to fail to make room for someone else who can do the job better to grow.  Isn't that one of the basic principles of a "free market" economy?

Yes, government (both state and federal) have a limited role in promoting development, but their ultimate role should be to REDUCE regulations that unnecessarily restrict the growth of small (under 1000 employees to toss out a random number) businesses without providing a MAJOR protective benefit to potential customers and society in general.

I don't want the goverment telling what I can feed my kids in my own home.  They SHOULD be making sure companies accurately represent their products and what is in them so I can make a truly informed decision about whether or not a product is good for my family.   Label all foods with exactly what they are treated with chemically during cultivating, harvest, transport and storage, not just sticking a vague label on them that mean very little.

[rod anode]

thanks dave your alright but that russell dude is a jerk

[David Shea]

Ed,
Have not met Russell, so I can't comment.  Any guy who helps some idiot load a rusted up Kaiser on a trailer can't be all that bad.

[Chris Santee]

sorry. rod, could have been my thick skull...............
Dave, I do remember some business there moving to NY.


Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Investment Bill Public Hearing
Dozens expected to testify on Wednesday evening
Four committees of the Vermont Legislature will host a public hearing on the Working Lands Enterprise Investment bill (H.496 / S.246) on Wednesday evening. Dozens of Vermonters are expected to testify in support of the bill.
 
WHAT: Public Hearing – Working Lands bill
WHO: House Agriculture and Commerce committees, Senate Agriculture and Economic Development committees, dozens of Vermont farm and forest entrepreneurs.
WHEN: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 – 6:30 pm
WHERE: Vermont Statehouse – Room 11

[David Shea]

This text was taken from VT Tiger.com, another perspective on the Working Lands Bill.


Working the System

about that working lands investment bill, cui bono

by John McClaughry
 
A group of lawmakers, flanked by a larger group of advocates,  has announced their support of a Working Land Enterprise Investment bill (H.496, S.246). If passed into law it would distribute $3 million in the first year, eventually reaching $15 million a year.

The new program would seek to expand production of higher-end manufactured products, such as specialty cheese, furniture and cider, from raw materials, like milk, hardwoods and the flagging apple industry.

The bill would create a Vermont working lands enterprise board to build a major campaign “to celebrate the working landscape of Vermont and  engage Vermonters in celebrating the foundational role working lands play in the culture, economy, health, and heritage of the state”

Naturally there has to be a board to direct this campaign. A 13 member board would have sweeping powers to coordinate state and local efforts related to the rural economy. Municipalities and the board could designate working lands areas throughout the state, and the board could shower loans, grants and tax advantages on favored businesses in those areas.

This is pretty much a classic expansion of government – lofty purpose, large board, coordination authority, and all sorts of handouts to distribute to people who play by the board’s rules.

And where will the cash come from to pay all the bureaucrats and distribute all the goodies? The General Fund, which is again $75 million in the red and facing the enormous continuing costs of Green Mountain Care.

Somebody needs to tell these people, STOP.

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Posted by Geoffrey Norman on January 18, 2012 in agriculture, Current Affairs, economic growth | Permalink

[trussell]

Hmm... I'd be willing to be a member of that board   Ed, are you with me?