Vermont will begin accepting applications October 26 for a $31.7 million agriculture and timber disaster program intended to help farms, forest landowners and logging contractors recover from qualifying weather losses in 2023 and 2024.
The first phase of the Vermont Agriculture and Timber Disaster Assistance Program will reimburse 95% of eligible unmet losses, subject to a $75,000 maximum payment. The application window is expected to close December 31, and the state anticipates issuing payments in early 2027. Officials describe the round as noncompetitive: applicants who document eligible losses should receive assistance, although the program will not necessarily make a business whole.
For agricultural operations, potentially covered costs include damage to on-farm infrastructure, bare-ground practices, future economic loss and market loss. The timber component may cover standing or harvested timber losses, licensed-forester assessments, updated stewardship plans and certain costs needed to reopen damaged harvest sites and restore access using acceptable management practices.
Applicants must have operated an eligible farm, timber business or logging enterprise during 2023 or 2024, suffered a loss tied to a qualifying weather event, and still be operating. The state’s event list includes the extended period of excessive rain beginning in July 2023. Claims may include work already repaired, rebuilt or replanted, or planned restoration supported by an attestation and later documentation.
Vermont is advising applicants to assemble ownership, lease or timber-sale records; parcel information; tax or business identification; time-stamped photographs; receipts, invoices and estimates; and records of insurance or other payments. Timber applicants may also need stand maps, financial-interest records and an assessment from a licensed forester. That preparation matters because the program is designed to pay only unmet losses and cannot duplicate assistance from another source.
A second, competitive phase will address infrastructure projects valued above $75,000 and may award as much as $750,000. Participation in the initial round will not automatically disqualify an applicant from phase two, but the later grant cannot repay a loss already covered by phase one or another program.
The need extends beyond a single storm. After July 2024 flooding, a state survey counted nearly $5 million in reported damage and other impacts across more than 3,000 acres and 89 farms. Officials warned then that repeated weather losses were threatening the survival of some operations.
The money comes through a federal block grant authorized under the American Relief Act of 2025. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says its 2023-24 supplemental disaster authority includes block-grant assistance for weather-related losses. Vermont secured its agreement in June, when VTDigger reported that the state was still developing the application process after two major floods and a damaging frost.
The new timetable turns that earlier award into a practical deadline. Eligible operators have several weeks to organize loss records before the portal opens; the agriculture agency and Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation say additional instructions and application assistance will be released before October 26.
