VEDA proposes folding agricultural credit arm into main statute to cut redundancy, says CEO

On Thursday, Jan. 15, Joan Goldstein, chief executive officer of the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA), told a legislative committee that VEDA will seek statutory language to fold the Vermont Agricultural Credit Corporation into VEDA as a subchapter to reduce administrative redundancy and streamline lending operations.

Goldstein said the change is intended as housekeeping and administrative consolidation rather than a change in lending policy or oversight. "We were established in 1974," she told the committee, and VEDA now proposes treating the agricultural credit program as a subchapter of the VEDA statute rather than a separate statutory entity.

The proposal, Goldstein said, would remove duplicative requirements that currently require what she described as the "same board" to meet twice—once for VEDA and once for the agricultural credit corporation—and would simplify intercompany lending, payroll and accounting. Jennifer Emmons Butler, VEDA's chief legal officer, told the committee the VEDA statute specifies 15 members and identified the statutory arrangement that makes the boards effectively identical; she described the requested change as a removal of redundancy.

VEDA staff provided program and portfolio context during the presentation. Goldstein said VEDA has made about $2.6 billion in loans since its inception, and cited recent production of 173 loans totaling about $61,500,000 in the referenced year. She reported an agriculture and forestry portfolio balance of roughly $83,000,000 across 553 loans to 286 farms and forest entities, with dairy ($30,000,000) and maple ($14.7 million) representing the largest single exposures.

On underwriting and servicing, the agency said agricultural loans are typically direct loans that VEDA services itself. Andy Wood, director of agricultural lending, explained VEDA's relationship with the federal Farm Service Agency (FSA): "The guarantees don't provide us with capital. It's basically an assurance in the event that our loans go bad," and VEDA uses FSA guarantees less now than historically while still partnering when appropriate.

Committee members asked about borrower impact and outreach. Goldstein and staff said the proposed statutory consolidation would have "absolutely no impact on borrowers or potential borrowers" and emphasized that agricultural lending would remain a dedicated program within VEDA with about nine staff focused on agriculture. The agency also noted steps to improve awareness of its services, including hiring a director of communications to expand outreach.

During the discussion, staff identified specific housekeeping edits they plan to make in the draft statute, including removing references to FSA-imposed limits and eliminating references to an Agricultural Credit Development Fund that the agency said is no longer used. Goldstein said VEDA's board structure and lending oversight would remain; the state treasurer remains on the VEDA board and certain borrowings are enhanced through credit enhancements with a moral obligation of the state backing some issuances.

Committee members expressed no objection at the hearing; staff agreed to review draft language with agency counsel and committee staff the following day. Goldstein invited follow-up questions and said VEDA would return if the committee requested additional information. The committee recessed for a short break at the end of the session.

Next steps: committee staff and VEDA will review the proposed statutory language; no formal motion or vote was recorded during the session.