In the last two years, Vermont had five federal disaster declarations related to flooding. Two of those storms hit on the exact same days in July in 2023 and 2024. Eric Skovsted of Joe's Brook Farm in Barnet said his 10 acres went under in the 2024 flood, and destroyed 95% of his crops.
"For food safety reasons, there's no salvaging of the crops," Skovsted said. "Something like strawberries, which are a two year system, weren't fruiting last year. We were able to save about half of the ones that were underwater for the least amount of time."
Skovsted's friend began a GoFundMe for the farm, which surpassed its $50,000 goal. Skovsted used that money to bridge payroll and replant crops.
"Farms have been flooding since agriculture began," Skovsted said. "It's sort of a unique place to have the support systems that exist in Vermont, and that exists because of the internet... It really allowed us to continue moving forward with flood recovery and planning for the next season."
Bruce Hennessey of Maple Wind Farm in Richmond said he took 30 acres out of production after the July 2023 floods. He lost nearly 400 turkeys during that disaster.
Barre City was one of the hardest hit places in July 2023, and parts of the city were underwater again in 2024. The city agreed to move forward with 28 property buyouts while choosing not to recommend 39 other requests by property owners. City manager Nicholas Storellicastro said that decision was because of a FEMA provision.
"It says that a property that is bought out by FEMA, that parcel may never, ever be redeveloped again," Storellicastro said. "In Barre, we're only four square miles. Much of the flat land in Barre is in either flood plain or the floodway, which is already difficult to build or on ledge."
Barre City chose to pursue clusters of buyouts along the riverside. The city will convert them into places for floodwaters to rest.
Beverly Wemple is the director of the University of Vermont's Water Resources Institute. The institute is a collection of faculty members from across the university who focus on water-related research. This includes operations and policy changes in the state and across the nation.
Wemple said the flooding has highlighted the importance of their work.
"We have a collection of faculty on several different projects that are funded through a national consortium called the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology," Wemple said. "Those researchers are trying to understand how individuals and communities receive flood warnings, what the barriers to the dissemination of that information is and how we can address those barriers — both through communications, and by preparing messaging that's more accessible to a wide range of audiences."
She said that federal funding cuts will impact research, and that they are working to diversify their funding strategies.
Broadcast live on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
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