Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy on Thursday announced a significant funding increase for the Vermont-Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center. The Center, operated by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM), was originally selected as one of three regional dairy innovation centers through a competitive process in 2019.
As Vice Chairman of the US Senate Appropriations Committee, Leahy secured a significant increase to the national program’s funding level in the fiscal year 2020 Agriculture Appropriations Bill which allowed the allocation for Vermont to increase from $450,000 in 2019, to more than $6.1 million in 2020.
Leahy, also a leading member of the Agriculture Committee, helped lead the effort to authorize the new dairy innovation program in the 2018 Farm Bill and later secured initial funding for the program in the fiscal year 2019 appropriations bill. The Farm Bill directed USDA to create at least three regionally located initiatives across the country. Vermont was selected to host one of the initiatives through a competitive grant-making process. Leahy worked to secure an additional $20 million to support the three centers in that bill.
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